All the discussion about HP-UX may now be moot.  HP buys Compaq and then
turns its soul over to the great management from Compaq.  Better hurry up
and migrate quick before HP-UX disappears.

Look what new HP President Michael Capellas said today at a conference in
San Francisco:


YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT
The new HP in many ways will resemble the old Compaq. The company's
strategy will largely revolve around aligning itself with technology giants
such as Microsoft, Intel and large consulting firms to deliver products
that will be cheaper than those from companies such as IBM and Sun
Microsystems, which tout their own internal developments.

To succeed in servers, "you become the No. 1 go-to-market partner for
Intel; you become the No. 1 go-to-market partner for Oracle; and you become
the No. 1 go-to-market partner for Microsoft," Capellas said.

At the same time, HP will integrate enough of its own high-level features
into its products to create a gap between it and Dell Computer, which is
known for its mass-manufacturing efficiencies but performs less independent
research. The new HP will "put some intellectual property into the Linux
world" and stress its management software.

In its heyday, Compaq strove to use standard components to make PCs and
servers that were comparable in price to competing products but contained
enough original engineering to set them apart. By contrast, HP spent
considerable effort on building Unix servers and its own chips.

The universe of potential competitors, Capellas said, has also become
fairly small. There are only four: IBM, Sun, storage giant EMC, and Dell.

"After all these years, we've come down to five companies," he said, adding
that IBM was HP's biggest concern. Sun is particularly vulnerable, he
asserted, because the shift from Unix, Sun's historical mainstay, is
occurring faster than anticipated.

"You are going to see Windows and Linux absolutely eviscerate the midrange
proprietary Unix," he said.

****************************************************************************

There were two interesting points in the above quotes.  The first was that
the new HP will concentrate on riding the coat-tails of Microsoft and Intel
instead of developing innovations of its own  --  no wonder the HP3000 has
no role in the company.  Secondly, they have concluded that UNIX is on the
way out in favor of Windows and Linux.  Meanwhile, HP urges all HP3000
migraters to embrace HP-UX!  Sounds like companies should start budgeting
for perpetual migration indefinitely.

How can a vendor like this dictate to customers what they are going to
spend their time, money and energy on just to stay in business?  Enough is
enough from such arrogant vendors.  When does the customer get to say what
they want?

It didn't take long for the new HP to show us what to expect.

What's next???

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