Glenn writes regarding HP's stock price:

> 5.  The lack of ingenuity on HP's part to really innovate new products in
>  the printer arena.  Instead, they have introduced low-cost, low-margin
>  products for the home consumer market.  They should be leading the pack in
>  developing new and innovative ideas instead of playing "me-too" in the home
>  game.

Let me say at the outset that my impression has never been that stock prices
had very much to do with the worth of a company. Stock prices are predictable
to a degree, but only by reading the stock reports and interpreting the
psychologies of the analysts. Intel lost 20% of its stock value last week
because its earnings, large as they were, didn't meet the "street's"
expectations, not because Intel was in any way failing.

To cater to these people -- and not the customers -- is the modern mode of
business. Nonetheless, I've long considered such behavior to be the bane of
becoming a corporation, as well as the fundamental underlying reason why so
few corporations have the wherewithall (what we call "los cojones" here in
the Southwest) to engage in truly exploratory, risky high-return projects
that really do "invent" new ways of doing things -- and change the world in
the process. Generally, you only get that behavior from individuals -- or
companies that act out of great loyalty and deep respect for the individuals
that found a company, very much in the manner of Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and
most especially, Bill & Dave.

Most people on this list can't easily remember the extraordinary level of
respect that Hewlett and Packard commanded within the company. There is
nothing any professional manager/ceo can ever do to recapture that same level
of committment or loyalty or pride in product that Bill & Dave did. And that
pride of product was everything to Bill & Dave. The very first HP3000 ever
sold worked so poorly that they personally apologized to the customer and
refunded all of their money, including all ancillary expenses, even though HP
was already a very large company by then.

In the development of products, pride is no small thing, and CSY is the only
part of HP that reminds me of the old HP nowadays.

But as to the razor-thin margin inkjet printers, the posting misunderstands
the nature of the printers themselves. It's not the printers that matter. In
fact, I suspect HP would almost give them away for free if they could. It's
the ink cartridges that represent the profit -- and that profit is truly
substantial.

There isn't much to talk about in the news media about ink cartridges -- in
that there is zero sexiness in ink cartridges -- but they does represent an
enormous part of HP's currently profitability. Extremely high margins. Low
customer support costs. Easy distribution channels.

Wirt Atmar