As an 18-year associate of Walter Hewlett in academic research, I wish to speak (voluntarily) for Walter's abundant merits. These observations are confined to the merits which seem most material to the issues at hand: 1. Walter is a value-oriented person. He values employees, customers, and (as the site http://votenohpcompaq.com reminds us) shareholders. He cherishes merit and achievement, ingenuity and innovation, commitment and dedication. 2. Walter is impeccably honest. If you are looking for someone to hold your wallet or purse while you are out of the room (which is what you are doing when you own shares in a major corporation), you won't find a more trustworthy custodian. 3. Walter is meticulous and thorough. Any view he holds, and particularly those few which he makes public, will be based on a rigorous analysis of all available information. The information will be well digested and the numbers carefully examined. 4. Walter's knowledge of technology is far-reaching. It extends to hardware and software; to platforms and operating systems; to input, storage, and output devices; to telecommunications equipment and services; to information management and query; and to document-representation and distribution systems (in short to "end-to-end" processes). 5. Walter's achievements in highly specialized areas of research and teaching at Stanford University are well known and highly respected. These areas present complex challenges that draw the interest of students and colleagues worldwide in such fields as computer science, symbolic systems, human/computer interfaces, audio and mechanical engineering, and information management. (For a brief assessment, please see http://wbh.ccarh.org.) 6. The extent of Walter's dedication to Hewlett Packard Co. is total. He has visited every plant, conversed with thousands of employees (whose names he always makes it a point to remember), and closely followed the development (and occasionally in the testing) of many of the company's most successful products. He still maintains contact with former co-workers at HP's first overseas plant (Boeblingen). 7. Walter's instinct for spotting the most productive pathways through the technological maze is unerring. In a valley repleat with vaporware and myopic "visionaries," he seems to have x-ray vision for the products and practices that have enduring value. 8. Few people with Walter's talents, skills, and opportunities are so amply supplied with compassion and humility. The combination of all these traits is much greater than the sum of the parts. Few corporate boards in American can be so richly endowed--or so stridently opposed to their own best hope for success. (c) 2002 Eleanor Selfridge-Field * To join/leave the list, search archives, change list settings, * * etc., please visit http://raven.utc.edu/archives/hp3000-l.html *