On Wed, 28 Nov 2001 15:16:02, [log in to unmask] wrote:

>In my post, I had almost delineated companies that would be ruled out by
the criteria I posted, but felt that this would clutter the posting and
detract from my main point (not that my posting are not cluttered in spite
of my own best efforts).
>
>One of hp's stated reasons for acquiring / merging with Compaq, or at least
 one of the results listed in the press, is that this would put hp right on
 IBM's heals, closing the gap between the number one company and the number
 two company. I'm hard-pressed to imagine hp selling anything to IBM that
 they thought IBM could actually use to compete against hp.
--------------------------
Au Contraire!

Did you not know that IBM and HP are Business Partners--or were at least,
at one time [and don't ask me what "Business Partners" in this context
would mean--I just have no way of knowing!].

Those who have read my book, "Assertive Incompetence" should recognize the
positive potential for building a narcissist's ego by meeting yet another
powerful CEO she considers nearly her equal!

It is no stretch of the imagination to paint a scenario that Carly could be
persuaded that it is to the best advantage of HP to hand MPE over to IBM.

First of all, there is the boost to her ego.

More important, though, is her brilliant plan--and from a certain point of
view, it is absolutely brilliant--to make HP a giant conduit for hardware
which can be bought off the shelf:  Really profitable things like, but not
limited to, printer cartridges, toner cartridges--and HP should give them
away--printers, fax machines, scanners, pcs, and whole panopoly of other
popular consumer items for which HP does not have to bear any
responsibility in the arena of operating systems.

If you want LINUX, get LINUX; if you want XP, get XP:  Whatever you get,
let us provide the hardware.

Has a ring to it, doesn't it?

Lopping off the appendage of MPE is probably only the beginning; it would
make sense to rid the Corporation of HP-UX and any other silly thing that
would drag down a streamlined, quickly responding Corporation whose
Corporate Culture has been radically altered.

It may be as simple as sending a carefully worded e-mail to Carly with the
right appeals to her... um... personality.

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