4 ms·

I have to think that HP could just throw $100m at the problem and build an embedded OS that's far better than Palm, without having to take on the assets of a lo

I have to think that HP could just throw $100m at the problem and build an embedded OS that's far better than Palm, without having to take on the assets of a long-since failed corporation.

simonsquiff 16y ago
That would take them how long? Buying Palm they get that now.
- dnsworks 16y ago
  Probably a lot quicker than it will take to save the sinking ship that is Palm. Sure this is a market penetration play, but why? Palm was a failure. PalmOS was a failure. WebOS might be cool, but the damage is done. Google is making good penetration into the mobile market, and they didn't need to buy grandpa to do so.
  - hasanove 16y ago
    I know it does not exactly compare, but they too have purchased Android, not developed it from the scratch.
  - jmtulloss 16y ago
    PalmOS was hardly a failure. It was far and away the most popular mobile OS for the better part of a decade.
- mortenjorck 16y ago
  Seen in those terms, and given the speed at which mobile is developing right now, this is worth way more than $100m. Think of it as $100m for a great mobile OS and $1.1billion for a time machine.
- antirez 16y ago
  Yep but something really interesting can happen in the process of creating something new. Buying a company that was not able to provide great things for a log time is not exactly exciting IMHO.
jbellis 16y ago
Big companies are terrible at solving problems by throwing $millions at them. Depressing, but true.
- antirez 16y ago
  Then acquire a startup that is inside that business. Take it separated from yourself, but just provide enough money for them to continue working better, faster, with more people. Tell them what you need. Not interms of specifications, you as a big company are not good about it probably, everything will be too much formal and the resulting code will suck. Just tell your start up the final result, the user experience. I think this stuff is doable, just can't understand why companies don't do it. I mean if you are going to acquire a company and this is a successful company in its market this makes sense. But with Palm what they are getting is more or less only the technology and the people.
  - sans-serif 16y ago
    a.l.a. Facebook
  - inerte 16y ago
    Buying another company "instantly" transfer their assets/resources to you. The knowledgeable people, the patents, the deals with suppliers and clients, the brand. Even with what could be considered infinite money, it takes time to build a Palm (and then there's the risk).
    - sandipc 16y ago
      not to mention all the nice Palm IP that comes along with the Palm purchase
jsz0 16y ago
If they had started 3 years ago maybe. HP is not a software company in any significant way. Look at how many years of development Apple & Google, both very good software companies, needed to build their platforms. WebOS is at least a legitimate competitor today.
- dnsworks 16y ago
  That's sort of a ridiculous statement. HP probably has far, far more software under active maintenance than Google, and maybe than Apple. Do you understand how many different products HP maintains software for between management tools, firmwares, device drivers? They've also bought a number of large enterprise software companies over the past decade.
  - jsz0 16y ago
    Yes I suppose I should have said a "consumer software company" to be more clear. There's a world of difference between enterprise/support software and consumer oriented SmartPhone platforms. Still I'm sure HP could have managed it in-house but they're working on a 4-5 year deficit of time compared to Apple and Google. $1B to catch-up overnight is not a bad deal at all. Either way they probably would have needed to pull in outside resources. I can't imagine the OpenView guys writing a SmartPhone media player or e-mail application.
alanstorm 16y ago
When a big company throws $100,000,000.00 at something it tends to attract a lot of people (either internally or externally) who are more interested in figuring out how to acquire as much of the $100,000,000.00 as possible without worrying too much about delivering a final product in any kind of time frame. By buying Palm HP knows that it's getting a modern mobile OS that's already in use on shipping products. For a company like HP a known quantity is better than spending money on R&D it may not be able to pull off.
- aresant 16y ago
  You just described the entire government contracting industry.
  - alanstorm 16y ago
    I just described the intersection of power, money, and business. (so yeah, government contracting fits in the bucket)
pkulak 16y ago
As a developer, HP coming out with their own OS makes me want to do about anything else with my time rather than write an app for it. There are already too damn many mobile OSes. But, buying Palm makes WebOS seem that much more relevant, and makes me consider it much more than I was.
azim 16y ago
Been there, done that, and HP is not capable of developing a product from the ground up that will be competitive in the marketplace. For them the best option is definitely to buy. I hate to say it, but they're a company that's out of innovation and out of talent.
- dnsworks 16y ago
  Procurve? Proliant (otherwise known as the best value enterprise servers on the market) Let's not forget their various diagnostics tools and imaging products. Printers? Cameras? Calculators? The incredible solutions from EYP for building efficient datacenters, including their containerized solutions? Openview (Sure nobody ever used it, but a lot of companies pay a hell of a lot of money for it) But you're right, HP is incapable of building anything that is competitive in the marketplace. Maybe they're incapable of building a cellphone that doesn't make phone calls, or of putting out silly little web products, but HP is massive, and has built some incredible network and server hardware.
  - azim 16y ago
    You're right, they are massive, and I will admit that the only division I'm intimately familiar with is HP Software. At about 13,000 employees it's is a relatively small part of HP. I can speak only to that division, you may be more familiar with ISS and Procurve than I am. I have the utmost respect for HP's technologists. The tech demos and prototypes created are truly amazing. But lets be honest, the ipaq has been in maintenance mode for years and needs a complete refresh to be on par with current offerings from competitors. When was the last time you've seen HP enter a market with a truly innovative and successful product which was built entirely in-house? Networking is being augmented with the $2.7bn 3com acquisition rather than developing new technology in house, Proliant came from the Compaq acquisition, IPG hasn't done anything truly innovative in years -- Snapfish was an acquisition, they discontinued internal production of photosmart cameras two years ago, and much of the current OpenCall (formerly OpenView) came from the Mercury and Opsware acquisitions. HP is good at buying technology, and it's services, sales, and ops, are top notch. But they've either by intent or by misstep strayed from The HP Way over the last couple years and are no longer capable of living up to their slogan of "Invent".

