Epic: HP buys Palm

[itlnstln]

Check it.

[Mercen_505]

I did not expect that, and certainly not for that price.

[itlnstln]

Neither did I.  HTC was the big rumor for awhile, but that apparently fell through.  HP is a big shock.

[ch_123]

I can never really take HP seriously as anything other than a printer company. One time myself and some friends were in college watching an old episode of Computer Chronicles about Unix workstations. They were showing off a HP one, and I made a joke to the effect "heh, it probably has an inbuilt printer".

I was absolutely horrified when they proceeded to demonstrate the computer's inbuilt printer...

[kode]

I did not expect that, and certainly not for that price.

With the HP handheld division, one sort of could've expected them to be a contender. But sure, that price was a bit surprising.

This makes me wonder whether HP will make a bid for SAP or not, they surely need to be in the ERP business to compete with the other big players. Oracle is a likely buyer of SAP too, but so is IBM, the only real competitor for ERP database backends that Oracle has, even if their policy really isn't so much to compete with their customers.

I can never really take HP seriously as anything other than a printer company. One time myself and some friends were in college watching an old episode of Computer Chronicles about Unix workstations. They were showing off a HP one, and I made a joke to the effect "heh, it probably has an inbuilt printer".

I was absolutely horrified when they proceeded to demonstrate the computer's inbuilt printer...

Now, now, they make really good switches, too. Really reliable stuff. Nowadays I almost tend to forget they even make printers.

[wellington1869]

good. I'm glad someone bought them. I have too many pleasant memories of toying with my old palm xiii, glad they didnt go bust. I hope HP makes webos viable and competitive (probably not) or at least cheap! (probably, and that would be good too).

[maclover]

Promising yes but calling this move epic would be an exaggeration. There are more words than epic and failure. Learn to use them. Everything isn't black and white. Try to move past the teenager mindset and vocabulary. I hope they keep the Palm brand.

[kishy]

There are more words than epic and failure.

There's also "epic failure" of course.

[wellington1869]

There's also "epic failure" of course.

and the "failed epic."

[EverythingIBM]

Now, now, they make really good switches, too. Really reliable stuff. Nowadays I almost tend to forget they even make printers.

Actually, IBM's switches are so much better and have a wider compatibility range. :nerd:

And I used many HP computers, pieces of junk. They do have fairly decent printers though! I got some HP dot matrix paper; really good texture to write on.

[Mercen_505]

Is that more or less you thought it would be?

Less. I'm not an expert in this sort of thing, but I was figuring they would go for 300-450 million. The Pre made a big splash but didn't manage to go anywhere, and their traditional PDA lines are dead in the water thanks to 'smartphones.'

[Rajagra]

I was more surprised when HP bought Compaq. And before that when Compaq bought DEC. How long before HP gets bought by a bigger fish? Maybe IBM? Microsoft? Apple? Stranger things have happened.

[wellington1869]

So it was a 25% premium over the closing stock price. Nice. I knew I should have played the takeover rumors. Damn.
That would have paid for an iPhone, lol.

[kode]

Actually, IBM's switches are so much better and have a wider compatibility range. :nerd:

And I used many HP computers, pieces of junk.

Have yet to see a single IBM switch, really, I guess I've been in the wrong datacenters. My computer club scored a few Extreme Blackdiamonds the other week, though. The next possible improvement is infiniband, I guess.

Well, the supercomputer guys I share breakroom with seem pretty happy using HP computers as nodes. Most of the failures are seagate disks freezing (yes, surprisingly hard drives doesn't like it too cold).

[TexasFlood]

Actually, IBM's switches are so much better and have a wider compatibility range. :nerd:

And I used many HP computers, pieces of junk. They do have fairly decent printers though! I got some HP dot matrix paper; really good texture to write on.

Have yet to see a single IBM switch, really, I guess I've been in the wrong datacenters. My computer club scored a few Extreme Blackdiamonds the other week, though. The next possible improvement is infiniband, I guess.

Well, the supercomputer guys I share breakroom with seem pretty happy using HP computers as nodes. Most of the failures are seagate disks freezing (yes, surprisingly hard drives doesn't like it too cold).

I haven't seen anything but Cisco in a datacenter in a long time.  An enterprise switch from any other manufacturer is a mythical beast to me, like a unicorn.  Firewalls, load balancers, yes, but not switches.  Even the switches in IBM Bladecenters are Cisco.

[hyperlinked]

Try to move past the teenager mindset and vocabulary. I hope they keep the Palm brand.

I think the GH vBulletin install is corrupted. Somehow the Troll Poll Hole thread and this one got mixed together.

