[Note the contents of this e-mail are being publicly distributed via several
forums and may be copied and re-distributed without restriction. It has been
sent directly to members of HP management, the Board of Directors of Interex
and the Executive Director of Interex.]

I was the one who rose at the HPWorld 2002 Strategic Management Roundtable
to protest the exclusion of the press from it and all the other management
roundtables (I was told by Interex officials that this exclusion was at the
request of HP). My current employer, Pacific Coast Building Products (PCBP),
is a long time customer of HP and the pre-merger Compaq. PCBP has also been
a long-standing member (at the site level since 1981) of Interex. In my
various career stops, I have been a continuous customer of HP and site
member of Interex dating back to the 1970s (when Interex was the HP3000
International Users Group).

In the years that I could not attend the conference, or could not attend a
particular roundtable, I relied on the press, including Interex's own press
organization, to keep me up to date on important happenings.

Now, for the first time in the history of what Carly Fiorino herself
referred to as the longest running user conference in the industry, the
press has been excluded from some of the proceedings. This sends the wrong
message about the "new" HP and about Interex's independence. And, it cuts
off the vast majority of HP customers from information that might be
important to their business.

Since I did not recognize any of the panelists, and thus suspect many came
from pre-merger Compaq, perhaps it would be worthwhile to go over some of
the history of the Strategic Management Roundtable and how it has become
increasingly irrelevant to HP's customers.

As recently as six or seven years ago, the Strategic Management Roundtable
was a lively affair lasting several hours that required a room holding many
hundreds of people. For many customers, it was the only opportunity to
interact directly with top HP management. It provided a means for them to
ensure HP management was hearing their concerns.

Was it at times rancorous? Of course it was. Were HP executives put on the
hot seat? Yes they were. Were customers generally satisfied they had an
opportunity to be heard? Absolutely. Was HP damaged by this free exchange?
Not at all. That is unless you count the hurt feelings and sweat-stained
suits of a few executives.

About six years ago, a generation of HP executives with thin skins took over
and forced Interex (one can only speculate how much fight it put up) to
modify the structure of the Strategic Management Roundtable into what it has
become, a staged program that allows the panelists to give their best
MBA-speak answers to prepared questions that are supposed to relate to
issues raised in the annual Interex Advocacy Survey. Over the last few
years, the canned questions have had less direct relation to the survey
(this year approached zero) and the opportunity for audience participation
has decreased to the point that I did not attend it last year and would not
have attended this year had not the issue of press exclusion come up. One
word sums up this year's Strategic Management Roundtable: boring. In a few
more years at this rate, you'll be able to cancel it completely for lack of
interest. Which, of course, may be the goal. It is my impression that the
current crop of HP executives is uncomfortable dealing with any customer not
the CIO of a multi-billion dollar company. [Ok, I'll admit that was a
gratuitous shot, but it underscores the passion I feel when barriers are put
up against the free flow of communication.]

Consider this a public call for Interex (my user group) and HP (my "current"
vendor of choice for computing solutions) to respond publicly and explain
why they feel the need to limit opportunities for the flow of information
between HP and its customers. Excluding the press was a blunder of such
colossal stupidity that it calls into question the ability of the leadership
of HP and Interex to manage their respective organizations.

John Burke (Interex member ID 2243)
Systems and Operations Manager
Pacific Coast Building Products
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