[jabl]

The HP Compaq merger as well as the Agilent spin-off in many ways marked the transition from an engineering company to a bunch of vacuum cleaner salespersons.

PS: Yes it's unfair to blame all this on Compaq, probably more a result of increasingly expensive semiconductor R&D.

[zwieback]

Ouch! I've worked for hp since 1999 just about when we spun out Agilent and it was definitely a painful cultural transition to a consumer business.

However, on the more profitable inkjet side of the business we've been doing a lot of R&D and I don't think we've sold a single vacuum cleaner.