Linked by Howard Fosdick on Fri 23rd Nov 2012 14:03 UTC
Hard to believe, but articles are popping up at business websites claiming that venerable Hewlett-Packard may fail. In their most recent fiasco, HP wrote off a loss of $8.8 of their $11.1 US billion acquisition of Autonomy and have alleged fraud in the deal. Revenue is down 7% from a year ago and the stock has hit a 10-year low. The company is laying off 27K employees but that may not be enough. Some speculate HP might be broken up into parts with buy-outs involved. This article from last May offers a good in-depth analysis of how all these problems came to pass.
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RE[2]: Actual HP employee
by lucas_maximus on Sat 24th Nov 2012 21:09
in reply to "RE: Actual HP employee"
Member since:2009-08-18
Why the hell not layoff the incompetent f--kers who made the poor acquisitions? Why the hell hire people whose only "strategy" is get rich quick through acquisitions in the first place?
Bureaucracy and Politics, I worked in two mega bureaucracies now and I know politics. The game doesn't make sense if your think everyone is working for a common goal.
They've basically got a whole small town of qualified people that they're going to throw away when in fact it could be cheaper and better in the long run to retain them and retrain them at a small cost. Think about what 29K people could think up now that they're not busy.
It depends, in large organisations there are a lot of people that tend to be almost useless, but not damaging enough to get sacked.
I suspect a good number of those people were glorified secretaries.
The place I work for, they're always encouraging employees to go "above and beyond". But then they completely decimate the headcount, leaving one person to do three people's jobs and they expect them to have time to do frivolous things.
It normally the way, we have talented programmers (a lot better than I) firefighting legacy systems all day. I am currently the sole developer that has 100% of his time working on the CMS ... go figure.
Edited 2012-11-24 21:10 UTC
RE[2]: Actual HP employee
by Delgarde on Mon 26th Nov 2012 00:59
in reply to "RE: Actual HP employee"
Member since:2008-08-19
Why the hell not layoff the incompetent fuckers who made the poor acquisitions? Why the hell hire people whose only "strategy" is get rich quick through acquisitions in the first place?
Agreed, but getting rid of them doesn't get them out of the hole. Yes, senior management are hugely overpaid as individuals, but collectively they're small-beans compared to the cost of paying salaries for tens of thousands of workers. So even if they get rid of the bad execs (as they should), they still need to get rid of large numbers of regular folks as well.
Think about what 29K people could think up now that they're not busy.
In theory. In practice, they still need to be paid now that they're not busy. I've been in that position, and when the company isn't making money, the first priority tends to be to stop doing stuff that's losing money
RE[3]: Actual HP employee
by Soulbender on Mon 26th Nov 2012 02:05
in reply to "RE[2]: Actual HP employee"
Member since:2005-08-18
So even if they get rid of the bad execs (as they should), they still need to get rid of large numbers of regular folks as well.
True but what I think is grating is that the management hardly ever is let go and if they do it's usually with a hefty package. It's like getting paid incredibly well to screw up and that's not how capitalism is supposed to work.
when the company isn't making money, the first priority tends to be to stop doing stuff that's losing money
Like spending all day on the golf course....
RE[2]: Actual HP employee
by Vanders on Mon 26th Nov 2012 11:16
in reply to "RE: Actual HP employee"
Member since:2005-07-06
Why the hell not layoff the incompetent fuckers who made the poor acquisitions?
Er, they have. Shane Robison was one of the first out the door when Meg Whitman arrived. He was head of HP's Office of Strategy & Technology (OS&T), which is also gone. OS&T were responsible for almost all acquisitions within HP.
Disclaimer: I work for HP.
