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Bruce Perens Canned by HP
HPPosted by CmdrTaco on Monday September 09, @08:42AM
from the what-if-we-were-all-named-bruce dept.
bmarklein writes "Bruce Perens has been fired by HP for "Microsoft-baiting". This was linked in part to the HP-Compaq merger, since Windows is now a much bigger part of HP's business."

 

 
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Ruling in Aimster Case | UT 2003 Client For Linux?  >
Bruce Perens Canned by HP | Log in/Create an Account | Top | 593 comments | Search Discussion
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The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
(1) | 2 (Slashdot Overload: CommentLimit 50)
I tried to post this... 10 days ago :) (Score:1, Offtopic)
by jukal on Monday September 09, @08:47AM (#4219923)
(User #523582 Info | http://www.openchallenge.org/ | Last Journal: Sunday September 01, @04:08PM)
...this and some previous happennings are in my journal [slashdot.org].
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Bruce says... (Score:2, Funny)
by CmdrTaco (editor) on Monday September 09, @08:47AM (#4219924)
(User #564483 Info)
Bruce says "I would still be at H.P., I think, except for the Compaq merger."

But a few thousand other people can say that too.

It makes sense for Bruce, though. If HPQ is shifting away from Linux and toward Windows, why would they want to keep a bunch of Linux guys around?
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Microsoft's dominance (Score:4, Insightful)
by DamnYankee (jim@mi4e.com) on Monday September 09, @08:48AM (#4219927)
(User #18417 Info | http://www.mi4e.com)
This shows the reach and depth of fear that Microsoft's monopoly can instill in even the biggest and baddest companies on the planet.

I doubt that this came from a purely internal HP-Compaq decision. The forces that be in Redmond probably played a role.

What is Bruce on to next?
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
  • Re:Microsoft's dominance by danheskett (Score:3) Monday September 09, @08:57AM
  • Re:Microsoft's dominance (Score:5, Funny)
    by cioxx (abuse@ c i o x x .com) on Monday September 09, @09:00AM (#4220001)
    (User #456323 Info | Last Journal: Monday September 09, @01:31AM)
    What is Bruce on to next?

    Lets hope he joins Dell.

    Dude, You're Getting a Job!
    [ Reply to This | Parent ]
  • Re:Microsoft's dominance by mirko (Score:1) Monday September 09, @09:03AM
  • Re:Microsoft's dominance (Score:5, Funny)
    by Bodrius on Monday September 09, @09:07AM (#4220033)
    (User #191265 Info | http://www.bodrius.com/)

    Yes, I'm sure Bill Gates personally has a black list in his office with the names of all Open Source advocates that have challenged his empire and every morning, at a strategic meeting with his closest advisors, he has a conversation like this:

    - Bill, we have successfully increased the revenue of the company by 20%. We expect this to bring the stockholders to the level of optimism they had before the recession.

    Bill: Yeah, yeah, whatever...

    - Bill, our deals with the media conglomerates regarding DRM are proceeding flawlessly, ensuring that we are unopposed to push for the PC as the consumer device that coordinates everyone's information-related activities, including entertainment.

    Bill: Sure. That's nice, I guess.

    - Bill, our marketing campaign for Web Services is being successful among developers. Soon they will be tied to our standards and companies will have to consider Windows servers seriously for their large-scale network services.

    Bill: What's wrong with you people? Is this what I pay you for?!

    Silence.

    Bill: Ok, who can answer the really important question? How close am I to fulfilling my personal vendetta against the Open Source Linux geeks? How many did we get fired today?

    - I called HP yesterday morning. We got Bruce Perens fired.

    Bill: Geek #427? EXCELLENT!

    Bill takes list, draws little check mark on "#427 Bruce Perens" entry.

    Bill: Ok. According to my list, "#428 Billy Tempherton" is next. He's a Linux administrator for a community college in Iowa that posted something about me being evil and Windows crashing his computer, at that Slashdot site in 1999...

    - We're working on it, Sir!

    Bill: Good! Meeting dismissed! I have to go to Slashdot and see who posted something against me today...

    [ Reply to This | Parent ]
  • How about: Perens wasn't good at his job? by Nailer (Score:2) Monday September 09, @06:43PM
  • 2 replies beneath your current threshold.
Fukk a Registration (Score:4, Informative)
by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 09, @08:49AM (#4219931)
Balancing Linux and Microsoft
By STEVE LOHR

For nearly two years, Bruce Perens was a senior strategist for open-source software at Hewlett-Packard — an evangelist and rabble-rouser on behalf of a computing counterculture that is increasingly moving into the mainstream. Part of the job description, he was told, was to "challenge H.P. management."

His last day as a Hewlett-Packard employee was 10 days ago. The parting was amicable, Mr. Perens said, but he was fired — "officially a termination," he noted. "It came after a long, long warning," Mr. Perens explained. "The thing that I did that was most hazardous for H.P. is the Microsoft-baiting I tend to do."

A spokeswoman for Hewlett-Packard declined to comment on Mr. Perens's departure, citing company policy against making public statements about why individual employees leave.
Advertisement

But, according to Mr. Perens, a handful of forces combined to make his exit from Hewlett-Packard inevitable. After it bought Compaq this year, the combined company became the largest single buyer of Windows for personal computers and data-serving computers, and thus more dependent on Microsoft. A rising threat to Microsoft is GNU Linux, an operating system distributed free and developed using the open-source model in which communities of programmers donate their labor to debug, modify and otherwise improve the code.

