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Technology Stocks : Compaq -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Elwood P. Dowd who wrote (96344)	3/19/2002 4:55:13 PM
From: MeDroogies	Respond to of 97611

It's not a question of settling for mediocrity, but I'd have to say that in difficult times, everyone looks mediocre. The real stars shine when times get dark, but you'd be hard pressed to find any right now. Who can you think of that would make a good CEO? And how can you prove it? I liken it to having Mike Krzscyewski (sp?) as a basketball coach. We'd all love to have him, but there is only one Coach K. And even then, he's won the championship 3 times despite being there 7 or 8. Not a great record. On the other hand, you can get a good coach for a much lower salary, and be sure that you'll have decent seasons year in and year out, which will eventually get you to the championship game. Personally (coming from Syracuse), I use Boeheim, who is one of the most successful coaches in the NCAA's (beating Coach K twice...), but has never won the championship despite getting there twice. Is he mediocre? No, but many think he is. I prefer to think that he has a solid program and one that will get him to his goals eventually. Syracuse can never be Duke, nor would I necessarily want it to be. However, I don't think it's worth my time to worry about whether Boeheim is mediocre just because he's in the NIT this year. Sometimes events don't work in your favor. That's where I stand on MC. Events didn't work in his favor. By and large, most business analysts are very positive on MC and feel he was undone by larger macroeconomic forces. I happen to agree. In spite of this, I think he IS in the process of fixing CPQ's larger problems. Virtually everything I read about the merger points out that CPQ is in much better shape than HWP, that CPQ will do better if the merger fails, and MC is very good at pointing out CPQ's strengths. What you view as mediocrity is probably alot of ill will over a bad investment environment. I agree that MC isn't the best, but he certainly isn't the worst. And I disagree that you can always get the best. HWP thought they did when they signed on Carly. Hell, WW thought very highly of her as recently as last year.....funny how people become victims of events.