Posted on 05/21/2002 9:52:49 AM PDT by spald
PERHAPS this consolidation, plus Linux (if it ever becomes useful to the average user), will make the hardware guys more resistant to being run over by Mr. Gates and Co. What's Bill going to do, make his own PCs (don't put it past him).
One thing that gets lost in the "Let's hate Carly" chanting is that, prior to Carly, HP had changed from a nuts & bolts technical company run by buttoned-down, common sense based engineers to a company where the management embraced every New Age, West Coast management cliche imaginable. Corporate decisions weren't being made by executives, but rather by "teams" made up of employees from all levels of the corporation.
It seems clear -- to me, an outsider -- that the anti-Carly hatred isn't hatred built on anything rational. It's typical "Oh, oh, back to the real world" hatred of an attempt to bring reality back to yet another stupid corporate adventure into "Employees Rule" corporate socialism...
Mark W.
FRegards,
PrairieDawg
Take a close look at the Xbox. It is a cheap PC of sorts. I haven't seen one with a 1024i TV hooked up, but he owns WebTV and Xbox so he *is* already selling "postPC" computers. 3 million of them so far. (PS2 has sold 30 million, he has a way to go to hit his desired position of #1). It has DSL capability built in, he's launching a private network for them this week. He's still ahead of the next curve. Amazing.
It's a shame. I always like playing with my Wang, too.
I interacted with them until about a year ago and didn't get this feel. I was always impressed by the professionalism of the people I dealt with, good solid engineers and managers. I would have described them as "plodding" not "socialist". Some of what you describe may have taken place though.
In any case lets stipulate that HP was off track, I think they were. The question is "is Carley moving it in the right direction". The only reasonable answer is: No. Stock, products, employee retention, customer satisfaction, the street ... every indicator is bad.
Maybe they did need to be shaken up or changed, but the changes she has put forward have not worked and the company is far, far worse off than it was. It may not be recoverable. I think the board should fire her soon as a good will gesture to everyone who is still hoping they pull through. She has made herself too much of the issue for the company to prosper under her leadership. Sad, but she must go.
Give me a break. You want a company as solid and good and run for decades by Ward-Cleaver-looking Purdue and MIT mofos with pocket protectors, to all of a sudden, be run by a girl? Right.
I have used HP stuff in the lab, at home, in the operating room, and by the computer, for years. It was good stuff, very thoughtfully engineered and made, and carefully presented in its documentation.
This girl couldn't program my HP-48G calculator, let alone some of the more complex HP devices.
And just to be hip and PC they let a cool girl run the company.
And, BTW, a dumbass girl who knows no technology, and who probably went to some ridiculous 1980s business school where they taught that the only meaningful thing companies and executives could do was merge.
The name Carly, by itself, should have disqualified her as a flaky product of the fad-loving, thought-vacuum, boomer culture.
All I can say is, hey HP:!! Smooth move, Ex-Lax!
Ever hear of Lucent Technologies?. They hate Carly there as well. In 3-5 years, HP will look like Lucent.
---max
PC's are peanuts. Too make any kind of money selling them, you have to sell a ton of 'em. They are a high volume, low margin commodity.
---max
I've always been an HP printers user. If the company really goes down the tubes, I don't seen how the printers can escape the mess. Not unless they are spun off early to other, competent management, and I doubt if that is likely. When the rank and file are disgruntled, and money is short, and jobs are at stake, quality is bound to suffer in every area. Too bad.
Carly is clueless.
I remember the days as a young nerd when I use to lust after their amazing calculators....oops, did I just say that out loud?
I hope you're joking. But I really don't think you are. It is long past time to get these whores out of the business world.
Carly has a bachelors degree in medieval history. Doesn't that count for SOMETHING?
I hope you're joking. But I really don't think you are. It is long past time to get these whores out of the business world.
Unfortunatly Mr. Taco wasn't joking. She has a degree in medival history (from Stanford I think) and an MBA from U. Maryland. I guess she can now "lop off some heads" like she read about during college.
Regards,
PrairieDawg
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