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HP to Heavily Support and Invest in .Net

Dr.Stress writes: "CNet is reporting 'Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft plan to invest $50 million in a joint effort to sell corporate customers on the software giant's .Net Web services efforts....HP plans to devote 3,000 consultants from its HP Services unit to the effort and also train 5,000 people in its sales and support staff.' Microsoft will provide additional installation support, and the companies will jointly market .Net services. This was announced previously, but this article contains a few more details. Frankly, as an HP employee, I am alarmed at all this closeness with Microsoft lately (this, plus the media center PCs....what's next??)."

26 of 216 comments (clear)

  1. What's next? by FyRE666 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I am alarmed at all this closeness with Microsoft lately (this, plus the media center PCs....what's next??)

    Well if memory serves, MS will use HP for as long as it takes to get its own team together, then screw them over. Of course, MS may really value the partnership, and have absolutely no ulterior motiv...... sorry, I'm laughing too hard to finish!!

    1. Re:What's next? by SerpentMage · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Exactly. This is MS's latest love slave. It did not work out that well with the others. Or MS has a new "VISION" and, well, you need new partners to realize that vision.

      The old partners (IBM, DELL, BRISTOL, MAINSOFT, etc) just do not get it, like Microsoft does. But as the saying goes what comes around goes around. And right now one of the first companies that MS screwed over (IBM), looks pretty menancing for MS.

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  2. Acquisitions sometimes turn out the other way arou by amorsen · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Caldera bought SCO and turned into SCO. HP bought Compaq and turned into Compaq. It is not that unusual.

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  3. What do you mean, "lately"?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Look, I worked at HP during the early and mid 90's. Let me tell you, cozying up to Microsoft is nothing new. Investing in Microsoft has been the stealth initiative of MANY of the ladder-climbers at HP. During my stay at HP, Rick Beluzzo was the big Microsoft pusher (ask me if I'm surprised he ended up WORKING for Microsoft in the end).

    HP's downward slide didn't start with Carly, nor did it start with the merger--it started a LONG time ago, when the upper eschelons were taken over by MBA-types who thought that, instead of HP innovating, it would be MUCH easier to cozy up to the dominant monopoly.

  4. The true reason by abhikhurana · · Score: 3, Informative


    Okay, now that I did the unbelievable by posting the second message which not only was not a troll, but also pinpointed the cause of this change in HP policy, there is a related story on ZDNET on this

    Okay, now that I did the unbelievable by posting the second message which not only was not a troll, but also pinpointed the cause of this change in HP policy, there is a related story on ZDNET. To quote from the article:


    "Our relationship has significantly improved," Microsoft group vice president Jim Allchin told CNET News.com earlier this month.

    Asked if the Compaq influence was the leading factor, Allchin said, "I suspect that's a large part of it."

    So now you know why this happened.



  5. IBM by e8johan · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It seems like this is a part of HP's plan to 'do an IBM', i.e. become a provider of complete solutions (HW+SW+Consulting). They've got the HW and consulting, but still need a big SW platform to sell and promote.
    As for scaryness, yes it is a threat to the freedom online. We have to hope that Liberty Alliance will succeed and that average Joe will become aware of the lack of integrity this type of solutions can result in.

  6. HP's always been in bed w/MS by Brento · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Frankly, as an HP employee, I am alarmed at all this closeness with Microsoft lately

    Then do something about it.

    You remind me of the people who whine about the government, but never get out to the polls on voting day. What have you done about it? If you're alarmed by the closeness with Microsoft, then either you haven't been paying attention to HP or else you're one of the newly merged Compaq folks, who were a lot more open-source-friendly. HP's been in bed with MS for years: I distinctly remember HP being one of the first companies to adopt the restore-cd-only policy with their Pavilions, only including a restore CD and not an operating system CD. HP's Kayak dual-CPU workstations were among the first & best NT-running machines I ever used, and I know they didn't build it to run Linux. HP's always been close with MS.

