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From: shull@scrolls.wharton.upenn.edu (Christopher E. Shull)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.hp,comp.sys.apollo
Subject: Re: Humble opinions on HP's strategy...
Summary: HP must focus efforts
Message-ID: <44994@netnews.upenn.edu>
Date: 21 Jun 91 18:20:15 GMT
References: <1991Jun19.133356.14253@spatial.com> <1991Jun20.114958.27464@bwdls61.bnr.ca> <1991Jun21.053010.797@spatial.com>
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In article <1991Jun21.053010.797@spatial.com> alek@spatial.com ( Alek O.
Komarnitsky ) writes at some length to defend HP's focus on their new 700
Series of workstations at the expense of the installed base.  I concur.

HP must focus on the 700's and implementing OSF/1, DCE, Motif, ANDF, DME
and so on, or risk doing many things poorly.  There is sufficient danger
in trying to do one thing well!  For those of you who have complained about
HP being overly concerned with financial results, I would point out that
this complaint is usually leveled at companies who take short-sighted
positions in order to improve short term profitability.  HP is doing quite
the opposite -- pissing off many current customers, who are the usual
source of short-term revenue, in order to position themselves as best they
can to meet your computing needs in the future.

Their strategy is to encourage DomainOS users to switch to 700's.  This
makes sense for everyone in the long run.  In the short run, there will
be much pain as third-party applications and home-grown code is ported.
The persnickity preferences of system's administrators for particular
commands (albeit useful ones) should have as little bearing on the choice
of a company's workstations as petty greivances better long forgotten.

-Chris

Christopher E. Shull                    shull@wharton.upenn.edu
Decision Sciences Department            shull@desci.wharton.upenn.edu
The Wharton School                      University of Pennsylvania
3620 Locust Walk                        voice: 215/898-5930
Philadelphia, PA  19104-6366            fax:   215/898-3664
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"Damn the torpedoes!  Full speed ahead!"  Admiral Farragut, USN, 1801-1870
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