News - HP thinks again, decides not to spin-off PC division

[HEXUS]

World's biggest PC maker decides not to sell Personal Systems Group.

Read more.

[nichomach]

Thank goodness for that, an outbreak of sanity at HP. Seriously, OK PSG only makes 6% earnings but 6% of about $9.5bn is still, let's see...carry the one....allow for global warming...sacrifice chicken, yep, an absolute crapload of cash.

[crossy]

Got this news on this through the company email system - sigh's of relief since, apart from LA, did anyone think getting rid of PSG was not a bone-head manoeuvre?


Interesting to see what the Whitman and Lane show have in store for webOS. Personally I'd like to see them keep it - maybe partner with someone (HTC?) - and maybe make use of all those TouchPad's* that are now out there.

(* I was going to inflict an Ubuntu install on my missus' TP - but to be honest there wouldn't be much gained, with OS v3.0.4 installed and debugging switched off it's going darned well. Wish I'd got one for myself)

Thank goodness for that, an outbreak of sanity at HP. Seriously, OK PSG only makes 6% earnings but 6% of about $9.5bn is still, let's see...carry the one....allow for global warming...sacrifice chicken, yep, an absolute crapload of cash.

Translation of that last part for our US readers "yep, an absolute load of cash". Joking aside, that made me smile.

[aidanjt]

Of course the real question is why would anyone invest in HP? They're running around like headless chickens making grand sweeping investments one week, and discarding it the next. Nobody wants to put money into a company which goes around spending their money like an aimless drunken sailor.

[aidanjt]

(* I was going to inflict an Ubuntu install on my missus' TP - but to be honest there wouldn't be much gained, with OS v3.0.4 installed and debugging switched off it's going darned well. Wish I'd got one for myself)

You could always put android on it instead. I'm not sure how well polished the TP android port is, but I'd imagine it'd be in better shape than the x86 effort, which in itself is quite usable.

[capt_cornflake]

You could always put android on it instead. I'm not sure how well polished the TP android port is, but I'd imagine it'd be in better shape than the x86 effort, which in itself is quite usable.

The Cyanogenmod port is much better than you'd expect from an alpha.
I was a bit scepitcal at first, but I'm now using it as the main OS for my touchpad.

[crossy]

Of course the real question is why would anyone invest in HP? They're running around like headless chickens making grand sweeping investments one week, and discarding it the next. Nobody wants to put money into a company which goes around spending their money like an aimless drunken sailor.

Whoa! That's very unfair. HP-bashing aside, they/we have had three CEO's in what - the space of a year - so it's pretty inevitable that there's going to be some backwards and forwards. As far as I take it (someone who works for HP, but didn't apply for the job), the "strategy" were as follows:

• Mark Hurd - make stuff as cheaply as it can be (never mind "product quality"). US and Europe employees are overpaid, expensive scum and we have far too many of them - move all work into any convenient sweat shop then fire everyone else. Moving into security services seems like a good idea;
• Leo Apotheker - selling stuff to the Joe-in-the-street is too expensive for the money we make - stop it. We ain't Apple either. The real money is in selling services to businesses - and if they can buy our hardware, software, storage and networking at the same time then so much the better. Do we actually have enough people to do this?
• Whitman/Lane - We definitely don't have enough people to do things. We definitely DO want to sell to the Joe-in-the-Street (because he remembers and buys the same gear for his office). Services are nice, but we need to remember that we also make stuff. Now how can we stick it to Mark Hurd?

Like I say, just my take on things! Hopefully the Whitman/Lane combo will mean some focus on stuff HP does well, and some repair of the damage which that insane expense MH did. (As you can tell Mr Hurd wouldn't be on my Christmas card list).

You could always put android on it instead. I'm not sure how well polished the TP android port is, but I'd imagine it'd be in better shape than the x86 effort, which in itself is quite usable.

Good thought! Trouble is that I've already got a good Honeycomb tablet... More relevantly, I think I'd get lynched if I started "messing around" with her "computery thingamabob". Women!