[ch_123]

Actually, IBM's switches are so much better and have a wider compatibility range. :nerd:

[itlnstln]

Promising yes but calling this move epic would be an exaggeration. There are more words than epic and failure. Learn to use them. Everything isn't black and white. Try to move past the teenager mindset and vocabulary. I hope they keep the Palm brand.

Epic fail on this troll.  Wrong thread, chief.

[kishy]

I'm about one step away from a true ROFL here.

[ironcoder]

I can never really take HP seriously as anything other than a printer company. One time myself and some friends were in college watching an old episode of Computer Chronicles about Unix workstations. They were showing off a HP one, and I made a joke to the effect "heh, it probably has an inbuilt printer".

I was absolutely horrified when they proceeded to demonstrate the computer's inbuilt printer...

I'm surprised to hear you say that. HP once was to calculators what IBM is to computers (for those of us who don't think a PC is a computer, anyway). Their old stuff was absolutely without peer. I have a handful of HP calculators including an old HP-67 somewhere in mint condition. Nothing better.

Of course today HP is just a Microshaft (TM) business partner, but they do have some pretty impressive laurels.

[ironcoder]

I have no idea what this will mean for Palm. I always considered Palm kind of unique in that even when they became relatively big they still put out really good stuff and weren't just another me-too company. With the way HP is going today, I'm not sure this is that good news for Palm or Palm fans. I wonder what they're going to do with Palm's people and assets other than grabbing WebOS and throwing out WinMo on their handhelds (which in itself would be a very good thing.)

[ch_123]

I'm surprised to hear you say that. HP once was to calculators what IBM is to computers (for those of us who don't think a PC is a computer, anyway). Their old stuff was absolutely without peer. I have a handful of HP calculators including an old HP-67 somewhere in mint condition. Nothing better.

Of course today HP is just a Microshaft (TM) business partner, but they do have some pretty impressive laurels.

Yeah, I've seen some of their old calculators, they were quite impressive looking units. My impression comes from cheapy plasticky computers and multifunction printers where replacing the ink is more expensive than buying a new one. Oh, and Itanium.

[ironcoder]

The build quality on their stuff was out of this world, just fantastic. And the OS the calculators ran made you twice as fast as on any other over the counter calculator. I don't know if they pioneered RPN but I never saw anything so easy to use. There's a hot collectors market in older HP calculators like there is in Model Ms.

[D-EJ915]

Wait did he say something was better than Procurves? ahahahahahaha

[ricercar]

You can still get a HP 12C with RPN new ... on a blister pack card; unfortunately no out of box experience or 5mm thick user/programming guide. I got one for $10 at a garage sale on principle. My 32s is beloved and I miss my HP33c ... Saw a 41c with full set of manuals and plugin cards at a surplus place but got distracted before I could follow up.

[kode]

I haven't seen anything but Cisco in a datacenter in a long time.  An enterprise switch from any other manufacturer is a mythical beast to me, like a unicorn.  Firewalls, load balancers, yes, but not switches.  Even the switches in IBM Bladecenters are Cisco.

Well, we got a few of these off of the largest swedish IXP (worlds 7th largest):


Used to run their operations half a decade ago.

So there's your unicorn. Carrier grade stuff is pretty insane.

[ch_123]

Given the Sarah Palin threads that have been around lately, I saw this thread title out of the corner of my eye and saw "HP buys Palin"

[ironcoder]

Given the Sarah Palin threads that have been around lately, I saw this thread title out of the corner of my eye and saw "HP buys Palin"

It could happen

[kishy]

Given the Sarah Palin threads that have been around lately, I saw this thread title out of the corner of my eye and saw "HP buys Palin"

So then we need to ask ourselves, is Palin improving HP or is HP improving Palin?

[ironcoder]

So then we need to ask ourselves, is Palin improving HP or is HP improving Palin?

None of that matters. The main point is keeping the announcements going to rally the stock price.

[TexasFlood]

So then we need to ask ourselves, is Palin improving HP or is HP improving Palin?

Isn't the point of mergers & acquisitions to feast on a company like carrion birds then poop out a weakened spin-off, thereby upping the stock price of the mothership so execs can cash in their options?  Am I too cynical? :-D

[ricercar]

nope. you sound like a silicon valley veteran.

[Rajagra]

Isn't the point of mergers & acquisitions to feast on a company like carrion birds then poop out a weakened spin-off, thereby upping the stock price of the mothership so execs can cash in their options?  Am I too cynical? :-D

Mergers and acquisitions. Rape and pillage.
Potayto, potahto.

[TexasFlood]

They once made a movie about that.

A classic, that opened for a classic.  Boy, Max Headroom was so young I hardly recognized him (yes I know, it was intentional).  You would think Michael Palin would get credited after nearly getting knocked off that scaffolding by a file drawer fired in anger.  :pop2: