Yeah, as a 30 year veteran I totally agree. Sell Test & Measurement. Let Compaq take you over with your money. Ditch your RISC customer base. Someone once said HD is a clothing and accessory company with a motorcycle sideline. HP is an inkjet company with a computer sideline. They were at $47 when they made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. They let the wrong guy go. LOL.
They hired me to run the Big Kahuna! H-P! Got me out from under the problems at Lucent just in time too... ugh, that's not going to be pretty.So! What do I do next? H-P... let's see. Wall Street Journal says they make electronics. Oscilloscopes, voltmeters, all kind of geek nonsense. Some dweeb tried to explain to me what a "spectrum analyzer" was for but good... grief! The guy actually had a pocket protector! And a "rubidium frequency standard"... WTF? Who gives a crap?
Look. Personal Computers. Printers. These are things I understand. These are things I use. OK, yeah, it's a "mature market." So what? Hewlett Packard's a "mature company," right? Wall Street's jumping back-flips over me. They'll float me a few bil... I'll just buy the biggest name in the P-C world! Well, OK, the second-biggest name. Third? Fourth, whatever. I'll buy 'em, and we'll crank 'em out like nobody's business.
Lot easier for me to sell those than to sell that science-lab BS.