When the Interex announcement came out on Monday, I was outraged that
Interex would release a press announcement as though all HP users were in
complete agreemnet with the Interex BOD.  In response to the news article I
saw on CNETnews.com I wrote the following back to CNET:

The board of directors of Interex has no business speaking for its members
regarding the HP merger.  Their endorsement has more to do with the politics
of the relationship Interex has/needs with HP than it does with the actual
attitude of their members.  Almost all user surveys have shown that
enterprise members are AGAINST this merger, not for it!  I do not want a
major vendor (HP) consumed with its own reorganization/integration.  I need
a vendor focused on its customers.  This merger does nothing for customers
except generate confusion about product lines and long term support
commitments.

As an HP customer (and Interex member) I have always had the ability to
select Compaq products if I wished.  However, I have chosen not to take
advantage of that option and do not need this merger "opportunity" to bring
the option to me now.

Fortunately, this endorsement will have little impact on the actual result
of the stockholder vote next week.  Interex's handful of shares has little
meaning in the larger scheme of things.

A more interesting story would be how Interex and ITUG plan to slug it out
for user members if the merger does go through.  How about a follow up story
on that?

John R. Wolff
Vice President/CIO
LAACO, Ltd.
Los Angeles, CA

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