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Technology Stocks : Dell Technologies Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: stock bull who wrote (119984)	4/22/1999 12:44:00 PM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 176387

<<Pfeiffer's obsession for the last five years has been with Dell. Not just the company -- Michael Dell, personally. In fact, a colleague of mine pointed out recently that you never knew when Pfeiffer was talking about Michael Dell personally or the company because he always refers to Dell as "he" or "his." Pfeiffer referenced either the man or the company in virtually every speech and was quick to point out that Dell, too, uses dealers. OK, we get it. But why bother to bring him/it up at all? When was the last time you heard Lou Gerstner mention Eckhard Pfeiffer's name in a speech? Yes, Dell's been taking share away from Compaq and IBM for the last year, if not more. Yes, Dell's direct model has done very well. But did Pfeiffer think that pointing out insignificant differences between the two companies in public would have any impact on public opinion? Two weeks ago when Compaq announced its new Prosignia line for small business, Pfeiffer did it again. I felt compelled to ask Peter Blackmore, Compaq senior vice president about the Dell references in an interview after the announcement. Blackmore laughed for a few seconds and said something to the affect that Dell is a key competitor, etc., etc. OK. What kills me about this saga is that Pfeiffer, like Canion, identified his most powerful rival and wanted something done about it. But then something happened. Somewhere along the way he got sidetracked by the notion of becoming an "enterprise company." Bigger is better I suppose. And maybe he thought that by becoming the next HP or IBM, he'd be able to outperform all the smaller vendors. Sounds good in theory. But what's the point if you can't accomplish anything without having to turn to Viagra or things mechanical? Unfortunately for Pfeiffer, no magic pill could fix the Dell problem. So he embarked on his quest for the enterprise and acquired a handful of networking and high-end computer companies ranging from Thomas Conrad and Microcom to Tandem and, of course, Digital. All the while, Dell was eating away at its bread and butter PC business.>> Stock Bull: Thanks for supplying the ZDnet entertainment..!! CPQ's leadership has been lacking for quite some time. In fact I'm sure Compaq has now generated enough trouble for business school case writers to develop a case on how NOT to do it in the hardware industry <GG>!! DELL will continue to be the pioneer and lead their field. Best Regards, Scott

To: stock bull who wrote (119984)	4/22/1999 1:08:00 PM
From: rvgent	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 176387

Hi Mohan & All, here a link to a 5fer article...must reading for all Dellheads: zdnet.com Stockbull: Thanks for that article. makes for very entertaining reading.. I am fascinated by this corporate drama. Pfeiffer and in general Compaq and Compaqheads always seem to be obsessed with Dell. I find the constant knocking and DELL's studious avoidance of any reference to Compaq very amusing... This obsession, it seems will be their undoing... Does anyone else know, how the culture within other players like IBM, GTW, HP perceives each other and DELL/CPQ. OT.. One amusing parallel that comes to mind is people in SF/bay area ridicule LA with fervor and passion.. while most people in LA blissfully go about their life oblivious of the existence anything outside LA..