HP TO ACQUIRE COMPAQ

Well, this ought to be all over the news in the morning. Hewlett Packard has agreed to buy Compaq Computers in a stock swap valued at $25 billion. That promises to shake up the computing world in a big way.

GATEWAY WOES

Gateway is struggling more than you realize. Its business plan is a mess – there’s no money to be made from consumer PCs, but it’s had no luck figuring out what else to sell. It laid off 3,000 employees earlier this year, and it’s laying off...

KODAK AND MICROSOFT

Kodak got a bunch of publicity last month when it attacked Microsoft for not giving its photo finishing software fair treatment in Windows XP. (See my link and comments on July 7.) It was played up as another example of big bad Microsoft giving preferential treatment...

DSL COLLAPSE CONTINUES

In the old days – a year ago or so – DSL was available from many Internet service providers. DSL wholesalers – Covad, Rhythms, and Northpoint – installed and maintained the lines, and the ISPs handled the customer services – billing,...

AMAZON FINANCIALS

The Los Angeles Times put together an interesting story about whether Amazon.com can survive. “On Monday, Amazon is expected to report its 17th consecutive unprofitable quarter, a money-losing streak with few precedents for a company its size in American...

KODAK vs. MICROSOFT

Here’s an article about Kodak’s contention that Microsoft is using its monopoly power unfairly to “pry its way into new businesses” with Windows XP. A lot of companies are currently getting a sympathetic ear in the press with their complaints...