    So if HP's relationship with MS surprises you, then you need to get more active with your management in the day-to-day decisionmaking. Every time HP releases a solution that specifically favors MS, sometimes at the expense of their customers, speak up and try to change their minds.

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    1. Re:HP's always been in bed w/MS by jarodss · · Score: 3, Informative

      Actually I also work for HP, but I am one of the converted, a red team worker. The word here is to pick up on linux, our servers and desktops will be offered in win2k, xp pro and linux options very shortly, so the techs here supporting them need to have linux knowledge.

      So don't count on HP getting in bed with MS all the way, it seems like their just fuck-friends, at least for the moment.

    2. Re:HP's always been in bed w/MS by Brento · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Well okay, but look what happened to Bruce Perens when he talked down MS at HP... boom, fired.

      Perens wasn't working within the company framework. If I think my company's doing something wrong, I don't speak out in public: I work closely with my supervisors and make sure they do the right thing. If they continue to make the wrong choices, and I've tried my best, then I don't play whistleblower and run to the shareholders. That marks you as somebody who's not trustworthy, somebody who isn't a team player. You pull that, you get fired, no matter how high-profile you are.

      I'm not saying it's right, I'm just saying that's how the system works. The officeplace is like the Matrix - ya gotta fight the bad elements from within.

      --
      What's your damage, Heather?
  7. Let's see.... by Dredd13 · · Score: 4, Interesting
    .... toss Perens, cozy up to Microsoft ...

    Anyone want to place bets on how long before HP "decides that supporting Linux is just too costly" and bails on the platform entirely?

    Wouldn't surprise me if part of this MS/HP deal was MSFT saying "before we'll consummate this, in a few months, you've got to get rid of that thorn in our side Perens. We can't have him out there publicly lambasting us, as an employee of your company, if we're going to do business with you."

  8. Why, YOU'RE next, HP by puppetluva · · Score: 5, Insightful
    "Frankly, as an HP employee, I am alarmed at all this closeness with Microsoft lately (this, plus the media center PCs....what's next??)."

    Let's look at past microsoft buddy-buddy relationships:
    • Sybase. They promise you access to OS internals in exchange for db internals knowledge, then they steal your product.
    • Sun. They license your technology in exchange for distribution. As soon as it seems like it is catching on, they try to sabotage it.
    • Resellers. They allow you to distribute product. If you gain any distribution power, they coerce you into complying.
    • Visio. They allow you to stay alive. . . as long as you don't expand into the Microsoft Office space and you "donate" technology to Powerpoint and other products. As soon as you get too valuable, they buy you for much less that they would have if they had let you grow unfettered.
    • IBM. You commision them to write a windowed OS to compete with the Mac. They steal your money and write their own while holding up your project.
    • Customers. You buy their product in good faith. The change the licensing terms on you (after the sale!) in exchange for fixes to the broken product you originally bought. The only reason you bought it, was because they've killed all competitive products, so you have no choice.


    Well. . . from past experience, I think HP should bend over. . . we all know what's next.

    The only defence would be to never make any money or headway in the business relationship at all. That way, if they actually kill your business while they are sabotaging it, they won't rob your grave and relabel the loot "innovation."

    I feel really bad for Carly Fiorona. She may actually believe that she is digging a foundation for her company. . .

    1. Re:Why, YOU'RE next, HP by tmark · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I feel really bad for Carly Fiorona. She may actually believe that she is digging a foundation for her company. . .

      Why feel sorry for an intellegent (and highly compensated) person who should know better ? Why not feel sorry instead for the misguided Compaq/HP foot soldiers and shareholders who are going to be screwed over by her bunglings ?

    2. Re:Why, YOU'RE next, HP by ortholattice · · Score: 3, Insightful
      Add:

      SourceSafe - Once was a reliable CLI program that ran under Unix and allowed you to check in and out dozens of files with a simple command line. Was bought by MS, ported to NT, lost its Unix support, and became a bloated GUI that required literally hours (on a 33MHz machine) of point, click, wait...wait... (and cross your fingers not to crash) to check in 100 files one by one vs. 5 sec from the old CLI. We discovered that rebooting after checking in every dozen or so files greatly improved reliability, and I recall that our record was checking in about 50 files in a single session without a crash. At least that was the case shortly after MS bought it; we scrapped it after numerous crashes corrupted its db, and I haven't used it in years.

