Clash Of Cultures

Maybe HP's desperate bet on Compaq will indeed allow it to become an invincible second banana, an IBM Jr. that may one day challenge the king. But it's just as likely that the company that in 2025 holds the No. 2 slot in computing is currently being mapped out in a pie house, inside a garage or in a chat space on the Net. And maybe on its way to glory, this as yet unborn entity will make one-day headlines by snapping up a faded HP.

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