[nichomach]

I think you're right, crossy; I'd also note that given the noted outbreak of common sense at HP, now might be an excellent time to invest in them - their share price is still depressed after being Apothekerised (like being tenderised, but the result doesn't taste like steak...), and if Whitman gets a grip on the business (and she's making a decent start) that'll climb.

[aidanjt]

Whoa! That's very unfair. HP-bashing aside, they/we have had three CEO's in what - the space of a year - so it's pretty inevitable that there's going to be some backwards and forwards. As far as I take it (someone who works for HP, but didn't apply for the job), the "strategy" were as follows:

• Mark Hurd - make stuff as cheaply as it can be (never mind "product quality"). US and Europe employees are overpaid, expensive scum and we have far too many of them - move all work into any convenient sweat shop then fire everyone else. Moving into security services seems like a good idea;
• Leo Apotheker - selling stuff to the Joe-in-the-street is too expensive for the money we make - stop it. We ain't Apple either. The real money is in selling services to businesses - and if they can buy our hardware, software, storage and networking at the same time then so much the better. Do we actually have enough people to do this?
• Whitman/Lane - We definitely don't have enough people to do things. We definitely DO want to sell to the Joe-in-the-Street (because he remembers and buys the same gear for his office). Services are nice, but we need to remember that we also make stuff. Now how can we stick it to Mark Hurd?

Like I say, just my take on things! Hopefully the Whitman/Lane combo will mean some focus on stuff HP does well, and some repair of the damage which that insane expense MH did. (As you can tell Mr Hurd wouldn't be on my Christmas card list).

The fact that HP has been through so many CEOs and strategies in such an insanely short period of time pretty much validates what I said. HP is a directionless mess atm.

[crossy]

The fact that HP has been through so many CEOs and strategies in such an insanely short period of time pretty much validates what I said. HP is a directionless mess atm.

I'm going to politely disagree again. Look at the facts:

Mark Hurd (pauses to spit) was pretty settled, and the fact that he'd cut into the "bone" with his "headcount reductions" and morale was in the toilet mattered not to the board. Unfortunately for him, there was first that uncertainty with that female consultant/assistant and then he was found to have lied to the board (about his fiddling of expenses if memory serves). Since lying to the board is a major league issue, he had to go. (and the rest of us nearly got deafened by the cheers)

That left them without a CEO. Now a sensible group probably should have done as IBM have done, and promoted in the head of the services division - Ann Livermore (a long term HPer). For whatever reason, and I'm guessing the board took fright and decided they needed a "name" that would be acceptable to Wall St, they decided to frantically look for a replacement outside. At that point Leo Apotheker was available, so he got offered the job.

Leo did a (as far as I'm concerned) darned good job of trying to rebuild some pride and staff morale. Unfortunately, he didn't seem to grasp that HP != SAP and therefore building stuff is core to the company. Therefore his "strategy" this year of moving HP entirely to services was counter to the "soul" of the company. Scrapping webOS is a 50/50 decision, but the twin mistakes of paying that much for Autonomy and trying to throw away a profit-making, and market-leading division. So he had to go, and urgently, before Wall St totally tanked the HP share price.

That left the board short of a CEO again (what's that saying about to lose one manager is unfortunate, but two looks like carelessness?). And it's at this point they brought in Ray Lane to head the board, with Meg Whitman as new CEO. Again, poor old Ann Livermore gets passed over!

The problem here is not necessarily with the CEO (apart from Mark Hurd), but the board. And that doesn't really stop the folks on the ground knowing what they're doing - products are still being designed, and stuff still being sold. I can't see Whitman/Lane repeating the mistakes that Hurd made, and I'm praying that they know enough about "products" not to repeat the Apotheker mistakes either. Perhaps, Meg W is merely a stop gap, and eventually they'll follow IBM's lead and Ann Livermore will be CEO.

At the end of the day, as long as I've got a job, and they keep paying my salary, I'm happy. Same as most people.

[aidanjt]

I'm going to politely disagree again. Look at the facts:

[...]

At the end of the day, as long as I've got a job, and they keep paying my salary, I'm happy. Same as most people.

All of those facts validate my assertion, not detract from it. The only reason why HP hasn't completely collapsed is because their workers aren't complete morons and management are too busy ripping chunks out of each to get in the way of the workers.