HP has long been a "weird" place in the Silicon Valley / Bay Area business club. I never had a project for them go off without a hitch, there was always something wrong and typically it was due to their weird rules and requirements for vendors, as well as themselves.

Hurd's promotion was slightly baffling, but it may change early next year when they shuffle the board around and elect new people or replace a few. Patricia Dunn may be in jail by then, who knows....it depends on whether the California State Attorney General needs headlines or a splash, and a few other considerations.

What's really strange is Ms Dunn's career started off in investigative journalism and reporting...she originally wanted to be a muckraker back in the late 70s when she was starting out in business, so perhaps her instincts and principles didnt change all that much even after she got into the tech industry. Bottom line, no one knows why she did this incredibly stupid action; JRV asks a valid question, that if they were willing to do this simply because someone on the Board was making points with a trade publication by divulging company secrets or strategic plans, what else might she have done, or would have done? HP is such a HUGE icon in the Silicon Valley, and in Tech/Mfg in general, that this is a serious issue.

The Stock Price also has been bounced around by all this bullshit, especially when Atty General Lockyer started tossing around threats of indictment (which will be fact very soon.) HP's Stock Price nose dived 6 percent last wednesday and into Thursday when Lockyer stated that even Hurd may be face criminal charges, depending on how much he knew prior to his promotion after Dunn stepped down recently. Several other reviews and info rags I have read are portraying HP as a chaotic mess now with a bunch of ham-handed people at the top trying to assert moral superiority as justification for them running the show. WTF? NO ONE is talking about new products or business strategy, etc. The stock is going to tank for the next year, if you own any, bail out now and take your lumps before it plunges to Under 20 bucks a share by early next year (right now, its about 36 bucks a share.)