After the merger with Compaq, Hewlett also became the largest vendor of Linux-based server computers, ahead of Dell Computer and I.B.M. Yet Hewlett's bet on Linux still pales compared with its reliance on Microsoft. And after the merger, it was mainly former Compaq executives who took senior positions overseeing the Linux business.

In the premerger Hewlett, Mr. Perens, a leader in the open-source movement, enjoyed a lot of independence. When speaking to potential Hewlett customers on Wall Street and elsewhere, he would make the case for Linux, extolling it as a reliable and secure operating system that also allowed corporate customers to avoid being locked in to proprietary software like Microsoft's Windows or Sun Microsystems' Solaris.

Mr. Perens did not have to make the pitch for Hewlett as supplier of choice for Linux-based servers, services or support. That chore fell to Hewlett's sales people. "It was a pretty unique job that existed because of the H.P. culture," Mr. Perens said. "I would still be at H.P., I think, except for the Compaq merger."

Yet beyond the postmerger atmosphere at Hewlett, Mr. Perens also says that he had been taking a more outspoken stance against Microsoft recently. "Microsoft is out to crush Linux as a competitor," said Mr. Perens, who became truly galvanized after the emergence in May of a Microsoft-backed industry group, the Initiative for Software Choice. Besides the chip maker Intel, a close Microsoft ally, most of the other 20 or so members are smaller foreign companies or trade organizations.

The software-choice group sees a threat in what it has identified as 66 legislative proposals, government statements and studies promoting open-source software in 25 countries, including Germany, Britain, China, Peru and Brazil. Some of those legislative proposals would require the use of open-source software in government, but most of the government steps are efforts to ensure there is an alternative to Microsoft in their critical software markets.

The Microsoft-backed group says its purpose is to promote even-handed competition based on the merits of products, instead of a government bias for one kind of software. But as Mr. Perens sees it, the software-choice group has another agenda. "Its principles are nice-sounding words," he said, "but what they really say is, `Let's maintain the status quo.' "

Mr. Perens has stepped in himself and started an effort to respond to the Microsoft-backed group. His initiative, called Sincere Choice, has its own Web site (www .sincerechoice.org), and its own set of principles. Mr. Perens asserts that governments could

Read the rest of this comment...

[ Reply to This | Parent ]
  • Re:Fukk a Registration by Alsee (Score:2) Monday September 09, @08:59AM
  • Non-sequitor by swb (Score:3) Monday September 09, @09:13AM
    • Re:Non-sequitor by nege (Score:1) Monday September 09, @09:20AM
    • True? by 4of12 (Score:2) Monday September 09, @09:48AM
      • Re:True? by Kingsly (Score:1) Monday September 09, @10:10AM
      • Re:True? by matithyahu (Score:1) Monday September 09, @10:59AM
      • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
    • Classic case of "the tail wagging the dog." by Ruger (Score:1) Monday September 09, @10:20AM
    • Re:Non-sequitor by madfgurtbn (Score:2) Monday September 09, @10:26AM
      • Re:Non-sequitor by JWW (Score:2) Monday September 09, @10:58AM
      • RIP HP by MountainLogic (Score:2) Monday September 09, @01:31PM
        • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
    • Re:Non-sequitor by TheConfusedOne (Score:2) Monday September 09, @10:27AM
    • Re:Non-sequitor by ChaosDiscordSimple (Score:3) Monday September 09, @10:51AM
    • Re:Non-sequitor by revery (Score:1) Monday September 09, @11:06AM
    • Re:Non-sequitor (Score:4, Insightful)
      by sphealey on Monday September 09, @11:31AM (#4220970)
      (User #2855 Info)
      I don't get it. If I moved from n to 1 on the list of a vendor's customers, why wouldn't I see increased leverage with my vendor?
      You are living on a space station. You purchase your oxygen from the largest oxygen vendor. He is in fact the only one big enough to supply the needs of the majority of those souls you are responsible for. You are also the oxygen vendor's largest customer.

      What happens if you get into a dispute with the oxygen vendor and threaten to cut off your purchases? If worse comes to worst and you do stop buying from him, he might go bankrupt. On the other hand he might not - there are a lot of people who need to breathe. You on the other hand will certainly die.

      That's the problem the OEMs face when dealing with Microsoft.

      sPh

      [ Reply to This | Parent ]
      Re:Non-sequitor (Score:5, Insightful)
      by analog_line on Monday September 09, @11:31AM (#4220975)
      (User #465182 Info)
      It's more a measure of the influence that the incoming Compaq people are having on HP. Compaq, overall, was staunchly a pro-Microsoft computer maker, far more than HP ever was. Compaq's lifeblood was machines running Windows 2000. HP had other irons in the fire, and could deal with a more tepid relationship.

      When I was working there as a consultant, pro-Microsoft propaganda was everywhere. Sure, there were plenty of Linux people working there, but it was really under the radar. Microsoft was the party line and woe to anyone who would challenge that too vocally. Yeah, Compaq didn't mind if Linux ran on their machines, but they didn't really put a whole lot of effort into it. IIRC, Microsoft bought an obscene number of Compaq machines during the time I was there. There was also a massive Windows 2000 migration push at the time, which may have been related to it.

