Sood: Voodoo PC Could Have Changed HP for the Better
Microsoft executive Rahul Sood recently gave an interview in which he carefully expressed a certain frustration with HP's lost passion for taking care of its PC business.
Sood, of course, is the co-founder of boutique PC maker VoodooPC, which he sold to HP. He left HP earlier this year to join Microsoft as his once prestigious brand and ideas ended up in a dark corner of the vast spaces of HP.
Sood talked to Xbit Labs and indicated that HP may have simply worn him out and that there was no hope left that VoodooPC could turn into the vision the two companies may have had when they agreed to the acquisition.
"There were some good things to come out of the deal, no doubt, but we could have done so much more," Sood said.
He went a step further and compared the capabilities of VoodooPC+HP to Apple: "Had we been given more time I truly believe HP would have had a beautiful ecosystem of products that could stand up against Apple’s best offerings. If HP Voodoo was still alive and kicking you would have seen a different HP today."
It has been no secret that Sood does not believe that HP's decision to spin off its personal systems group is a good idea, but his criticism is certainly somewhat harsh.
"My guess is [that the HP CEO] sees challenges internally in PSG, he doesn’t fully understand how the hardware business operates, and he feels that hardware margins are far too slim to bother with. In my opinion hardware is the footprint that makes HP who they are. HP’s gigantic PC footprint is easily their biggest strength, not their software and services. If HP could leverage their biggest strength in a meaningful way they’d be almost unstoppable."
I remember when Alienware and Voodoo PCs were their own company and that was the height of PC gaming. Each company was so gaming focused, they offered awesome cases, tested every system personally, and came with awesome warranties and customer service.
The last of the mohicans of the enthusiast PC market is Falcon Northwest. They are still their own company, alive and kicking. They had, and still have some of the most awesome paint jobs you will ever see on a case.
PC gaming took a slight dive with this current generation of consoles, and I am one who also jumped ship (sort of because of the CS and BF:2 hackers) for my PS3 I still own today. I always built my own rig, but these companies made PC gaming a breeze for people who weren't as technically inclined, or were, and just wanted bragging rights.
I hope PC gaming starts becoming huge again, not all these damn console ports, but only time will tell. I do miss having a gaming rig though
HP is pretty big in business segment even with PCs, and don't forget about the server market, which brings them huge profits. IMO there quality has improved from what it was about 2-3 years ago. Anyway, talking about what it could have been is all this is, so it doesn't really matter. Especially since the company is being run by someone who seems to know much less about the hardware side of things, hence, he is pushing the company in a direction which he knows i.e. software.
And Scanners.
Yes it's been quite obvious that Leo Apotheker doesn't want anything to do with consumer hardware. I understand the profit margin is smaller and with the number of choices in PC's if you don't keep a computer so low, you'll get priced out of the market. There is still the hope this could become a good thing at some point. When HP spins off PSG and someone else is CEO who doesn't have to report to a software only guy we could see some cool hardware out of them. My fingers are crossed by I keep hearing the drums in the deep.
Yes it's been quite obvious that Leo Apotheker doesn't want anything to do with consumer hardware. I understand the profit margin is smaller and with the number of choices in PC's if you don't keep a computer so low, you'll get priced out of the market. There is still the hope this could become a good thing at some point. When HP spins off PSG and someone else is CEO who doesn't have to report to a software only guy we could see some cool hardware out of them. My fingers are crossed by I keep hearing the drums in the deep.
HP has been using the same sorry case designs for years, just switching colors is all that they have managed to do, brand recognition is the only reason people even bother with HP on the consumer level.