Dave,

It was the Spanish philosopher, Santayana, who said: "He who does not learn from
history is doomed to repeat it."  Actually, he may have said something quite
different in Spanish, but that's  the way it is usually translated into English
(and much the same in Italian, BTW, according to my long-ago colleagues in
Italy).

A computer industry merger that actually worked?  Wow, that's a tough one.  The
closest I can come are the various buyouts made by Symantec (Peter Norton
Computing, Central Point Software, and Microsoft (e.g. Bauer's Postscript clone,
now named TrueType), and those buyouts were so private that nobody on the
outside ever got to know the ensuing internal carnage, layoffs, etc.  By what
criteria does a merger work, anyway?  Increased revenue?  Level or increasing
headcount?  Survival of the merged entity for a few years?

Here are a few of the brand names now absorbed into HPaq: Apollo, Tandem, DEC,
Compaq, Thomas-Conrad.   Any others?

A computer HARDWARE merger that actually worked?  I think we're talking about
the null set here, not to increase with HPaq... Ben Myers

On Thu, 2 May 2002 10:28:05 -0500, "Dave Gudewicz" <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

>Couldn't help but think after reading Ben's note:
>
>If we learn nothing from history, we are doomed to repeat it.  Or something
>like that.
>
>Can anyone here enlighten us with a merger such as this that DID work?  And
>to reiterate the obvious, the Compaq assimilation of DEC did NOT work.
>
>Dave...
>
>"Ben Myers" <[log in to unmask]> wrote in message
>news:3cd14eee.7021958@news.charter.net...
>> Well, whatever you call the newsletter, it should prove to be an
>interesting
>> chronicle of the on-going soap opera of one set of related mergers in the
>> computer industry.  I lived thru one failed merger on a vastly smaller
>scale:
>> Honeywell, GE and Groupe Bull.  What always seems to be missing in a
>merger is a
>> clear vision and strategic direction, because executives are too busy
>fighting
>> for their own corporate lives to think clearly.  The blood and carnage of
>HPaq
>> employees will be considerable once the wheels of this merger get turning.
>>
>> ... Ben Myers
>>
>> On Wed, 01 May 2002 14:39:39 GMT, "Terry C. Shannon"
><[log in to unmask]>
>> wrote:
>>
>> >Another year, another name change. We at Shannon Knows DEC, Shannon Knows
>> >Distributed Enterprise Computing, Shannon Knows Compaq, and now Shannon
>> >Knows HPC are getting used to the good old name game. And we hope that
>you
>> >Constant Readers will take the latest name change in stride. Here's the
>> >deal: Shannon Knows Compaq has withstood the rigors of two name changes
>plus
>> >the economic angst of the thermonuclear winter incited by a wholesale
>> >dot-com bombing. Acting on the news yesterday that the Delaware Chancery
>> >Court has given Hewlett-Packard's acquisition of Compaq a go-ahead, SKC
>has
>> >changed its name to Shannon Knows High Performance Computing. HP, of
>course,
>> >can be construed as High Performance or Hewlett-Packard, which,
>> >post-acquisition, will be Numero Uno in the High Performance Computing
>> >arena. In the interest of brevity-plus a desire to coin a new five-letter
>> >acronym-we'll now operate under the SKHPC name. Extended "dance version"
>> >five-letter acronym aside, we'll continue to provide the same coverage
>we've
>> >been dishing out for the last nine years, plus even more. And for those
>of
>> >you who wonder why we didn't opt for Shannon Knows HPS, it turns out that
>> >HPS is the acronym for Hewlett Packard Services! Thanks to a senior
>Compaq
>> >manager for pointing out this potential gaffe to us!
>> >
>> >--
>> >Terry C. Shannon
>> >Consultant and Publisher
>> >Shannon Knows HPC
>> >PLEASE NOTE MY *NEW* EMAIL ADDRESS
>> >email: [log in to unmask]
>> >Web (info on SKC):  www.openvms.org, www.tru64.org
>> >
>> >
>>
>
>

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