You must be in cahoots with Microsoft

Dear Inquirer,

I have followed the HP scandal with great interest (and some amusement) over the past few weeks. The Inquirer and other publications have quite rightly pounced on this grubby episode. I'm sure there is more to come, so stay on the case.

However, I am baffled by the lack of attention that has been paid to a couple of aspects of this affair:

1. There seems to be a concensus that this situation arose from a dysfunctional board and the wacky behaviour of certain senior executives in the company, the implication being that the rest of the company is untainted and still has high ethical standards. While this is true for the majority of the Individuals (non-managers) in the company, this surely cannot be true for the lower ranks of management. The new culture of the new HP has been driven downwards, relentlessly and brutally, with the essential assistance of all layers of management. It would be a surprise within any company if the behaviours of senior and junior management were substantially different. And believe me, in the case of HP, those behaviours are not much different.

2. Everybody seems to have swallowed the Hurd line that this affair is something separate from the day-to-day activities and operations of the company. While not necessarily agreeing or disagreeing with that, precisely why should shareholders, customers, suppliers, partners and employees just accept that proposition? After all, this is a CEO that spent most of last Thursday telling his questioners how he had failed in an important area of his job.

Surely, these questions justify taking a really, really close look at HP?

Keep up the good work.

Name, email supplied.

Subject: Response to letters

Vap's mildly vitriolic letter regarding HP's former glory misses the mark.

The irony is that a letter criticizing the board for ignoring the law suggests exactly the same - Bugger the shareholders, he says! Well, Mr. Vap, that, unfortunately, is illegal. The shareholders own the company, and they decide what to do with it, not the managers.

If you'd like your business run otherwise, don't take it public.

Also, "Do as your employees say" is a bit of a non-suggestion. Effectively, this means you could eliminate the top layer of management. But then the next guys down would be in charge, and they'd have to listen only to the people below them... etc.

The people at the top DO have a job to do. The incompetence of top managers in a given company doesn't mean the very idea of having people lead a company is bad.

-David.

Subject: Intel's spy software extends to home

Dear INQ,

This article was almost completely content free! Oh, "remote management is scary" seemed to be the only point.

A Swede

Subject: Intel's spy software extends to home

Dear INQ,

Long time reader, first time emailer. Love the site. I have to remain anonymous because I work for a big company that is listening to the Intel AMT sales pitch and our conclusion is that AMT scares the hell out of us.

Think about it. A PC can be turned off, but - because there's power to the NIC - some sysadmin can access the system remotely it can be altered without intervention or knowledge from the end user.

What happens when this gets hacked? We've asked Intel and they claim it's secure and my response is, where the **** is the OFF switch folks?

This 'feature' is a huge turn off and is actually swaying us toward, you guessed it, AMD systems that don't have this idiotic functionality.

Hopefully, AMD doesn't get any dumb ideas to copy this poor idea.

Anon

Subject: Big M and the Intel Claim

There's no way Intel CPUs would cause batteries to explode, period. If it draws too much power, it's just going to shut down, not explode. I don't know if you've ever hosted a LAN or anything, but when you get too many watts coming out of only so much voltage, BAM, it goes out. And your house doesn't explode. In fact, nothing explodes. At all.

These CPUs use a LOT less battery power than, say, Pentium 4's, and those were thrown in laptops at 3.6 GHz by Alienware, and everyone knows the type of power draw they have.

Don't blame Intel because you're an AMD fanboy.

DJKryp

Subject: anti sony!

Hi mike,

Firstly, I think you internet magazine is great and keeps me up to date with all things techie.

Unfortunately, I can't say the same about your journalism when it comes to the Sony playstaion 3 you come across so anti sony anyone would think you're in cahoots with Microsoft? Most of your reporting has turned out to be unfounded as the launch of the ps3 gets closer.

Don't get me wrong, I'm no fan boy or anti Microsoft but I think you've become very transparent on this subject.

Regards,

Neil Beech

Subject: connexion

Dear INQ,

I'm hardly one to talk, but 'connection' is spelt thusly.

Thank you, please.

The editor, Thisisntexeter.co.uk

Tony Dennis replies … Shouldn't that be - "I'm hardly one to write"?

Anyway, I was always taught that the Oxford English dictionary was the definite guide to 'British' English.

Here you go, all you disbelievers …
Connection (Brit. also connexion)

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