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 relativ

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".