  9. use this as motivation by rnd() · · Score: 5, Insightful

    A lot of people will complain "Boo hoo, I wish HP would invest $50Million in Linux. I hate Microsoft". The fact is, HP has invested a lot of money in Linux so far, and will continue to do so. .NET web services are a standards-compliant improvement to previously existing technology that will IF ANYTHING help to promote cross-platform solutions: In other words this will help HP deliver enterprise solutions involving both Microsoft products AND gnu-linux.

    If Linux was really 10 steps ahead of Microsoft, markets would recognize that fact much more than they have. The fact is, there are some areas where linux shines and some areas where commercial software shines.

    To me, this is a good thing, since it will raise the bar on standards compliance in the industry and create more niche areas for linux to make its way into the enterprise.

    --

    Amazing magic tricks

  10. the microsoft compromise by Chris+Canfield · · Score: 4, Insightful
    "Microsoft is in a leadership position here where we've got an opportunity to help Hollywood feel comfortable with digital distribution and to help them develop (digital rights management) solutions so consumers can have content everywhere," she said. "We have two relationships we have to balance here: the consumer who wants the content and Hollywood so they feel comfortable with that process and don't clamp down and make that impossible."

    It's still my computer. If you don't trust me with your movies, then don't put the f***ing things on my computer. I'll still rent the DVD's, you will still make money.

    Most people would rather own their computer and rent at blockbuster than simply having a licence for their computer and lots of pretty movies to slowly, slowly download. Since when is this any sort of *compromise* when the terms are dictated from above?

    --
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  11. The Digital - Microsoft Alliance by Lol+the+unbeliever · · Score: 4, Funny

    What's next you ask ?

    I do not know. I do have a collection of "Digital - Microsoft alliance" t-shirts from when DEC still existed.

    Embrace and Extend.

  12. Re:.NET is great !!! by IamTheRealMike · · Score: 5, Insightful
    .NET is great! The .NET framework library is very complete and easy to use. The .NET CLR is also very cool. I will be nice when I can develop things using Visual Studio .NET and deploy the assemblies on Linux servers using MONO.

    Check out java. That does all those things, but it does them now, and it's got a lot of support and it's also multi-vendor. You will NOT be able to write stuff in VS.NET and run them on Linux, because very little of the framework classes are "open", for instance Mono uses its own gui framework based on GTK.

  13. Explains why Bruce Had to Go.... by haplo21112 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    If HP is coxying up with Microsoft like this, it explains why HP let go one of the most outspoken MS detractors.

    --
    Power Corrupts,Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely, leaving one person(group)in charge is absolutely corrupt.
  14. Re:Acquisitions sometimes turn out the other way a by haplo21112 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If only that followed through, and when Compaq bought DEC, they became DEC....we might still have a viable Alpha Chip...that might have had some clout to win some battles instead of being an also ran...
    ah such potential...wasted!

    --
    Power Corrupts,Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely, leaving one person(group)in charge is absolutely corrupt.
  15. HP's new marketing line... by supabeast! · · Score: 5, Funny

    We are supporting Microsoft! We are supporting Linux! We are going to move forward with HP-UX and Tru-64! Compaq hardware will keep on truckin! We love AMD and Hammer! We love intel and Itanium!

    We will say anything to try and keep our stockholders from noticing that we made a former Lucent exec our CEO and are letting her run one of the most wacked-out mergers ever seen!

  16. Re:Never attribute to malice if stupidity explains by gi-tux · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Three or four years ago, I had people from HP calling me asking me when I would be moving my systems from HP-UX to NT. When I laughed and told them that we were moving from MS platforms to Unix (tm) and unix-like systems, the people on the other end acted amazed that anyone would still be moving stuff to Unix (tm).

