“In January 2002, when I was still Editor of the technology business magazine Red Herring, I conceived an open letter from the editors of that magazine to Carly Fiorina, the CEO of Hewlett-Packard. It’s first line: ‘Dear Ms. Fiorina, Please Resign.’ Wednesday’s announcement that Fiorina had been pushed from the executive suite provided only the grimmest of pleasures. I was gratified to be proven right. But the company will probably never be what it once was. That’s as close to a tragedy as business offers,” Brad King and Michelle Delio write for TechnologyReview.com.
“The letter was written during the contentious debate over whether HP should purchase the ailing computer manufacturer, Compaq. I felt sure the merger was a terrible idea. But my beef with Fiorina went beyond the Compaq merger. She represented all that was wrong with celebrity CEOs and their fixation on Wall Street. More, her management style was horribly incongruous with the traditions of HP,” King and Delio write. “I love Hewlett-Packard because the company founded by Bill Hewlett and David Packard was egalitarian, technologically minded, and geeky. For decades, HP was the ideal of Silicon Valley entrepreneurialism to which all other companies aspired.”
“Just after the official announcement came down that CEO Carly Fiorina would be sacked, corks were popped and bottles were opened. There was little time for empathy. No pangs of sadness. Inside the company, workers openly celebrated their liberation from “Her Royal Horribleness,” a nickname bestowed upon Fiorina for her abrasive treatment of line workers. There was little love lost between the CEO and the 151,000 HP workers who have, almost consistently since 1999, made hating their boss a very personal, full-time mission. ‘When the news was officially announced this morning, people were dancing — literally dancing — around their cubicles,’ an employee in the business division writes in an email,” King and Delio write.
Full article here.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Hewlett-Packard ousts CEO Carly Fiorina, and what was with that ‘Apple iPod by HP’ deal anyway? – February 09, 2005
They can blame all of their troubles on Carly, but the same ugly monsters will still be there when they come back to work.
There may be some who dance, but Carly has also had many supporters inside HP. Myself included, a nineteen year HP’er. I personally find the company much strong now then it was six years ago directly attributable to Carly’s tough, driving leadership at the top.
Many (‘most’) men have a problem with females running the show. This sort of overreaction is typical.
I don’t care how many points you can list against her, you’re still a misogynist.
Many (‘most’) men have a problem with females running the show. This sort of overreaction is typical.
I don’t care how many points you can list against her, you’re still a misogynist.
Unfortunately, women have to be more aggressive than men to get anywhere in corporate society. Then they get labeled as b–chs for stuff that men can get away with.
Sexism is still rampant in corporate America.
Well, even though I don’t think it is necessary for Apple, I hope this doesn’t chill the hPod deal. The more Apple can continue to establish themselves as the standard, the better.
Day #1 CEO of HP gets ousted.
Day #2 MDN sings and dances about it, stabbing a ally of Apple in the back.
Day #3 New CEO of HP makes a successful hostile bid for Apple.
Day #4 MDN is now HPDN berates Steve Jobs
SPEW VILE, IT BECOMES YOU
Women generally only need to be JUST AS aggressive as men.
But men are allowed to be–women are punished and hated for IDENTICAL behavior.
A women is a b**** for doing the same thing that makes a man an assertive leader. 51% of the population needs no reminder of that.
There’s no question that SOME of that is going on with Carly–or any female exec. It may or may not be the only reason she didn’t get along with the board–but a woman standing up to a male-dominated board will NOT get the same reaction as a man doing the same.
All of this hullaballoo over Fiorina seems a little unpleasant to be honest, especially when it’s coming from people whose only reason to dislike her is the fact that she was CEO of a competitor to Apple.
People talk about the merger with Compaq as being over-expensive, but fail to realise that the alternative would have been to gift the business market completely to Dell: Neither HP servers, nor HP desktops had any credibility in the real enterprise space before the merger. Conversely, Compaq had no concept of how to market itself in the consumer space.
As someone who preaches the Joy of Macintosh, but recognises the pragmatic realities of where we are today, I’d still rather deal with a ProLiant server and SmartStart CDs than the Dell alternative – and I’m none too fussed whether it says HP on the fron or Compaq.
The real problem with the merger is that it took so long to convince a sceptical shareholder community, that both HP and Compaq took their eye off the ball from a product development point of view, which led to several product lines falling behind the curve.
