On 4/30/2016 2:41 PM, rbowman wrote:

Like I said, wrong industry at the wrong time. The Compaq purchase could be
justified. The question in the industry was why the HP brand, which was known
for servers and printers, was shunted to the consumer arena where it was weak,

.... and test equipment! I had a client who was making some large test
equipment purchases when HP decided to "become" Agilent. The uncertainty
caused him to go with Tek for the entire lab! ("Are they getting ready to
SELL OFF the test instruments business? Will I have purchased several
hundred kilobucks of product that may -- or may not -- be supported in
the manner that I *expect* when I base my business on that support?
Will the next devices come from "People's Test Equipment Factory #2866",
formerly known as "Agilent"? Have they decided to just cater to the consumer
market, instead?")

and Compaq, a consumer brand with a good reputation, moved to the server side
of the business.

+1