      I've posted regarding this before, but I think it bears restatement. There are an AWFUL lot of strong personalities in what used to be Compaq, hardened by a bitter internal war during the days after the Digital merger. Large caliber bullets didn't fly, but there was a whole lot of political fallout, even when I was there long after the merger (for about a year, from summer 2000 to summer 2001 before the consultancy I worked for laid me off). The "HP Way", as laid back as it's projected to be, I believe, cannot stand up to the hardened take-no-prisoners warriors at Compaq. Sure, alot of people at Compaq are going to get laid off, but sometimes you have to sacrifice your own men in a battle to win a war, and I would bet that's how the Compaq people see it, a war to save their way of doing things, and in the end, their personal employment.
      [ Reply to This | Parent ]
      • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
    • Re:Non-sequitor by swb (Score:2) Monday September 09, @10:41AM
    • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
  • random NYT registration generator by forged (Score:2) Monday September 09, @09:23AM
  • Hi (Score:5, Informative)
    by Bruce Perens (bruce&perens,com) on Monday September 09, @10:07AM (#4220338)
    (User #3872 Info | http://perens.com/)
    Well, I guess "being fired" gets news - but I would rather the article was just about me and not about HP. Besides, everybody knew I was leaving due to the two articles here previously, and it really was an amicable parting.

    Bruce

    [ Reply to This | Parent ]
    • Re:Hi by ergo98 (Score:2) Monday September 09, @10:16AM
    • Re:Hi by Peale (Score:2) Monday September 09, @11:02AM
        Re:Hi (Score:5, Interesting)
        by Bruce Perens (bruce&perens,com) on Monday September 09, @11:19AM (#4220882)
        (User #3872 Info | http://perens.com/)
        I do not get royalties or residuals. I did get some stock, which I used to pay for my home. So, I was out of the stock market when it crashed, thank goodness, and don't have the debt load of most people like me. I am not rich, sorry.

        Bruce

        [ Reply to This | Parent ]
        • Re:Hi by br0ck (Score:2) Monday September 09, @12:12PM
        • Re:Hi by trentfoley (Score:2) Monday September 09, @06:04PM
        • Re:Hi by Skevin (Score:2) Monday September 09, @07:48PM
        • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
    • Re:Hi by Jeppe Salvesen (Score:3) Monday September 09, @11:13AM
      • Re:Hi by Tablizer (Score:2) Monday September 09, @01:15PM
    • Thank you. by bhsx (Score:3) Monday September 09, @11:26AM
      • Tool by Anonymous Coward (Score:1) Monday September 09, @11:50AM
      • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
    • Re:Hi by bungo (Score:3) Monday September 09, @11:55AM
    • I know a little about large corporations by westfieldscientific (Score:1) Monday September 09, @12:29PM
    • Re:Hi by Oink.NET (Score:3) Monday September 09, @03:53PM
    • Re:C'mon, Moderators! by Mr. McGibby (Score:1) Monday September 09, @11:14AM
    • Re:Hi by jasonditz (Score:1) Monday September 09, @12:09PM
    • HP is going to eat it by 0x0d0a (Score:2) Monday September 09, @04:36PM
    • 6 replies beneath your current threshold.
    Popups (Score:5, Funny)
    by xant (xant*users.sourceforge.nothin.but.net) on Monday September 09, @10:49AM (#4220661)
    (User #99438 Info | http://nestofcandles.org/)
    [. . . ] citing company policy against making public statements about why individual employees leave.
    Advertisement

    But, according [. . .]


    If all of our advertisements were like this, I don't think I'd even bother with blocking popups.

    Now, I must go buy something at random.
    [ Reply to This | Parent ]
  • Fukk a reporter by scrytch (Score:2) Monday September 09, @12:11PM
  • Re:Fukk a Registration by darkfrog (Score:1) Monday September 09, @12:32PM
  • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
Now that he has some free time... (Score:5, Funny)
by Junior J. Junior III on Monday September 09, @08:49AM (#4219936)
(User #192702 Info | http://www.livejournal.com/users/jjjiii)
Hey Bruce, why not run for congress?
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Corporate economics (Score:5, Insightful)
by mwber on Monday September 09, @08:49AM (#4219939)
(User #235552 Info)
HP needs a big cash inflow to survive. Microsoft currently supplies that. Linux currently doesn't. Case closed. Corporations tend to think of themselves of amoral money-making ventures, and often, with huge companies like HP, any overtures to supporting open source are simply PR moves. PR moves are usually less important than simple cash inflow. If the inflow is going to disrupted by PR (like Bruce Perens), they just chop it off.
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Why is this news? (Score:2, Troll)
by nuggz on Monday September 09, @08:50AM (#4219943)
(User #69912 Info | http://slashdot.org/)
Why did they even hire him in the first place?
I think that it should have been obvious that an open source activist would upset MS.
Additionally Bruce doesn't have a great history of keeping everyone happy, it should have been expected that he'd make a few stabs at MS, who is one of the more popular targets.

[ Reply to This | Parent ]
various (Score:1)
by mirko on Monday September 09, @08:51AM (#4219947)
(User #198274 Info | http://www.vidovic.org/mirko | Last Journal: Saturday August 24, @08:44AM)
  1. Login/passwd: somebaudysentme/somebaudysentme (courtesy of Baud [somebaudy.com])
  2. quotes:
    • "Bruce Perens was a senior strategist for Open source at HP".
    • "he was fired "officially a termination" he noted ".

