HP/CPQ: Rising to the absurd

Yesterday, Hewlett pere sent an open letter to the boards of Hewlett Packard and Compaq asking them to end the merger without a shareholder vote and HP and Hewlett Foundation board member Richard Hackborn resigned from the foundation, citing irreconcilable differences, though Walter Hewlett finds no such conflict and retains his seats on both boards. Also yesterday, The Register published an HP memo directing employees to “Be a Voice for the New HP” by allowing their names to be used publicly to show support for the merger. The result? Today’s SJ Mercury News has an article where several top execs do just that. One HP exec must have had advance notice of the directive. Good doggies.