I have to think that HP could just throw $100m at the problem and build an embedded OS that's far better than Palm, without having to take on the assets of a long-since failed corporation.

simonsquiff 16y ago

That would take them how long? Buying Palm they get that now.

dnsworks 16y ago
Probably a lot quicker than it will take to save the sinking ship that is Palm. Sure this is a market penetration play, but why? Palm was a failure. PalmOS was a failure. WebOS might be cool, but the damage is done. Google is making good penetration into the mobile market, and they didn't need to buy grandpa to do so.
- hasanove 16y ago
  I know it does not exactly compare, but they too have purchased Android, not developed it from the scratch.
- jmtulloss 16y ago
  PalmOS was hardly a failure. It was far and away the most popular mobile OS for the better part of a decade.
mortenjorck 16y ago
Seen in those terms, and given the speed at which mobile is developing right now, this is worth way more than $100m. Think of it as $100m for a great mobile OS and $1.1billion for a time machine.
antirez 16y ago
Yep but something really interesting can happen in the process of creating something new. Buying a company that was not able to provide great things for a log time is not exactly exciting IMHO.

jbellis 16y ago

Big companies are terrible at solving problems by throwing $millions at them. Depressing, but true.

antirez 16y ago
Then acquire a startup that is inside that business. Take it separated from yourself, but just provide enough money for them to continue working better, faster, with more people. Tell them what you need. Not interms of specifications, you as a big company are not good about it probably, everything will be too much formal and the resulting code will suck. Just tell your start up the final result, the user experience. I think this stuff is doable, just can't understand why companies don't do it. I mean if you are going to acquire a company and this is a successful company in its market this makes sense. But with Palm what they are getting is more or less only the technology and the people.
- sans-serif 16y ago
  a.l.a. Facebook
- inerte 16y ago
  Buying another company "instantly" transfer their assets/resources to you. The knowledgeable people, the patents, the deals with suppliers and clients, the brand. Even with what could be considered infinite money, it takes time to build a Palm (and then there's the risk).
  - sandipc 16y ago
    not to mention all the nice Palm IP that comes along with the Palm purchase

jsz0 16y ago

If they had started 3 years ago maybe. HP is not a software company in any significant way. Look at how many years of development Apple & Google, both very good software companies, needed to build their platforms. WebOS is at least a legitimate competitor today.