    This is not obvious to me he was not simply thrown out because HP decided to drop some of their support to the Open Source communities.
    Of course, one may be angry because itis a way of life and because being fired because his company won't endorse such activities in the (near) future may sound like a discredit, but I guess it was not, as the summary read because of some passionate activism.
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
My Resume (Score:2)
by Spackler on Monday September 09, @08:51AM (#4219950)
(User #223562 Info)
HP, I would be happy to forward you my resume. I promise that I won't bait Microsoft. I'll be good, and do just what you want. I'll even use XP. Ok, that might be a bit much. Oh, fine, see, I'll give up my morals and use XP (as long as you pay me as much as you payed Bruce).
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Alternative URL (Score:1)
by joebp (jpixton@di[ ]n.co.uk ['rco' in gap]) on Monday September 09, @08:52AM (#4219956)
(User #528430 Info | http://slashdot.org/)
Here [colorado.edu] or here [majcher.com]. You'll need to disable referer support in your browser.
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
  • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
So, that's why (Score:2)
by red_dragon (com!bradfordwhite!cfern) on Monday September 09, @08:55AM (#4219968)
(User #1761 Info | http://fully.qualified.url/)

I guess that'd explain why Bruce has been posting to Slashdot more regularly [slashdot.org].

[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Now I go buy a Lexmark printer (Score:2)
by redelm on Monday September 09, @08:55AM (#4219969)
(User #54142 Info | http://users.ev1.net/~redelm)
Thanks Carly! I was having trouble making up my mind on buying a new printer. I've always bought and liked HP, but Lexmark (ex IBM) has some nice offerings. This tips the scale.

Why does it count? Because I'm not aware of anything the Bruce has said that is immoderate or baiting (ourrageous statement inciting a response). Bruce has actually rather toed the line in withdrawing his DMCA? demo at HP's request.

[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Motivations. (Score:5, Insightful)
by Some guy named Chris on Monday September 09, @08:55AM (#4219970)
(User #9720 Info | http://www.grump.org/ | Last Journal: Tuesday January 22, @11:57PM)

"I'm not just going to sit back and be a quiet engineer. I have a two-year-old son and I don't want him to grow up in a world that is less free." -- Bruce Perens (from the article)

I once had someone I admired tell me that "You shouldn't live for anything you aren't willing to die for". I've tried to incorporate that in my decision processes. Clearly, Bruce believes his child, and his freedom is more worth living for than his job at HP.

I get his motivation, I understand where he is coming from, and so, I can relate to him, and less readily dismiss him as a zealot, crackpot, or trouble maker, which is sadly the case with some other prominant free software advocates.

So, Bruce, thanks. You have my respect, even if you haven't got a job.

[ Reply to This | Parent ]
  • Re:Motivations. by Bilestoad (Score:2) Monday September 09, @09:05AM
    • Re:Motivations. by adb (Score:1) Monday September 09, @09:18AM
    • Re:Motivations. by MindStalker (Score:2) Monday September 09, @09:27AM
    • Re:Motivations. (Score:5, Insightful)
      by killmenow on Monday September 09, @09:32AM (#4220157)
      (User #184444 Info | http://slashdot.org/)
      Their responsibility is to their shareholders.
      I get so sick of hearing this. Here in America (don't know so much about how it is elsewhere) we are indoctrinated to believe a company's sole responsibility is to their shareholders. The only thing that matters is ROI for the shareholders, blah, blah, blah...

      It's bullshit on a grand scale. While companies do have a responsibility to their shareholders, they also have a greater responsibility to the world at large. But nobody wants to admit that because then all those morally questionable (if not outright unethical) activities designed to reward CEOs and the Board of Directors while fscking the employees, environment, and basically the rest of the world would no longer be "questionable" at all; and then they'd lose all their money and power.

      Just because companies in the US routinely act as though their only responsibility is to shareholders, it doesn't make it so.

      Now, before you go thinking I'm a leftist nutbag liberal socialist <insert label here>, I understand and agree that companies are usually formed for the intended purpose of making a profit. That's all well and good, and making a profit is a wonderful motivator. There's nothing wrong with profit.

      I'm just saying the belief that companies have no responsibilities to anyone other than their shareholders is wrong and a company whose sole purpose is to make a profit is incorporated for the wrong reason. It's unfortunate, but I believe the mantra of the modern American CEO (as said best by Daffy Duck) is:
      [ Reply to This | Parent ]
      Re:Motivations. (Score:5, Insightful)
      by mvdwege (mvdwege@drebbelstraat20.dyndns.org) on Monday September 09, @09:36AM (#4220179)
      (User #243851 Info | http://slashdot.org/ | Last Journal: Monday June 03, @12:00PM)

      On the other hand, a point I was trying to make in another post in this discussion, is that it's about integrity.

      A company may try to do the best for its shareholders, but the point is that they don't realise that integrity is actually good for the shareholders.

      A lack of integrity will earn you the distrust of the market, and that is bad for the company, and bad for the stock price. In fact, it is my personal opinion that the current low consumer confidence in the U.S. (remember that consumer spending drives the U.S. economy) is due to low corporate integrity.

      HP/Compaq touting their support for Linux on the one hand, and firing a major advocate on the other shows their lack of integrity, and is ultimately damaging for the company. They better hope Microsoft is good for them, because that's all they'll be left with if they continue on this path.

