HP and Its Glorious DEC and Compaq Past
October 1, 2015
Gentle reader, I know you remember that beloved Alta Vista once was a Hewlett Packard property. Ah, what might have been.
I though about HP’s muffed bunnies when I read “Carly Fiorina’s Legacy as CEO of Hewlett Packard.” The write up summarizes an academic approach to figuring out what happened at HP before Carly Fiorina was replaced by Mark Hurd was replaced by Leo Apotheker was replaced by Meg Whitman.
What type of manager was Ms. Fiorina? Here’s the objective assessment in the article:
When Fiorina came to HP, the culture that she walked into was very much “aim, aim, aim and fire” — a slow culture, during a time when companies were moving very fast. In that context, she was what we want our change leaders to be — bold and disruptive. One of her moves was to buy Compaq, which had a fast moving “Internet” culture — “aim, fire, fire, re-aim, fire.”
I assume that approach contributed to the slow, steady decline of the Alta Vista search system.
Who benefited from HP’s handling of Alta Vista? I would suggest the Alphabet Google thing.
Stephen E Arnold, October 1, 2015
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