carly struggles on
Carly Struggles On - CRN seems to be going very easy on Carly regarding the HP-Compaq merger plans. The “Hard Deck” strategy she mentions is somewhat similar to the new engagement model Microsoft announced recently that has caused consternation among customers who didn’t make the list. Applying this to Compaq channel might be tricky.
CNET reports on Walter Hewlett’s response to the HP Board’s famous “musician and academic” slam: “You seek to discredit Walter Hewlett, questioning his right to speak up as a director and shareholder–a strange assertion in light of the recent events at Enron,” Gaither wrote in the letter. “A director and shareholder should speak out concerning a matter submitted for shareholder approval if he believes the transaction is not in the best interests of the shareholders, and indeed, that it might jeopardize the future of this great company.”
Walter also spoke up regarding today’s earnings announcement, saying “I am pleased to see Hewlett-Packard continue (sic) to perform well. These results further confirm that Hewlett-Packard does not need to acquire Compaq.” Again I think that this article shows a pro-Carly bias on CRN’s part. First, they fail to mention the part about today’s earnings report that warned of extra expenses for things like advertising to the shareholders to support the merger. And the “sic” in the above quote was added by CRN, who apparently thought that “continue” was bad grammar and took pleasure in portraying Walter to be sloppy. However, the use of “continue” is perfectly legitimate, and is in fact more appropriate than “continues” in this context.
I am sure that much of the “controversy” of the merger is just sensationalizing by the press, and perhaps CRN is presenting a more balanced view than any of the other journals. But they sure seem to be avoiding the hard questions.