      Mart
      [ Reply to This | Parent ]
    • Re:Motivations. by WCMI92 (Score:2) Monday September 09, @10:35AM
    • Re:Motivations. by Sloppy (Score:2) Monday September 09, @12:09PM
    • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
  • Re:Motivations. by liquidsin (Score:2) Monday September 09, @09:11AM
  • Re:Motivations. by reaper20 (Score:2) Monday September 09, @09:20AM
  • Re:Motivations. by pointwood (Score:2) Monday September 09, @09:31AM
  • I don't. by FallLine (Score:3) Monday September 09, @09:45AM
    • Re:I don't. by ergo98 (Score:2) Monday September 09, @10:13AM
    • Re:I don't. by Elwood P Dowd (Score:2) Monday September 09, @04:52PM
    • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
  • Re:Motivations. by goldspider (Score:2) Monday September 09, @10:15AM
  • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
Office politics are more important than business? (Score:5, Insightful)
by mvdwege (mvdwege@drebbelstraat20.dyndns.org) on Monday September 09, @08:56AM (#4219973)
(User #243851 Info | http://slashdot.org/ | Last Journal: Monday June 03, @12:00PM)

...or integrity for that matter?

Funny. Compaq (now HP) is running large ads in the trade press touting that they were the first major company to support Linux and Open Source.

Now they fire a major advocate? Sounds like the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing.

Oh, wait, that's what those corporate types mean that a merger brings synergies and the opportunity to eliminate redundancies.

Well, so far HP/Compaq sounds like a typical merged company: the power politics of the officers of the originating companies are more important than anything else. They'll either spend 5 years trying to get their shop integrated (meanwhile facing dwindling market share), or they'll undo the merger, with the usual corporatespeak (divestiture, focusing on core business, spinning off unprofitable divisions) that all come down to 'we screwed up; please don't hurt us!'.

</cynism>

Mart
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Out of the loop (Score:1)
by GigsVT on Monday September 09, @08:58AM (#4219987)
(User #208848 Info | http://www.electronicschat.org/ | Last Journal: Wednesday August 21, @09:01PM)
I thought he already quit a few weeks ago?
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Pay his home a visit (Score:4, Informative)
by jsse on Monday September 09, @09:00AM (#4219997)
(User #254124 Info | http://slashdot.org/ | Last Journal: Saturday July 13, @09:42AM)
here [perens.com]

"I am no longer with Hewlett-Packard. If your company would like to use my expertise in forming an Open Source policy and processes, or operating a relationship with the Open Source developer community, please contact me [perens.com]."
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
challenge HP? (Score:2, Funny)
by lovebyte on Monday September 09, @09:00AM (#4220004)
(User #81275 Info | http://slashdot.org/)
On Bruce Perens Bio [perens.com]:
Among my assignments is to challenge HP management.

That's what he thought!
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
thinking matters (Score:5, Insightful)
by tanveer1979 on Monday September 09, @09:04AM (#4220017)
(User #530624 Info | http://www.geocities.com/tsk1979 | Last Journal: Friday August 23, @02:34AM)
" I have a two-year-old son and I don't want him to grow up in a world that is less free."

If more people thought this way, the world would really be more freer.

[ Reply to This | Parent ]
tells us a lot about HP (Score:5, Insightful)
by g4dget on Monday September 09, @09:04AM (#4220020)
(User #579145 Info)
Companies like IBM have a large contingent of people that loathe Microsoft and aren't afraid to speak out about it, yet IBM seems to be able to deal with both Microsoft and its customers just fine, and IBM is able to deliver a wide variety of systems. In fact, from a customer's point of view this is good: if a company has Windows, UNIX, mainframe, and open source people inside it, it is much more likely that advice and recommendations from the company will be based on technical considerations, rather than whatever is available. With a company that only bets on Microsoft, you already know the answer to any of your questions is going to be "Microsoft", whether that makes sense or not.

If HP is so threatened by a single person like Perens, they must really be in deep trouble. Apparently, The New HP is trying hard to become The New Unisys. Too bad--DEC and HP used to be nice companies. Compaq just keeps eating up one company after another, digesting them, well, and you know what comes out the other end.

[ Reply to This | Parent ]
HP having problems???????? (Score:2)
by anonymous cupboard on Monday September 09, @09:06AM (#4220031)
(User #446159 Info)
It seems strange that HP who were originally famous as a firm of engineers seems now to want to get rid of them. I do not need to buy HP hardware, Intel technology comes from many vendors. Windows comes from Microsoft, apart from HP-UX and perhaps VMS, there are no differentiating factors against the competition.

HP Consultancy could have been onto a winner by moving into the high-end Linux support business. Big customers prefer systems with a support licence. HP could have done well there, but whether they continue to take Linux seriously remains to be seen.

To put it bluntly, Bruce put his balls on the plate (excuse the expression) more than once for the open source movement. I'm glad hthat he took a stand. The problem is somebody [microsoft.com] probably waived an OEM agreement over HP. However according to the article, they were the largest single vendor of the Windows system family. One would have thought HP would have wanted to use Open Source if only for a negotiating position.

[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Great differentiator in a commodity market (Score:2)
by slow_flight on Monday September 09, @09:12AM (#4220048)
(User #518010 Info)
I'm fully responsible for workstation and server purchases in my company. It's often hard to decide which manufacturer to go with - there are many similar choices and it seems to always come down to a single differentiator (better service, slightly lower price, etc.). I was already leaning towards removing HP from the pack because of the DMCA issue last month. Now I will definitely be removing HP-Compaq from any future consideration. I can't stomach the idea of supporting a baltant Microsoft toady organization.
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
HPQ: Microsoft Victim...er, Customer (Score:1)
by SEWilco on Monday September 09, @09:12AM (#4220049)
(User #27983 Info | http://www.wilcoxon.org/~sewilco)
"...the combined company became the largest single buyer of Windows for personal computers and data-serving computers, and thus more dependent on Microsoft."

