Hey you, Blue! Yeah, Big Blue. I'm talking to you.

Think you're so hot in I.T. services, winning corporate contracts around the globe?

Well, guess what? We are too. Hewlett-Packard's not just about PCs, you know. We had $17 billion in revenue from services last year. And now we are going to buy Electronic Data Systems. Gonna try anyway.

Oh, you heard right. The Wall Street Journal wasn't making that up. Ross Perot's old outfit has been slowly getting its act together. Talking about $5.6 billion in new contracts this year. You gotta like that. Worth a 26 percent premium, I would think. And we can certainly afford it, with more than $11 billion in cash in the till.

I heard that chortle. You say H.P. can't handle the big deals? What about Compaq, you ask? Hey, hey, that was Carly's show. Not mine. I'm not the "Let's Go to Davos and Change the World" C.E.O. I am supposed to be the nitty-gritty operational whiz, the cost cutter, remember?

Yep, this is the New H.P. Way: getting right in your rear-view mirror, Blue.

See ya soon,

Mark Hurd