The simple reality is that – from an IT product POV – HP without Compaq was becoming irrelevant (unless you owned a printer), and Compaq without HP was going to die the death of a thousand cuts. She probably saved more than she’s given credit for, and she shouldn’t be blamed for the fact that the computing market has been in the dumps since 9/11.
What would people have preferred that she do? Turn HP into another Dell?
All I can say is be very careful what you wish for , lest your wish be granted.
I somehow doubt that HP will suddenly become a more successful company as a result. Fact is they have long been living in the past and Fiorina was trying to change the stagnating corporate style to make it more competitive heading towards a very different future. Whether you agree with her decisions or not you can’t argue with her attitude that HP needed a new vision, it had gotten into a rut.
Get the decisions wrong and indeed you may have a quicker death, be it either instigator or company (at least in terms of being significant in the tech world) but it doesnt mean that the need to change is any less necessary. Apple took similar decisions when SJ returned and those decisions too were roundly criticised by many (some still do) but where would the company be if those risks had not been taken. If the former cosyness returns HP will simply decline albeit slowly.
No comments on Fiorina’s management style and who did or did not like her, but I think its amazing that the article’s argument was that a focus on innovation and NOT Wall Street would have been more beneficial to HP. Traditionally speaking, Wall Street is all about Wall Street, and so is the tech industry. Look at how Apple’s stock price were punished for years for not focusing on getting more, and more money, but on innovation and creating great products. Apple’s stock is doing great now, but let’s face it, typically Wall Street prefers companies whose focus is on profits at all cost—including Christmas layoffs, slashed research budgets, and mediocre products.
Then they get labeled as b–chs for stuff that men can get away with.
—-
Oh stuff like.. uh.. BEING MEN?!
Yes that’s usually the case.. and when guys listen to Clay Aiken or the Backstreet Boys, they get labeled as wussies, or homos..
Aw, shucks.. what an unfair world we live in…
Why do women feel they have to be CEO’s?
Well, the reason is that a female version of POWER and SUCCESS, goes ignored in today’s society.
Since the feminist movement started rolling back in the, er, 1800’s(?) women have decided that while they see no shame in being housewives, their husbands most certainly DO.
So men, we created these women: aggressive, ambitious, competitive, vigilant, brilliant, inspiring.
But sexy? Not on your life.
You can whine all you want about the double standard… IF YOU CEASE TO ACT LIKE A FEMALE, it’s not a double standard because you’re barely female anymore.
Just because you have the equipment, doesn’t mean you’re a woman.
To put things in perspective, think about a man being the successor to Martha Stewart’s company, or the successor to Oprah. Is that man, with all his sensibilities, attractive?
Well Mike, way to make my point. You’ve done a wonderful job of showing the sexism that exists in corporate America. So apparently, aggressiveness is a male trait? And women who are aggressive and ambitious are being male?
Whatever, I’m not going to bother to respond to your stereotypical comments. There’s just so much idiocy, and I have better things to do.
So apparently, aggressiveness is a male trait? And women who are aggressive and ambitious are being male?
—-
Yup. And now you’re insulted? Man.. that sucks. Who says that has to be an insult? That’s the real question.
By the way, since you’re such an aggressive girl.. don’t suppose you were glued to the Superbowl on Sunday and wanna recap the game for me huh?
PS, The ‘you proved my point’ response is so childish, especially since you refuse to defend yourself. Calling me an idiot because I have a point of view that is, well, Darwinian and logical.. just shows you don’t wanna do anything but yell “SEXISM!” then run away.
Merges like Compaq-HP happen because of the danger of one of them going under and the other having nothing but bad news to declare. Take AOL-T/W for instance … Case’s timing was impeccable — just before the tech crash.
In Carly’s case, one should look at her pay-out. No doubt she’s laughing all the way to the bank and looking forward to a long stress-free holiday. The people dancing around the cubicles are like laughing in the face of danger/tragedy.
V-Train has it right!
Sexism is still rampant in corporate America!
mike wrote: “To put things in perspective, think about a man being the successor to Martha Stewart’s company, or the successor to Oprah. Is that man, with all his sensibilities, attractive?”
I didn’t realize that the goal of a CEO was to be “attractive.” Besides, many women (and some men) *would* find that successor to be attractive. You’re just bringing your own bias against strong women into the argument.
And please don’t sully the name of Darwin with your small-minded claptrap.