    Doesn't really suprise me that after the Compaq merger, they are even more in bed with MS. After all wasn't it Compaq that basically killed the Alpha?

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  17. Favorite Scott McNealy Quote by small_dick · · Score: 3, Funny

    Linux Expo, 2002; refering to the HP/Compaq merger:

    "...it's like watching two slow-moving garbage trucks in a head-on collision..."

    --


    Treatment, not tyranny. End the drug war and free our American POWs.
    See my user info for links.
  18. Deceitful by Baki · · Score: 3, Interesting
    The article states:

    While acknowledging that .Net is still in its early stages, HP Services chief Ann Livermore said now is the time to start selling companies on the idea of using Web services to automate their businesses.

    This suggests that web services == .net, which is nonsense. One of the selling points of web services allegedly is that it is platform independant and portable, not depending on a single technology such as .net.

    Deceitful strategy, first they try to sell web services because of said platform independance, then the next step is to suggest that you need .net to build web services, leading to vendor lock in.
  19. Ah, yet another obfuscation by intermodal · · Score: 3, Funny

    Looks like Compaq's hiding their shady business behind the HP name again...

    Step 1: Control HP
    Step 2: Publicly announce evil plans under HP's name
    Step 3: Profit????

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  20. Re:.NET is great !!! by HiThere · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Well, I'm no fan of Java (I strongly dislike it's extremely limited form of multiple inheritance, I strongly dislike the continual need for casting, I dislike....)

    It would be no surprise if .net improved on those, but the little bit that I've seen didn't indicate this.

    The question is what parts will be available under an acceptable license. The answer isn't clear. And if the applications end up being non-portable anyway (due to GUI platform dependencies, e.g.), then what's the advantage?

    Saying that something is technically better than Java is faint praise indeed. Now if you could say that it was better than Python...

    Don't point to proprietary libraries as a reason that it's better. That proves nothing at all. Those libraries are probably unuseable. Don't point to it being submitted to standardization as a bonus, unless ALL THE NEEDED PARTS are standardized, and not covered by restrictive patents or licenses. (This could be true, but it isn't what I've been hearing.)

    If you think that the CLR being multiple language is a bonus, may I direct you to a web page entitled "Languages for the JavaVM" http://grunge.cs.tu-berlin.de/%7Etolk/vmlanguages. html (This link contains no spaces, no matter what you display shows.)

    OTOH, it may well be an improved design. I'd be rather shocked if it weren't. This is *years* later.

    What language is your legacy code written in? My legacy code either links nicely with any gcc compiler, or doesn't link with .net either.
    (Sometimes both.)

    That it is made by MS is not a de facto reason for disliking it. It is a de facto reason for not trusting any facet of it that I haven't examined. (The burnt child dreads the fire. Once burnt, twice shy. Fool me once, shame on thee, fool me twice, shame on me. You don't fool me three times. etc.)

    I never hated and despised Microsoft until after I started using their operating system. After a few years, and a few license changes, it got to the point where it is now common knowledge where I work (well, within the department) that I refuse to install Microsoft software, because I won't agree to the license.

    I encourage you to read the EULA before you install software. You are not exempted from the terms just because you don't read them. Your company is not exempted just because you don't care. If the crime of malfeasance applies to sysadmins (or other techs), then I suspect that agreeing to bind you company to those licenses counts as malfeasance. It really is a decision that should be made each time by upper management. No other decision of comparable significance (i.e., likely to kill the company) is made by tech personnel, and they shouldn't make this one either. I recognize that they are frequently coerced into it, but if you accept the coercion, then you are not a professional.

    --

    I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
  21. Re:HP is only listening to the field by T3kno · · Score: 3

    I WAS an HP customer, and I don't want, nor will I ever want, .NET. HP is in serious trouble, they aren't selling anything, they aren't innovating, and they think this will provide a boost to the seriously broken company. Prostitute yourself to Microsoft and sue people who find holes in your software, now there is a business model for the 21st century.

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