Wayne Brown wrote:
>
...>
> BTW, I really appreciated the things Winston Prather said and I'm glad someone
> like him is working to enhance the 3000's position within HP.  But I still think
> the ad campaign is a good idea.  If nothing else, it ought to demonstrate to his
> management that he has a loyal user base with which to work.

I agree, but I suspect his management already knows that very well.  What
they don't seem to "know" is how to win by being different and better,
rather than by being the same but better.  The original concepts behind
MPE were to be different and better, which lead to defining a new market
for computers.  It was not a "big" success because Digital and IBM were
better at marketing their imitations and HP wasn't "known" for computers,
but it was still successful and continues to be (particularly with those
that "know" HP for what it is [or maybe was]).

This is the real problem:  If "the world" is convinced Unix and Oracle (or
NT and SQL-Server or whatever combo) is "the" solution to the "e-"
business challenges of today, why should they take a risk trying to teach
"the world" something "different" is a better solution instead of
competing with a superior version of what "the world" already believes?
Of course, this is no way to obtain market leadership, but being
"different" means taking risks and having confidence in your analysis of
the future - some products are before their time (.e.g NewWave) and others
too offbeat, but all you need is a winner every once in a while (e.g.
Laserjets) - risk taking used to describe HP, but doesn't seem to anymore.

What is Linux, but yet another step down the long line of being "the same,
but trying to be better"?   What if HP-UX isn't seen as providing HP with
a real competitive edge,  but as interfering with following the crowd
running to Linux to solve all of it's business IT problems (since NT/2000
hasn't done it).  What happened to the network appliances and smart agents
that HP used to talk about as the future before anyone else, hardly a
product can be found - these products would have required HP to define new
businesses, markets, and innovate, which it seems to have forgotten how to
do?  Seems to me over the last 10 years, HP gave up innovation (true
inventions) and superior customer value (i.e. better engineering) to turn
to "imitate better" and "compete better" as it's motto, but it can't be a
Gateway or a Dell, so it's really lost without someone to follow and must
struggle to keep up.

HP says Unix and NT are strategic, which means that is where HP thinks the
market will go and HP will follow.  Oracle is known for databases. Sun is
known for Java (and Unix).  IBM is known for Mainframe solutions.  SGI is
known for graphics.  Intel is known for processors.  What's HP known for?
Laser Printers (used to be calculators)!   The crown for small business
and e-commerce solutions is still up for grabs.

HP used to deliver the best customer support in the business and everyone
you dealt with at HP knew that the customer's business problem was HP's
problem.  I'm confident this with superior products kept more business at
HP than anything and overcame poor marketing and the great difficulty of
doing business with HP.  Once HP gave up this attitude and delivered
products just as better as possible being alike everyone else, then the
only reason to buy HP is marketing, sales opportunities, and price, which
are all things HP has never been good at.

I, too, appreciate very much what Winston Prather said,  CSY still
represents most of the best of what HP was.  It should be the model for
much of the reinvention of HP and for a time this seemed to be what was
going on.  I *hope* Carly understands a good bit of the above, even if she
also must find ways to make a profit in the mean time.  Fixing this
problem and keeping a profit are a hard mixture to make work after the
many years HP has been heading the wrong way. I wish her well, if a "real
fix" is indeed what she is trying to accomplish.

Cheers,
Richard

>
> Wayne
>
>--
Richard L Gambrell
Senior Information Technology Consultant
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
103 Hunter Hall, Dept. 4454
615 McCallie Ave., Chattanooga, TN 37403-2598
voice mail/cell phone: 423-432-5122
private e-mail: [log in to unmask]
UTC fax: 423-755-4150
UTC phone: 423-755-4551
UTC email: [log in to unmask]