I’m with MCCFR on this one. When I ordered new computers for our small non-profit, I got an Apple for myself and HP’s the rest of the way around. They were the best deal I found. Our outside consultant came in to set things up and he had rarely dealt with HP’s (and never Apple). He wasn’t very excited about it, but once he opened up the Proliant server, he was impressed. The SmartStart cd’s did the same thing. He felt like we got very good products from HP (and I know I got a good product from Apple!). I don’t know a whole lot about HP, but I know we got good hardware at a good price. The bashing of Carly has had the air of discrimination from the beginning. It’s like the big pile of crap in the middle of the room that people are afraid of talking about.
Better news to read would be Steve Ballmer ousted from Microsoft.
Now that would be news!
And then the new CEO would embrace the iPod music format as a show that it wants to work with others….
Who is this “Darwin” you guys are talking about? No mention of him(?) in any of my textbooks.
Sexism was not the issue except in the realm of Monday morning quarterbacking. Carly was not the right leader for a company in the condition that HP was in. Her solution? Take Compaq. Many CEO’s with a financial bent somehow find it necessary to make things bigger. It diverts attention from the more recalcitrant problems a company often has. Others find a solution in breaking a company up. I think Carly’s strategy reflected her ego. Different time, different company, this might have worked. Not with HP, a company founded on a egalitarian work ethic. Although some members of the board were not on her side with the Compaq deal, she got her way. Was it a brilliant strategy? Well, if she measures leadership by performance (ie., quantitatively speaking) she fails by her own measure. But a different women with a different style might have found enormous success. Hey, there were a lot of men standing shoulder to shoulder with Carly. Their “maleness” did not help HP succeed. It was the wrong person, wrong time, result. Happens all too frequently in the business world.
Hey, ‘Vagina-Train’ and ‘Ruth’:
What’s with all the misogynist talk? Can’t you see that men don’t want to be neutered by the women they sleep with? No, I keed. But seriously, come on over to my place, you silly bitches. I’ll be more than happy to show you what Carly did wrong! Yessss! Yessss, that’s it. You know you’ve been bad girls. Come on, you know you want it.
BTW, to look at alternate strategies, look at what IBM is doing with their PC business. Long before Carly, HP made it their mission to be a top player in the PC business. Carly just carried through on that. The Compaq merger allowed them to briefly fulfill that mission. But, because of MS and Dell, it turned out to be a dead end. If Carly had been a great CEO she would have realized that the mission she inherited was just wrong. I have to say I admire IBM. Most companies fear such bold moves, even when they have no choice.
And buying Compaq was a bold move. Just the wrong one. So, Carly, in the time frame in which she is being assessed, got it wrong and now she is gone. And so it goes…
Wow. There’s a whole lot of misperceptions and perpetuation of myth flying around here on topics ranging from gender differences to corporate politics to the reasons why Carly was unsuccessful. Ricki seems to be the one who really nailed it.
“Dancing in the cubicles”
Those misogynistic bastards.
‘When the news was officially announced this morning, people were dancing — literally dancing — around their cubicles,’ an employee in the business division writes in an email,” King and Delio write.
Does it saysmen were dancing? Why do men get the blames and get accused of being misogynists all the time? Can’t people have a legitimate reason to despise a CEO’s leadership unless the CEO is a man? Suppose Darl McBride got fired and people rejoiced, will we hear this “misogynistic” talks? For those who believe in equality, why can’t women be as bad as men at being executives?
Look, I am not saying that there aren’t men who hate executives just because they are female. But jumping to conclusion and broadly accuse all of misogynism is going too far. This is the problem with today’s PC America and Europe. People can’t have unpopular opinions without being branded racists, fascists, sexists, misogynists, chauvinists. We must tolerate everything including intolerance as not to offend a minority group (yes, I am a part of a minority group).
“What would people have preferred that she do? Turn HP into another Dell?”
No, people (read: shareholders), would have preferred that she liberate the highly profitable printer business by spinning it off into its own company. THEN the remainder of the business could have pursued a merger with Compaq.
No one’s arguing that it wasn’t desperation time on the PC side of the business. The problem is that, by merging the whole company, she essentially devalued the printer business.
Read the full-length Fortune article, if you can. (Someone posted an account number to read the article about Steve Jobs and it works for that article as well.)
How many feminist cliches can you whiny idiots recite in one thread? You know what? Equality isn’t confined to only the good stuff. It also means that when you screw up, EVEN IF YOU ARE A WOMAN, there are ramifications. Okay? Got it? Fiorina screwed up, from a purely, objective, analytical point of view. She doesn’t get the kid glove treatment just because she is a woman. She’s not the only one that matters in all this. There are many, many people that depend on HP for their livelihood, and they matter at least as much as Fiorina.
