RE: HP to Acquire Compaq in $25B Deal

[Whitten, Gary]

Title: Message

Ugh, nothing like taking some time off and coming back to a few thousand messages.  Anyhow, FWIW, here's my take on the situation:    trust HP more than Compaq many times over.  I use them for all my major servers and printers.   HP support, after you blow through the 'We assume you're an idiot so here are 40 hoops to jump through' part, is pretty decent generally.  Late last year, they goofed and sent me two CPUs that had different voltages for the same NetServer and that caused some internal damage.  After immediately acknowledging the mistake, they really stepped to the plate and ended up sending me every internal part to rebuild the server and a tech to do it.  Would they have done it without my having a full, on-site warranty?  Not sure.   I do, however, remember calling tech support once and telling THEM that a new model of laptop had shipped the month before then hung up, since if I knew that much more, they couldn't tell me how to fix it...   Bottom line/Summary: Most support can use some major bolstering, but until they're willing to pay a bit more for the frontline staff and internal communication, you're going to get some major headaches from talking to people whose primary job qualification was having a pulse....   Thus concludes my tale and cynicism for the day....   Gary Whitten Systems Administrator Eprise Corporation V508 661 5234 F508 661 5400 http://www.sunbelt-software.com/ntsysadmin_list_charter.htm