[blackguardx]

I also worked for Agilent.

I think most people don't understand that for most of its life, HP wasn't a consumer products business. It focused on test and measurement equipment for engineers and scientists. The computer and printer sections of the company were created to fulfill the needs of that niche. When personal computers took off and the computer and printer divisions grew, the management thought than in the lusty days of the dotcom boom it would be best to split into two companies. Their rationale at the time was that it was too hard to manage a consumer products business and a industrial products business at the same time. Though, the tech stock market fever at that time was probably the probably the real reason.

HP's history after that is well known. Carly Fiorina has been vilified for destroying Bill and Dave's company, but at least she wasn't responsible for the split. Since the split, years of mismanagement have led it to where it is today.

Agilent, meanwhile at least pays some lip service to the "HP Way." A lot of the old-timers reminisce about the "glory days" of HP that will never come back. But, at least some fragment of Bill and Dave's legacy still carries on.