HP Uses Cash To Cover Up More Bad Business

Those of us in the software business joke about HP (HPQ) antics. Like Sun Microsystems (SUNW) before it, it has proven to be one of the worst run companies out there vis-a-vis software. In contrast to IBM (IBM), which at least has Steve Mills to generate return on investment, HP has no such person or strategy.

Back in May we gave a talk at the CA Council for Technical Excellence that focused on the missing "S" in SOA. The large technology vendors continue not to really get it from a business perspective. In fact during our research it became very clear that HP was the poster child for doing things the wrong way and even its OpenView product was going into the tank (CA (CA) was happy to hear this as is IBM I’m sure).

The truth is that for HP it doesn’t matter. Once it manages to destroy one set of products and lose the revenue, it will simply spend another $1B+ to buy in the revenue it lost. So we were not surprised by the Opsware (OPSW) purchase, although it happened sooner than we expected. Of course Marc Andreessen dutifully gushed at how this makes HP the "clear and overwhelming market leader" in the space. We’ll forgive him under the circumstances. After he watches HP "execute" the acquisition it may temper his enthusiasm.

Comments

[j.75035:]

Kris,
What do you make of Cisco's strategy of purchasing WebEx to get into the SaaS and SMB market?
Will this be successful and will they start eventually competing with SFDC's AppExchange? WebEx Connect was just starting to add partners when Cisco purchased them.

Thanks

2007 Jul 27 01:54 PM