Look, men get fired all the time. Everyday in fact, men are fired, and no one sheds a tear. But when it happens to a woman, in every single case, every idiot on the face of the planet comes out of the woodwork and begins that familiar whine. Women want equality? That means they too can get fired if they’re not up to the task or if they screw up. SHE SCREWED UP? Do you realize how ridiculous it sounds to say that she’s the victim of sexism when in fact she was given the position of CEO of a major tech company in the first place? Why didn’t all of that rampant sexism keep her from getting the job at all?
Are we all obliged to hold women to a different standard, a lower standard, and treat them differently than men, treat them better than men? What part of that sounds like equality? Every time something like this happens, I NEVER hear these whiny feminist types say, “Yes, she deserved to be fired. She was incompetent.” Or, “Yes, Martha Stewart got what she deserved. She broke the law after all”. No, it’s always, “They’re picking on the women again, Boo hoo hoo, whaaaaaa” (suck thumb and pout).
Are women perfect? Are women always good? No, on both counts. Does it really not enter your thinking that women should have to play by the same rules as the men do? Again, equality doesn’t only apply to the good stuff, as in, being made CEO of a major company. It also applies to the other stuff, like getting fired when you screw up. Can you get your small minds around that?
And by the way, the days are over when feminists can throw around tired and over-used words like “misogynist” and look anything other than pathetic. You don’t win arguments by trotting out your pet words, as if they are the argumentative equivalent of a nuclear bomb. I know, I know, it’s just not fair. You should be able to call someone a misogynist with no proof whatsoever and everyone within earshot needs to run and crawl in their hole to escape the accusation. Well, it’s a new world, and the old ways don’t work anymore. Grow up and get over yourselves! Understand?
The feminist mantra: Give us everything we want, when we want it, and how we want it. Apply lower standards to us than you would apply to men. Hire us, but never ever fire us. And if you don’t, we’re going to whine and cry like spoiled little girls.
Carol Bartz of Autodesk needs to go. She needed to go 10 years ago. She too is abrasive of the workers. She has squandered many opportunities, and has surrounded herself with cronies. I am so glad to be away from Autodesk, but feel sorry for those who are still there. Carol is like Carly, but in a much smaller world.
And it has nothing to do with Carol being a woman. Meg Whitman of eBay does a great job.
Get back to your garden, Carol Bartz. You’ve overstayed your welcome.
Mac content: It was Carol that killed the Mac and Unix versions of AutoCAD.
Ruth wrote:
Sexism is still rampant in corporate America!
**********
And what objectively verifiable evidence have you of this, Ruth? Wait, let me guess. Woman’s intuition, right?
Al wrote:
“Dancing in the cubicles”
Those misogynistic bastards.
******************************
Al, I’d be interested to know exactly what clairvoyant powers you possess that would enable you to look into the hearts and minds of those people dancing in their cubicles and assess their exact motivation for doing so. Please explain, or else admit that you’re a dumb ass. And no, there’s not a third option.
I find it amazing that whenever a publication says something negative about Apple, we flay around citing bias and ignorance. But when a publication says something negative about another company or CEO, it immediately becomes an arbiter of truth and wisdom.
Let’s take an analogy: I know another business (Company X) where a simple, easy-to-understand product is effectively defining the performance of Company X, both in pure financial terms and as an investment, over the traditional and more complex products that X has normally sold.
Selling off the highly profitable division will either a) generate a huge amount of working capital for Company X or (more likely for tax reasons) b) a return to the shareholders. In both scenarios, Company X returns to the mire of being a marginal supplier in its traditional marketplace.
So the question for all those who think that HP should have spun out the inkjet business is…
Should Apple spin out its iPod/iTMS operations?
BTW, there is a right answer and a wrong answer.
Agression, power at any cost, cruelty, sadism, cheating, lying, greed – whilst not exclusively male traits, men have certainly cornered the market.
Afterall, how many wars have been started by women?
None.
The world would be a better place if we left women to sort things out.
Stuart wrote:
The world would be a better place if we left women to sort things out.
********************
Man, have you been neutered or what? And by the way, are you not the slightest bit embarassed at having uttered YET ANOTHER TIRED CLICHE that we’ve all heard over the years ad nauseum. And what’s more, you say it like you’re the first one to have ever said it. You’re a disgustingly stupid human being. Do you know that?