Since HPQ buys from Microsoft, they're the customer.

Why is HPQ dependent upon Microsoft, rather than Microsoft being dependent upon its "largest single buyer"?

When did it become good business for a customer to be dependent upon a single supplier?

[ Reply to This | Parent ]
  • Re:HPQ: Microsoft Victim...er, Customer by turgid (Score:1) Monday September 09, @09:23AM
  • Re:HPQ: Microsoft Victim...er, Customer (Score:4, Informative)
    by isdnip on Monday September 09, @09:26AM (#4220130)
    (User #49656 Info)
    The dynamics of a vendor-supplier relationship aren't as simple as you make it sound.

    MS is technically a monopoly -- its market share is large enough that its pricing and other decisions have a disproportionate impact. The common European regulatory term is "significant market power" (SMP). MS does not post uniform prices; it can raise or lower the effective price to HP on a whim. They shut down IBM's retail OS/2, for instance, by threatening to raise their Windows 95 license fee by an amount that exceeded their entire OS/2 revenues.

    HP is big, but they're in a commodity business. Nothing in HP's lineup that runs Windows cannot be replaced by similar Dell or IBM kit, to name but two vendors. So HP has negligible market power. That's one reason their acquisition of Compaq got approved -- together, they're still weak. HP's profit largely comes from ink. That doesn't give them much leverage over MS.
    [ Reply to This | Parent ]
  • Re:HPQ: Microsoft Victim...er, Customer by Merle Corey (Score:1) Monday September 09, @09:37AM
Taking one for the team (Score:5, Insightful)
by InterruptDescriptorT on Monday September 09, @09:16AM (#4220072)
(User #531083 Info)
I personally just want to thank Bruce on what he has tried to do over his tenure at HP. Large companies are so resistant to change and so beholden to corporate interests and stockholders that they are more motivated by greed and returning value to the shareholders than they are by doing the right thing.

Bruce has done a ton of work to raise open-source's profile in the boardrooms of corporate America, something the movement really does need to continue to gather steam the way it's been doing over (well, at least) the past ten years with the introduction of Linux.

Whoever said that Bruce should run for Congress makes a good point, but I sincerely doubt that Bruce would be comfortable among such a bunch of dolts as Congressmen. :-)

Thanks again, Bruce. Keep fighting the good fight.
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Wonder if Bruce Paid fot this one? (Score:2)
by DrSkwid (slashspam@cuntbubble. c o m) on Monday September 09, @09:19AM (#4220088)
(User #118965 Info | http://www.hardlight.couk.com/)
Because I bet he gets more than one job offer now it's widely known he's back on the market.

I hope I can get a way to get a million people view my CV :)

[ Reply to This | Parent ]
  • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
Let's see what HP got out of it.. (Score:1)
by deego (deego@noSpaM.glue.umd.edu) on Monday September 09, @09:20AM (#4220091)
(User #587575 Info | http://24.197.159.102/~deego/)
IT has earned more bad karma with the gnulinix/slashdot community.

As for the "microsoft" community, i suspect many of them love m$ so much, or are so aware of tech-happenings to care one way or another.

Mac community is not involved.

-- a net loss above.

So what has HP gained? Some good karma with M$, the company. That's more important than "good karma" with the public at large? If so, we are in sad, sad times..
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Huge Hole in Story (Score:2)
by Pinball Wizard (josheverist@yahoo.com) on Monday September 09, @09:24AM (#4220116)
(User #161942 Info | http://www.page1book.com/ | Last Journal: Thursday September 05, @12:13AM)
NYT quotes Bruce saying "Microsoft is out to crush Linux as a competitor", but never explains how or why.

Why and how would Microsoft crush Linux? Palladium? I would be more worried about the general public than Linux about this one, because my "market research" shows the public isn't going to buy a DRM enabled computer that won't run Linux.

[ Reply to This | Parent ]
This guy's my hero (Score:1)
by BlackBolt on Monday September 09, @09:26AM (#4220127)
(User #595616 Info)
Every time I read something about this guy, I wish I was more like him. Well, except the wacky mad scientist hair, of course.

BlackBolt
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Didn't he quit? (Score:2)
by n-baxley (nate.baxleys@org) on Monday September 09, @09:27AM (#4220137)
(User #103975 Info | http://www.baxleys.org/nate/ | Last Journal: Friday November 16, @10:19AM)
I can't find it now, but didn't /. have a story not that long ago that Bruce was quitting HP? So what, now he's fired from a job he was quitting? What's the point of firing him?
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Well Isn't That Peachy? (Score:2)
by BlackGriffen on Monday September 09, @09:28AM (#4220140)
(User #521856 Info)
They keep him on just long enough to prevent a DMCA violation, and then fire him a couple months down the line. What a bunch of m-effing, blakety blank blank, shit heads.

Ready to give it another go, Bruce? I've got an, admittedly fairly small (college student), donation ready to go to the EFF with your name on it.

