Mark Boyd wrote:

><snip>
>- who cares about them anymore'. Is that competitive posturing or is that
>what these computing behemoths really believe? I think it's got to be a
>little of both.
><snip>

>Hp a computing behemoth?  Dewd, Where have you been?  They SO make
>printers.

Dewwwd... they make printers to give them away... they make INK to SELL...

Forget about the razor/blade analogy... this is the classic business model
of the illicit drug trade :-)

Actually, prior to the compaq merger, scott m. (of sun) never referred
to hp as a server company - always as a printer company. During the
heavy dot.com days when sun was killing the likes of hp, scott never
missed a chance to dis hp and refer to them as 'just a printer company'.
I would say that during those years sun was guilty of viewing hp as
irrevelant WRT the primary sun marketplace - servers. There is no
love lost between these two companies and I see hp now giving sun what they
took for many years.

Let's revisit 'computing behemoth'. I'm referring to the size of the company
and it's ability to either invest significant amounts and/or absorb
significant amounts such that smaller competitors can get disadvantaged.
Now, this isn't a guarantee of success - as ibm proved, but then again it's
not a guarantee of failure - as ibm is now also proving.

It will be interesting to see how hp plays their cards post merger and
what course they chart.

duane percox

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