You want women running the world and yet they can’t even handle one of their own being fired without whining like little girls. And as long as your counting all the wars that have been started by men, let’s count the good things also, shall we?
Here’s your assignment:
In one column list all of the great male inventors, great male thinkers, great male artists, great male scientists, and great male composers, poets, and playwrights. Then, in the other column, list all of the great female thinkers, great female scientists, great female artists, great female inventors, and great female composers, poets, and playwrights. Go on, don’t be scared, be intellectually honest and do it. Now, which one of those columns is extraordinarily longer than the other. Which column dwarfs the other, as if to make it nearly nonexistent. Huh? Which one, dumb ass?. And no, you don’t get to fall back on any tired cliches like, “Oh, well men have always kept women from doing these things”. No, quit the blame game and quite the excuses. If we’re going to count bad stuff done by men, then we’re also going to count the good stuff done by men.
So, are you still having fun counting what one sex has done and the other hasn’t? My guess would be, no, you’re not. Now why don’t you go to the feminist crowd and get down on your knees and beg them to let you have your balls back.
Potato
P-O-T-A-T-O-E, potato.
Afterall, how many wars have been started by women?
depends on if you define “caused by” as “started”
^_^
Women and men, although equal, generally have different strengths and different weaknesses. They even learn differently. There’s no shame in that. If that weren’t the case, then what would we need each for? It’d be boring to be with someone who was exactly like you.
Let them eat cake.
Shove it!
To each, according to his needs, from each according to his ability.
It takes a village.
we will smoke them out of their holes.
I voted FOR the $85 billion before I voted AGAINST it.
These documents may have been fake, but we believe their content to be true.
It depends on what the meaning of “is” is.
Let’s not over-hype this election. (Said on the day of the recent Iraqi establishment of a democratic government.)
Oops,
I’m sorry but I don’t think your argument has much validity.
Regarding your assignment given to Stuart…
The fact is, throughout history women have been handicapped in just about every aspect of life except for making babies. Only in recent times have women been allowed to more fully explore their ambitions and potential. The lack of opportunities can make it very hard to reach make a name for oneself. You might as well have asked Stuart to name all the famous black baseball players in 1900. I can’t think of any, and why not do you suppose?
Additionally, you put too much faith in history books. You apparently don’t realize that history is written by people with power. And very few women had power.
The truth of the matter is that this world has been shaped equally by men and women. To blind oneself to the impact that women have on the world or to reduce their abilities to something low enough that it won’t threaten your ego is plain foolishness.
Not that this has anything to do with the HP situation. In fact, I even agree with your statement that women should be held just as accountable as a man. But your basic attitude that women are inferior to men and that any man that doesn’t agree with you has lost sight of his manhood is complete idiocy. That kind of attitude is why “Sexism is still rampant in corporate America!” and I’m sorry but I do not have a specific link that points to “objectively verifiable evidence” but then again, all of your information is based on biased history lessons or relative perceptions.
Remember, the first computer programmers were women, but I’m sure no one is ever going to remember their names. Society remembers what they want to remember (or what reinforces their perception on life).
Whether or not her ouster had anything to her sex, the fact remains, men and women alike in the company are dancing in the aisles. Personally, I think women are the greatest creation ever, but they are not usually (not always) good leaders. My wife even says she’s much rather work with men than women and have a man boss because of all the aggression she sees from women. Women are the best, just not the best at everything.
H-P is a printer cartridge company.
Fiorina was a failure.
The rest is just noise.
King Alvarez,
Sorry to get your panties in a bind, but I’m afraid I have some disappointing news for you. I’ve heard all of that tired horse shit many times before. The blame games, the excuses, the historical revisionism, the armchair Freudian analysis crapola, and all the rest. Yes, yes, I don’t hold to the politically correct positions that have been decided by others and therefore my “ego is threatened” blah blah blah, ad nauseum ad infinitum. (Or you can insert “maculinity” for the word “ego” just to vary things a bit.)
Your problem is that you want me to think women are just as capable of higher thinking and higher creativity as men are without having a shred of evidence to back it up. I can’t just think something because the politically correct crowd thinks that I should. I need a better reason than that. If that makes you want to call me a misogynist, then go ahead and do that, but I can assure you that I am incapable of being manipulated by such fallaciousness. I don’t believe things to be true just because some people think they OUGHT to be true. Have you ever seen the test results gauging the comparative spatial skills of men and women? If you haven’t, then I would recommend sitting down before you ever do, because it’s going to knock you on your ass. And no, again I have to say, you can’t just keep making up excuses.