BlackGriffen
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
This is all backwards...M$ is a supplier (Score:2)
by crovira on Monday September 09, @09:29AM (#4220148)
(User #10242 Info | http://www.softwareprototypes.com/)
Since when does the supplier make the decisions for the supplied?

That's like General Tire telling Ford what their trucks should cost...

But of course, General Tire has competition from GoodYear ...

Follow Apple's Aqua guidelines (Linux doesn't have any and that's NOT a good thing,) and lets build a GUI that can knock Windows off the x86 and into the trash can.
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Am I the only one (Score:4, Interesting)
by Quixadhal (quixadhal@yahoo.com) on Monday September 09, @09:30AM (#4220151)
(User #45024 Info)
who is reminded of the scene from Conan with the head of the snake-worship cult atop the ziggarut?

Big corporations are becoming more and more like feudal land-barons these days. They seem to believe that they not only own your work, but YOU -- as in you can't publically say anything bad about them or their partners, even if it's clearly stated as YOUR opinion and not (nescessarily) that of your employer. Back in medieval europe, that made some sense, as there was at least job security (also see Japan, pre-1980's)... but nowadays, they expect that AND the ability to toss you out on your ass whenever the wind shifts.

I really think it's time people got their priorities sorted out. What good is a well-paying job if you don't have the time and freedom to enjoy the life you have to fit around it?
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
shoulda broken the law the other day (Score:1)
by guest12 on Monday September 09, @09:39AM (#4220195)
(User #248543 Info)
then hp couldnt fire him in the middle of a lawsuit
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
"officially a termination" (Score:2)
by KyleCordes (kyle@kylecordes.com) on Monday September 09, @09:41AM (#4220204)
(User #10679 Info | http://www.kylecordes.com)
His leaving is described as "fired" and "officially a termination". I think to most people, "termination" implies that the company got rid of the employee.

The last two times I resigned from a job, the HR people, forms, etc. described the event as "termination". I find that interesting... going back over their records, I wonder if they see themselves as "terminating" 100% of the people who stop working there, even if 90% of the time it was the employee who decided to go elsewhere, not the employer getting rid of someone.

[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Carley has released her flying green monkeys... (Score:2)
by warpSpeed (slashdot@fredcom.com) on Monday September 09, @09:46AM (#4220239)
(User #67927 Info | http://www.fredcom.com/ | Last Journal: Saturday March 02, @01:41PM)
On Bruce's last day Carley was over heard cackling "I'll got you my pretty.. hehehe"

The short term gain (if you can even call it that) will be over shadowed by the ultimate demise or irrelevance in the market place of HP. As Bob Cringly put it a few months ago, after the merger the "shot clock" [pbs.org] was reset until the board could fire her. The shot clock cannot count down fast enough. She has decimated an excellent engineering company.

On the day they fire her ass, and she pulls the rip chord on her golden parachute, HP will be irreversably damaged...

it is just sooo sad.

[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Another bad decision by HPQ... (Score:2)
by zerofoo on Monday September 09, @09:47AM (#4220241)
(User #262795 Info)
Yet another bad decision by HPQ's clueless management.

Technology companies become successful by creating innovative products with the best technology. Carly and co. has yet to grasp this concept.

-ted
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
By the way ... (Score:1)
by dazdaz on Monday September 09, @09:49AM (#4220252)
(User #77833 Info)
Did anyone tell the new management that Perens job description was to be argumentative?
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Infoworld Aug 15 story has a different emphasis (Score:3, Informative)
by Shirotae on Monday September 09, @09:49AM (#4220256)
(User #44882 Info)

Bruce Perens leaving HP was reported in an Infoworld article on August 15 [infoworld.com]. Although it is essentially the same story, the emphasis seems somewhat different. That article suggests that HP was restricting the level of activism, and Bruce would leave rather than put up with that. It does not mention Microsoft-baiting.

Note also that HP is cutting jobs at the moment; people who are given the boot get some money, those who walk don't. I would not read too much into "being fired" rather than "resigning" at the moment, it could just be a procedural device that Bruce goes as part of the cuts, so gets some money on the way out.

[ Reply to This | Parent ]
What a message.. (Score:2)
by RainbowSix (tw@andrew.cmu.edu.thisisntpartofmyemail) on Monday September 09, @09:56AM (#4220289)
(User #105550 Info | http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/~tw)
What a message it would send if IBM or similar pro-open source company immediately offered Bruce a job.
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Shouldn't this be the other way round? (Score:1)
by tcoady on Monday September 09, @09:57AM (#4220292)
(User #22541 Info)
After it bought Compaq this year, the combined company became the largest single buyer of Windows for personal computers and data-serving computers, and thus more dependent on Microsoft
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Completely backwards! (Score:5, Insightful)
by wind (cowles@ling.REMOVEucsdDOTedu) on Monday September 09, @10:01AM (#4220315)
(User #94988 Info)

After it bought Compaq this year, the combined company became the largest single buyer of Windows for personal computers and data-serving computers, and thus more dependent on Microsoft.

Am I the only one who thinks this is just ass-backward from the way you'd expect things to be in an open market? So, HP/Compaq becomes MS's biggest customer. Back in the olden days, it would mean that *MS* would quake in fear and bend over backwards not to piss off their biggest client, lest they lose their business. Nowadays, it appears to mean that HP/Compaq needs to be careful lest they upset their vendor.

It's ridiculous. And, frankly, it should stop. Too bad short-term shareholder value has to take precedence over long-term strategic planning (like finding a way to get out from underneath MS's thumb).

