Hewlett-Packard turning into mush?

[PhotonBoy]

HP, once a powerful, innovative company run by a couple of brilliant engineers, seems to be turning into mush now. Their computer equipment in the past was robust, unique, powerful and reliable. Their calculators were peerless. Today, they're simply cranking out me-too Intel and M$-based hardware competing with the likes of Dell and Gateway.
Mysteriously, they spun off their test equipment into the Agilent division, losing the top-drawer reputation that accompanied their excellent test gear. Now, HP is putting their name on the iPod from Apple. HP's prospects for the future appear dim to me. They've really lost the HP-way.
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon23.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/poke2.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mecry.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsdown.gif

 

[Screehopper]

About 2-3 years ago HP closed their Unix Research and laid off all the senior scientists in that department. They also got rid of the calculator department so HP may be contracting out part of the work for their new calculators. I miss their single-line reverse-polish notation scientific calculators. Their new calculators are not selling as well, but their older models seem to have a really strong sales in the used market. At 4-5 times their original cost!

 

[eluminator]

I gotta say a few words for HP. I have a 4 year old HP computer that works just fine. It came in a small case, which is good, but it was noisy. I put it in a larger case with a larger fan, and it's excellent.

I just got a free bottom-of-the-line HP digital camera with a software purchase. My neice just got a much more expensive Sony camera for Christmas. The HP is so much better designed there's no comparison. The HP is simple, and easy. Anyone can take a decent picture by just turning it on and pushing the shutter button. You need an advanced degree in obfuscation to begin to be able to take a picture with the Sony. To even figure out how to tell if the batteries are getting weak you need to read a very thick manual from cover to cover about 4 times. I could go on for pages about the comparison, but I will simply repeat.
The HP is vastly superior.

 

[KC2IXE]

HP's been mush since Carly took over. This comes from a loyal HP fan

 

[PhotonBoy]

Trying to be the best follower instead of the best leader is a failing strategy if you ask me. Dell's distribution strategy is better than HP's so it's a losing game for them.

 

[DrJ]

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[BentHeadTX]

HP,
I have one of their calculators, jeez...it is now 9 years old! Ti82 or something along those lines, it works fine. I gave up on HP back in 96 when my expensive ink jet died, I troubleshot it, found the bad part and called HP to get another part. After talking to the guy for 8 minutes at $1.25/minute...he told me I was right but they don't sell parts to consumers!
I called Epson's 1-800 number (not 900 like HP) and they would sell me a buffer board for my fictional printer at a cost of $13. Told the guy I was just checking Epson's technical support VS HP and he laughed, he says it happens all the time. Purchased an Epson Color 800 in October, 1996 and it still prints to this day.
Let HP die, they have destroyed "The HP Way" and their computers are really Compaq... To me, they are already dead so it will play out in the business books on how not to run a company. HP has lost it's way.

 

[Frangible]

HP was ****ed before Carly started ruining it even more. They got rid of their Corvallis (laptop, palmtop, calculator) division years ago, and turned from an engineering company to a lame marketing one, much like Packard Bell.

Most of their scientists and engineers have been fired. They now only care about making cheap chinese outsourced crap and a quick buck.

 

[Empath]

I'm trying to see some purpose in this thread, but can't. So, I take it, you're calling HP trash, and designating all those that use and prefer HP fools.

What's your purpose?

 

[tiktok 22]

I to think HP is on a downward spiral with Dell nipping at their heels. I don't think they will go away, but think they are certainly loosing their customer base.

 

[Double_A]

I agree hp has really gone down hill in the last 5-10 years and Carly has sped up that process. Sad to see it happen.

GregR

 

[Negeltu]

I use an HP Pavilion... AMD Athlon XP 1800+... 80gig hd...512MB DDR RAM... Best system I've ever owned. Haven't had any trouble since I got it. I was under the impression that HP pc's are HP pc's... Where do you get they are compaq's?? Compaq was bought out...or merged with HP I thought... I had a compaq before HP took them over... and that thing locked up every day... I think compaqs are better today...because of merging with HP.

 

[PhotonBoy]

Purpose? Watching history in action while lamenting the loss of a once powerful industry force, I guess.

Steve Wozniak of Apple fame used to work there. He must be shaking his head in disbelief now. He offered his original Apple design to them and was rebuffed.

 

[Ginseng]

But she's enhancing shareholder value isn't she??? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif Isn't that what a CEO is for?

Wilkey

 

[jtice]

Dont count them out yet.

HP is very close to perfecting a brand new processor technology. With organic produced wires thousands of times thinner than any other CPU wire.

This process will allow CPUs to have hundreds of times more "switches".

HP has been switching around alot.
Actually, I would have to disagree with all of you. I didnt like HP before, but now, it seems they are making better stuff, and their computers, if reiable, are some of the most powerful computers for a very low price.

You also have to remember that they have resantly bought out Compaq.

 

[Empath]

[ QUOTE ]
PhotonBoy said:
Purpose? Watching history in action while lamenting the loss of a once powerful industry force, I guess.


[/ QUOTE ]

There's been a few decisions by HP that I'd prefer wasn't made myself. However, without even looking at where their bottom line is at the moment, I'd suspect that neither myself nor the kibitzers involved in this thread could have produced as profitable a bottom line.

[ QUOTE ]
PhotonBoy said:
Steve Wozniak of Apple fame used to work there. He must be shaking his head in disbelief now. He offered his original Apple design to them and was rebuffed.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm sorry, but you're going to have to explain to me how this was a mistake on HP's part. Letting a minor employee redirect a company into new fields and directions seems more irresponsible to me than telling him to take a hike. Just think, if HP had redirected their efforts into Wozniak's venture, Microsoft could have bailed them out of financial ruin instead of Apple. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif

 

[Ginseng]

Empath,

You'll forgive me if I don't see the purpose of your posts in this thread. Clearly a key part of the title "...turning into mush" indicates that the poster's purpose might not be to invite scholarly discourse into the fiscal, technological or organizational strategies of HP. Rather, this thread is an invitation to vent about some significant changes, some of which we can see and understand and some of which we cannot, in a monolithic, even iconic member of the Silicon Valley pantheon.

This is OT. OT on a flashlight BBS which means that everything posted here is necessarily peripheral to the central purpose of the BBS. That is, this is where we go to kibbitz to take a break from the very serious business of modding and using flashlights.

I'm speculating that you might be attempting to raise the level of discourse in this thread. To invite the presentation of evidence and rational dissection of the key issue. Well, I'm not sure what the key issue is and it really doesn't matter. I suppose someone could have just as easily have posted a thread titled "Apple Computer-Turning into mush?" sometime after Jobs left and Scully took over, or about IBM after Gerstner took over and they wouldn't have been wrong or irresponsible in doing so.

Let's take it down a notch. This might not be Barron's but it ain't "Phat Riderz and there(sic) Beotches"

Respectfully,
Wilkey

 

[DrJ]

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[TrevorNasko]

i have a pda ppc of theirs (525 jornada) and even tho my pc lacks the ports to sync up to it I still think it rocks. even in its impaired state it still exceeds expectations. i cannot say what the current stuff is like - i have not really looked at it but i will say that if i were in the market for one today i would not buy a hp.

 

[turbodog]

Interesting note on the calculators. The two I own are bringing some VERY nice prices on ebay. Might sell and buy maxabeam...