You can’t just rewrite history because history is inconvenient to the cause. Look, it is what it is. You’re going to have to face that. There aren’t any secret great female composers, nor has there been any conspiracy to keep them from trying.
Furthermore, you didn’t even get the real reason why I posted what I posted. It was a response to the selective history lesson that we were all blessed with by Stuart. The blaming of the ills of the world on men. If it’s fair to make a negative comparison, then it’s ALSO fair to make a positive one – like the one that I made. Sorry to tell you that equality is not ALWAYS convenient. You seem to think I’m obligated to let ridiculous statements like the one made by Stuart stand without question. Well, I’m not going to do that.
Additionally, it has apparently escaped your grasp that I was speaking in general terms. I make no assessment of the potential of anyone on an individual basis. And I never said or implied that women were inferior. You’re just hearing what you want to hear. You’re pigeon-holing my main point into one of those preset defaults that are the favorite of every politically correct drone.
As for your black baseball player analogy; well, it falls apart quite readily. You’re talking about organized team sports. I was talking about intellectual disciplines and accomplishments that lie entirely within the realm of individual achievement. And again, I realize that people like you have an excuse to explain away every inconvenient fact, but at the end of the day, an excuse is still just an excuse.
You, and people like you are going to have to accept that reality may just be at odds with your politically correct mindset. Reality makes no apologies and asks for no permission. It is what it is. In short, you’re not general manager of the universe.
Now. if you and some others don’t like the tone of all this, bear in mind that it could have been easily avoided if only the feminist crowd could have resisted their usual urge to whine when equality jumps up and bites them on the ass.
Additionally, I cannot garner any dates.
Would anyone want to wager why?
I always know when I’ve won the argument when people start posting under my screen name in a sophomoronic attempt to, well, to do what I do not know. Anyway, such is the case directly above.
Great, now there are two imposters impersonating me.
Please disregard the above 2 postings.
oops,
The above imposters are unfortunate, with that said…
yes, my baseball analogy is referring to organized sports, but organized sports is a reflection of society. Baseball only acted on the values of society. Those values, incidentally, also affected women.
Anway, your viewpoint is on one extreme, and feminists are on the other. I do not agree with either. I just think life in general is a little easier and enjoyable when people are not needlessly cynical about matters. If it can be proven that women are threatening the survival of mankind, then I would completely take your side. If it can be proven that man is the source of human’s ills, then I would side with the feminists. Since I doubt either is the case, I am going to enjoy life in the middle where I assume the best of people and their abilities until proven otherwise. Hopefully your philosophies are not adding unnecessary anxiety to what seems to be an already tense life.
What can I say? My opinion draws raised eyebrows.
I really don’t believe the drivel I am spewing. It’s just to raise discussion, that’s all.
There are not two imposters. There is only the one. Someone is playing childish games for lack of anything better to do. The two posts above that begin with “Additionally…” and “Great, now there…” are both from the same clueless wonder. And any additional posts made here by “Oops” will also be made by the idiot because my work is done here and I won’t be posting anymore on this subject or on this thread.
Carly screwed up. Period. Over 10,000 people lost their job because of a moronic acquisition and a lack of a coherent strategy.
She deserves to be fired for her failed execution and strategy.
And it’s not because she is a woman. It’s because she failed miserably.
Hey, Oops;
My offer stands for you too. Come on over to my place and I’ll give you everything you need. I’m Triumph. I got it goin’ on, baby. I’m not keeding. And no — I won’t poop on you. Well, not unless you’re into that.
And come to think of it, why not hook up with Vulva-Train and Ruth up above before you get here. That way we can make it a real sweaty, humping foursome. Come onnnnn, you know it’s what you need!!!
Retro cat:
People lose jobs in mergers & acqusitions – that’s one of the many reasons why the sums add up.
As for the lack of a coherent strategy, I don’t even follow HP that closely and I could tell what she was trying to do – namely turn HP into the “digital hub” company of the WIntel world.
The problems for Carly were that a) if one of your major costs is fixed and difficult to negotiate (i.e. Windows of whatever flavour), there is a pricing base below which you cannot compete and that b) if you have Dell, Gateway and others continually cutting prices to remain competitive, you ultimately run into people who understand the cost of everything and the value of nothing.
The Wintel market is – at the end of the day – a tank full of piranhas who are intent on devouring each other, which is why Apple should be thankful that it has key differentiators that keep it away from the cess pit that is the “mainstream” industry.