[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Strange World (Score:1)
by jsantos (jjsantos@nospam.bigfoot.com) on Monday September 09, @10:06AM (#4220336)
(User #113796 Info)
After it bought Compaq this year, the combined company became the largest single buyer of Windows for personal computers and data-serving computers, and thus more dependent on Microsoft.

Funny, in a sane world you would think it would be the other way around.
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
He's better off somewhere else then (Score:2)
by Arcturax on Monday September 09, @10:08AM (#4220341)
(User #454188 Info)
If the company is this short sighted, then he is better off working elsewhere. I am sure someone will hire him now having seen the publicity around this. Maybe he can get a job as a /. editor ;)

If anything, now he can go break the DMCA publically like he wanted to before HP put a stop to it.
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
HP has always been a Microsoft patsy (Score:3, Interesting)
by IGnatius T Foobar on Monday September 09, @10:12AM (#4220363)
(User #4328 Info | http://uncensored.citadel.org/)
This news doesn't really come as any big surprise. Hewlett Packard always, always, always does what its Redmond-dwelling masters tell it to do.

Look at the history of OpenMail, for example:
  • When OpenMail was first released, they had a Windows NT version in the works. Microsoft told them to knife it because it would threaten Exchange. They did.
  • When Linux became popular, OpenMail began another rise. It was about to become prominent again, and possibly threaten Exchange again. This time, Microsoft told them to kill the product completely on all platforms. And they did.
Now that Perens guy is a nuisance. He makes too much noise, so Microsoft told them to fire him. Of course, they did.

I have no respect for a company that is such a pushover, and certainly no respect for a company so tightly bound to Microsoft.
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Fiorina's on the roll (Score:2)
by MSBob on Monday September 09, @10:18AM (#4220405)
(User #307239 Info)
Need I say more?
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Can anyone say "Martyr"? (Score:2)
by NineNine on Monday September 09, @10:19AM (#4220420)
(User #235196 Info | http://ninenine.com/ | Last Journal: Monday September 09, @05:50PM)
He did it on purpose. Come on. Look at it. Of course he did. He made a martyr out of himself so that he could get even *more* notariety and possibly a better paying job. I don't believe for a second that if he was actually doing something productive, that HP would have let him go, if he knows what he purports to know. My guess is that he did something stupid to get canned (on purpose), so that he'd be in the press. Everyone here, at least, gobbled it up. "Oh, poor Bruce!", "Bruce took one for the team", yadda, yadda, yadda. I bet that he's got a better severance package than most people here would ever get.
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
I can hear him now... (Score:2)
by cr@ckwhore on Monday September 09, @10:24AM (#4220459)
(User #165454 Info | http://www.snowjournal.com/)
<perens>Would you like fries with that?</perens>

[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Topsy-turvy world (Score:3, Insightful)
by hey! (mattleo@treehouse.acrcorp.com) on Monday September 09, @10:36AM (#4220555)
(User #33014 Info | http://slashdot.org/)
Quoth the article:
After it bought Compaq this year, the combined company became the largest single buyer of Windows for personal computers and data-serving computers, and thus more dependent on Microsoft.


The logic of this is exquisitely twisted. Hp-Compaq is now by far Microsoft's biggest customer, so the logic goes, Microsoft has the most leverge over them.


Excuse me?


I think anybody who doesn't think that Microsoft's use of monopoly power needs to be severely restrained needs to think this one over. How can there be competition when companies fear a vendor so much they can't even flirt with the competition?

[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Backwards... (Score:4, Insightful)
by MrWa on Monday September 09, @10:38AM (#4220572)
(User #144753 Info | http://www.hamete.com/)
After it bought Compaq this year, the combined company became the largest single buyer of Windows for personal computers and data-serving computers, and thus more dependent on Microsoft


Does this not seem wrong to anyone else? Sense when does the supplier dictate the terms and not the largest customer? This, more than anything else I think, demonstrates that Microsoft has gone from being a viable solution for decent software to a company that needs to be reigned in.


The problem now, though, is that market forces will have to accomplish this. We already know that the government is incapable of stopping Microsoft from doing what it wants. Short of breaking the company into two or three parts, things will continue the way they are.

[ Reply to This | Parent ]
I hear the REAL reason was... (Score:3, Funny)
by MissMyNewton on Monday September 09, @10:47AM (#4220646)
(User #521420 Info)

...that he kept pestering Carly to change the company name to GNU/HP

;-)

[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Corporate politics... (Score:2)
by SwedishChef on Monday September 09, @11:04AM (#4220770)
(User #69313 Info | http://www.networkessentials.net/)
Bruce got caught in office politics, where several managers thought his stance on open source threatened their agenda with Windows. It's one thing I like about running a small company: we don't have a problem determining the difference between corporate goals and personal goals. They are one and the same right now.

Hire a manager, however, and you suddenly introduce another variable. Is *his* agenda the same as yours? Or does he want to cultivate contacts while being paid by you so that he can go out on his own in 2 years?

Everyone in a corporation has an agenda and it's surprising how often those agendas don't conform to what would be good for the corporation that pays them. In this case I'm pretty sure HP/Compaq will live to regret firing Bruce.

Our company hasn't bought (or even recommended) a Compaq or an HP in years. We recommend Dell almost exclusively (even if we don't get a dime out of it) because we think boxes from Dell offer the best value for our clients. This may change in the future to HP, but somehow I doubt it.
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
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