Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Michigan Sues HP Over Decade Long, $49 Million Incomplete Project

Posted by samzenpus on from the almost-done dept.

itwbennett writes: On Friday, embattled HP was hit with a new lawsuit filed by the state of Michigan over a 10-year-old, $49 million project that called for HP to replace a legacy mainframe-based system built in the 1960s. Through the suit filed in Kent County Circuit Court, the state seeks $11 million in damages along with attorney's fees and the funds needed to rebid and re-procure the contract.

4 of 203 comments (clear)

  1. Re:I cheer when I read stories like this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This is part of why my company pays only half of sales commissions up front and the rest on project completion. 100% at the end would be better, but then nobody would work for us.

  2. In all fairness by roc97007 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Wow, the LAST thing I want to do is take HP's side in ANY argument. But (reluctantly...) in all fairness, getting off the mainframe is very VERY difficult, for a large number of reasons, not the least of which IBM's commitment to preventing that from happening.

    In the decades I've been in IT, I've seen three fairly large companies make a concerted effort to get off the mainframe. All failed. One ended up upgrading the mainframe. One ended up renting mainframe time from ISSC. One is still trying, years later.

    I don't know what happened in this particular case; maybe HP saw this as a cash cow they could milk for several years, due to the fact that the industry expectation of success is so low. But there is a possibility that HP saw this as a genuine business opportunity, and didn't realize until later that it just wasn't possible.

    --
    Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
  3. Re:I cheer when I read stories like this by TWX · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I wonder if Fiorina will use this in her bid for the Whitehouse... "I know the inner-workings of how badly government can run, in my time with HP I saw how Michigan wasted ten years in trying to implement a new computer system!"

    --
    Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
  4. Re: I cheer when I read stories like this by FranTaylor · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The distributor who actually sold the printers, won HP's "distributor of the year" award. HP had a 41% market share in a country where they were forbidden to do business. It's beyond incredible that nobody at HP wondered about where all those printers went to.