dnsworks 16y ago
That's sort of a ridiculous statement. HP probably has far, far more software under active maintenance than Google, and maybe than Apple. Do you understand how many different products HP maintains software for between management tools, firmwares, device drivers? They've also bought a number of large enterprise software companies over the past decade.
- jsz0 16y ago
  Yes I suppose I should have said a "consumer software company" to be more clear. There's a world of difference between enterprise/support software and consumer oriented SmartPhone platforms. Still I'm sure HP could have managed it in-house but they're working on a 4-5 year deficit of time compared to Apple and Google. $1B to catch-up overnight is not a bad deal at all. Either way they probably would have needed to pull in outside resources. I can't imagine the OpenView guys writing a SmartPhone media player or e-mail application.

alanstorm 16y ago

When a big company throws $100,000,000.00 at something it tends to attract a lot of people (either internally or externally) who are more interested in figuring out how to acquire as much of the $100,000,000.00 as possible without worrying too much about delivering a final product in any kind of time frame. By buying Palm HP knows that it's getting a modern mobile OS that's already in use on shipping products. For a company like HP a known quantity is better than spending money on R&D it may not be able to pull off.

aresant 16y ago
You just described the entire government contracting industry.
- alanstorm 16y ago
  I just described the intersection of power, money, and business. (so yeah, government contracting fits in the bucket)

pkulak 16y ago

As a developer, HP coming out with their own OS makes me want to do about anything else with my time rather than write an app for it. There are already too damn many mobile OSes. But, buying Palm makes WebOS seem that much more relevant, and makes me consider it much more than I was.

azim 16y ago

Been there, done that, and HP is not capable of developing a product from the ground up that will be competitive in the marketplace. For them the best option is definitely to buy. I hate to say it, but they're a company that's out of innovation and out of talent.

dnsworks 16y ago
Procurve? Proliant (otherwise known as the best value enterprise servers on the market) Let's not forget their various diagnostics tools and imaging products. Printers? Cameras? Calculators? The incredible solutions from EYP for building efficient datacenters, including their containerized solutions? Openview (Sure nobody ever used it, but a lot of companies pay a hell of a lot of money for it) But you're right, HP is incapable of building anything that is competitive in the marketplace. Maybe they're incapable of building a cellphone that doesn't make phone calls, or of putting out silly little web products, but HP is massive, and has built some incredible network and server hardware.
- azim 16y ago
  You're right, they are massive, and I will admit that the only division I'm intimately familiar with is HP Software. At about 13,000 employees it's is a relatively small part of HP. I can speak only to that division, you may be more familiar with ISS and Procurve than I am. I have the utmost respect for HP's technologists. The tech demos and prototypes created are truly amazing. But lets be honest, the ipaq has been in maintenance mode for years and needs a complete refresh to be on par with current offerings from competitors. When was the last time you've seen HP enter a market with a truly innovative and successful product which was built entirely in-house? Networking is being augmented with the $2.7bn 3com acquisition rather than developing new technology in house, Proliant came from the Compaq acquisition, IPG hasn't done anything truly innovative in years -- Snapfish was an acquisition, they discontinued internal production of photosmart cameras two years ago, and much of the current OpenCall (formerly OpenView) came from the Mercury and Opsware acquisitions. HP is good at buying technology, and it's services, sales, and ops, are top notch. But they've either by intent or by misstep strayed from The HP Way over the last couple years and are no longer capable of living up to their slogan of "Invent".