Member since:2005-07-06
Features
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/24/13 17:26 UTC
So, the Xbox One disaster continues. Microsoft's policy for dealing with the used games market has reportedly leaked - and it's a clear and direct attack to destroy the used games market. Prices for used games will be set at the retail value of a new game, and retailers have to hook into Microsoft's computer systems and comply with Microsoft's terms and conditions.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/21/13 21:38 UTC
At an event earlier today, Microsoft unveiled the next Xbox - the third model, but confusingly named Xbox One. The big focus was TV, integrated Kinect, and all the other stuff we all expected to be forced down our throats. I think it took them 25 minutes to actually come to what should be the core of the story: gaming. Nothing groundbreaking in the gaming department, except for how Microsoft intends to handle the used games market and borrowing games from friends: pay up, buddy!
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/20/13 11:29 UTC
The day has finally come! Jolla has finally announced the launch device for its Sailfish operating system - and by god this is a looker. It's decidedly different from other phones out there, but it has good specifications and carries a relatively reasonably price tag - EUR 399, and it's up for pre-order today, shipping in the fourth quarter of this year.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/18/13 21:33 UTC
Why does Google get so much credit in the technology industry? Why, despite the company's many obvious failings, do many geeks and enthusiasts still hold a somewhat positive view on the all-knowing technology giant? A specific talk at Google I/O this week provides the answer.
Linked by David Adams on 05/16/13 4:23 UTC
OSNews is a sponsor of this year's O'Reilly OSCON in Portland, Oregon, USA. A lucky OSNews reader will win a free three-day pass, including two tutorials days. To win the pass, post a comment on this story saying something about Open Source Software or OSCON. We'll pick a winner at random next week. If you don't have an OSNews account, you may email us your entry. Part of the conference is the 9th annual Open Source Awards, and today the 16th is the deadline for nominations. If you'd like to nominate an outstanding open source contributor, do it here. Read on for more information about OSCON. Update: The 20% discount code for OSNews readers is "OSN."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/11/13 21:41 UTC
"Windows is indeed slower than other operating systems in many scenarios, and the gap is worsening." That's one way to start an insider explanation of why Windows' performance isn't up to snuff. Written by someone who actually contributes code to the Windows NT kernel, the comment on Hacker News, later deleted but reposted with permission on Marc Bevand's blog, paints a very dreary picture of the state of Windows development. The root issue? Think of how Linux is developed, and you'll know the answer.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/08/13 14:22 UTC
This is one of those news items that's fun to write, fun to read, fun to comment on, and where no one will be able to say anything unkind. It's all just one big ball of awesome fluffiness. TuneTracker, the BeOS radio automation software, has just released something very special: TuneTracker System 5, the first version designed entirely and specifically for Haiku. In fact, it actually includes Haiku in the software package. Better yet, TuneTracker also unveiled several system-in-a-box products - which have Haiku and TuneTracker pre-installed.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/02/13 15:28 UTC
Exactly twenty years ago, a document was published that played a huge role in establishing the web as we know it today. Twenty years later, and this simple and straightforward document is proof of an irrefutable fact: while closed technologies can change markets, open technologies can change the world.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/29/13 21:06 UTC
Oh multitasking. That staple of computing that got thrown out the window with many modern smartphones. We got some rudimentary thing in its place - but even as multitasking on phone and tablets improves, its user-visible side remains cumbersome. Windows 8 has a neat implementation, and now it's time Android follows in it footsteps.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/24/13 22:24 UTC
They're here! Whether that excites you or not remains to be seen, but the Galaxy S4, which will most likely become the best selling Android smartphone of the year by a huge margin, has been reviewed by all the major sites, and there's lots of interesting conclusions in there - although I think most of you will get the gist.More Features »
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Why the hell not layoff the incompetent fuckers who made the poor acquisitions? Why the hell hire people whose only "strategy" is get rich quick through acquisitions in the first place?
They've basically got a whole small town of qualified people that they're going to throw away when in fact it could be cheaper and better in the long run to retain them and retrain them at a small cost. Think about what 29K people could think up now that they're not busy.
The place I work for, they're always encouraging employees to go "above and beyond". But then they completely decimate the headcount, leaving one person to do three people's jobs and they expect them to have time to do frivolous things.