Once again, Wirt is confused, incorrect and trying to revise history.  The only part of the Carly discussion I thought was a bit off
the beaten path is Ed Sharpe's comment about her legs.  Also, I disagree with Wirt about her influence or decision to kill the HP
3000.  I do not believe she knew the HP 3000 even existed.  She certainly did not have any part in spinning off the innovative part
of HP (Agilent.)  That was precursor to dropping the 3000 in my opinion.

I am not defending Carly, I just think Wirt is unfairly blaming her.

Denys

-----Original Message-----
From: HP-3000 Systems Discussion [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Wirt Atmar
Sent: Monday, June 30, 2003 10:07 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Carly at HPWorld

Denys writes:

> Ok people, focus.  This way off the beaten path and you didn't put OT: on
the
> subject line.

I can't imagine anything more on topic than discussing the person who killed
the HP3000. Although I have heard and carefully listened to the denials of a
fair number of people in CSY, many of whom I have great faith in, I remain
convinced that Carly herself ordered the death of the HP3000, not a relatively
low-level perfunctory such as Winston. It's simply not the kind of decision that
a general manager would wake one day and make on his own.

Long before the merger talks were made public, the HP3000 began to
systematically fail to show up on HP's "strategic" list of servers, and once the merger
was announced, HP began talking about how it would provide "roadmaps" to the
future for those products that it would prune from its repertoire. All of this
occurred well in advance of the actual announcement of the death of the HP3000.

To be fair, HP put itself into a real bind by charging a significant premium
for the HP3000 vis-a-vis the 9000's, especially when the HP-UX machines were
already being increasingly considered too expensive themselves. HP only greatly
further exacerbated its problem with the HP3000 by not allowing its revenues
to accurately flow back into the division that generated the deep customer
loyalty with its concern and care of its customers so that the customers would
continue to pay significantly expensive maintenance fees.

MPE, if given half a chance, would -- and perhaps still could -- become a
dominant operating system. But it never could given the conditions in which it
was nurtured within HP. Carly certainly wasn't the only source of the problems
that plagued the HP3000 -- they began long before her tenure -- but she was the
very direct cause of the end of the HP3000, and perhaps HP as well.

Wirt Atmar

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