For those who were withering under the late summer heat, and ready for a breath of cool and refreshing
near Autumn air, it came in the form of a series of news developments that injected some drama and excitement into the normally more even-keeled IT world.
The news has been part of the continuing saga around HP’s decision to send CEO Mark Hurd packing in the wake of alleged expense report improprieties (not to mention sexual harassment charges that were settled). I had written about this in my post How NOT to Have a Crisis.
No sooner was Hurd out at HP then Oracle’s Larry Ellison was famously quoted as saying: “The H.P. board just made the worst personnel decision since the idiots on the Apple board fired Steve Jobs many years ago” (Kapow!!)
Ellison then promptly hired Hurd (Bam!!).
And then, HP decided to sue Oracle as a result (Pow!!)
NY Times columnist Joe Nocera wrote about this earlier this week (H.P.’s Blundering Board), and said: …the H.P. board can now lay claim, officially, to the title of the Most Inept Board in America. It’s going to take a yeoman effort to dethrone these guys.
The Wall Street Journal had a front page story yesterday (IBM’s Chief Thumps H.P.) that was about Palmisano piling on. (Thump!!!)
For a tech PR guy, it is a little like watching a highway pileup. You stand and stare in morbid fascination, yet can’t help feeling bad for those involved because there, but for the grace of god, can go your clients – yet, like a guilty pleasure, it is hard not find all of this at least a little entertaining and interesting
