HP CTO of Global Gaming Rahul Sood steps down 74
HP's CTO of Global Gaming and one of the chief evangelists for webOS in the company, Rahul Sood, has announced in "the most difficult letter I have ever written" that he's stepping down from HP. webOS fans have known Sood as one of the most vocal proponents for the potential of webOS from within HP and he was sure to include a message to the webOS community in his letter:
Your loyalty and dedication is truly inspiring. Many companies are just starting to understand the value of communities and the impact they can have on brand awareness and the bottom line. Very few companies are lucky enough to have a grassroots movement evangelizing their brand. HP Palm should be proud to have you as vocal critics and evangelists. I’m a big fan of webOS; I think Palm did some amazing things in a very short period of time. Your community reminds me of the old Voodoo community. I want to thank you for inspiring me with your thoughts, passion, loyalty, and camaraderie. I hope you will still allow me to participate in your discussions.
Sood notes that he "can't wait to be directly involved in a product pipeline again," though just where he'll be doing that remains to be seen. Sood, of course, came to HP along with the Voodoo acquisition.
Best of luck to you, Rahul, we'll hold you to your promise to continue participating in the webOS community.
Update: HP CTO Phil McKinney (no stranger to these parts) has also said a fond farewell to Sood, calling him a 'pirate' (in a good way) and noting that "his entrepreneurial spirit is guiding him in a different direction."
Source: Rahulsood.com
74 Comments
what? why? :( this cant be good
This blows...
That's to bad. Still best of luck to him wherever he goes. I liked him a lot. Hopefully he goes somewhere that he is still part of our community.
Wow, I'm blown away. This guy was a champion of all things webOS, what a shame to lose him. He had such passion for webOS.
I never quite figured out what HP Gaming encompassed, if it went beyond WebOS or not. Certainly their focus on enterprise would mean gaming would take a backseat in the WebOS arena. But I do hate to lose a champion and wish him the best.
If McKinney cleans out his desk, I'll end my day setting up a WinPro 6.5.
I'm with you. Too much bad and not enough good in the land of Palm. Although I'd probably find my way onto WP7 and not WinMo.
I wish him the best of luck. He brought a lot of energy to the Webos community. And i hope that there is someone else who will pick up the standard and wave it around. I think he brought some extra exposure to webos.
LOLOL. That just makes his twitter comment yesterday that much more hilariously depressing.
Totally not the announcement I was thinking.
Totally not the announcement that I think anyone, other than Rahul, anticipated.
I hate this, but I feel this is going to be a bad, bad day for webOS on smartphones. What will Ruby say today that can change the direction of my feelings? Only time will tell.
Can never have a good week without bad news :( I bet he is going to Google.
Ack! I'm really sorry to hear this. Rahul - we hope you stay involved with the WebOS community: you will be missed.
Maybe he got fired because he refused to use a Pre 2 and wanted to use an Android phone... another one bites the dust. Now he will go to work for Google so he can.
That's hilarious!
He most likely will start his own business
got a feeling hp fired him for spending to much time tweeting and not working
i always wondered how he got away with tweeting news articles and photos all day long LOL
He is not the only former HP employee that did that...
Entrepreneurs are entrepreneurs. They want to be *making* things, *creating* things, *building* things, both products and companies. I am certain that's what Rahul is feeling right now, just as Ben and Dion expressed a few weeks ago. {Jonathan}
Yes he probably had difficulty transitioning from a small startup founder to a huge mostly enterprise company that doesn't exactly live and breathe gaming systems. I wasn't sure what was his role in HP or was it a corporate figurehead job. He clearly felt some kindred spirits in the acquired Palm division. Too bad with his leaving HP but there probably wasn't any direct role for him to play in Palm division. I'm sure he got wealthy from the HP acquisition of Voodoo and can look forward to a lot of new opportunities after recharging.
so was it google, apple, or nokia that backed up the dumptruck full of money to his front door?
Those options dont sound very entrepreneurial. I'm thinking he'll land on the content side, a big fish in a small pond.
maybe he will be making super phones now under a new company and run webOS on them
:-O That would be A-WE-SO-ME!!!
That would be RE-DIC-U-LOUS if palm couldnt do it, why the hell would this guy manage it?
Rahul -- thanks for your commitment to stand behind webOS at HP on our behalf. With you, and Ben and Dion having now left HP I can only assume that this must have something to do with direction decisions at HP that you guys just did not agree with. I guess we will never know unless you choose to share that with us.
I can only see this as a major disappointment in the evolution of webOS within HP. Too bad, it seems as if HP is taking a good thing and making it another dyed in the wool corporate asset that they will choose to with as they please.
I know you were not directly involved with webOS, but your backing was obviously some wind in its sails. I hope the crew remaining will figure out how to hoist the main sail and get the ship going in the right direction.
Well, it looks like webOS needs a few more good men (& women) to champion its cause. ALOT of key people have left since the HP Palm deal.
Hopefully this is not ANOTHER nail in the coffin. Hopefully HP doesn't take a great OS and totally screw it up... Maybe this is the rebirth of a new webOS???
Would love to hear some good news about unrevealed features of 2.0 or new hardware...
HP/Palm are losing far too many key figures!
My guess is that he was looking to take on a larger role in the development of webOS with HP and it didn't happen.
I expect you are right. I suspect the plan was for Bradley to go to CEO, Rudy take his position and he move into Rudys' spot. I don't see him going to a big outfit, I am betting another startup.
Seriously, who gives a damn. I've always hated this guys face anyways. Keep the conveyor belt going. I'm sure there's someone better in the pipeline. You people over-react way too much.
well, no reason to follow him on twitter any longer!
Why is every single WebOS advocate in HP in any position of authority leaving the company? I just can't ignore the vibe this constant stream of departures is generating. How can we not believe there is a common theme here?
Why do you think everyone is bailing? HP is probably taking WebOS in a direction that has very little to do with Smartphones. It's over people. Abandon ship. LOL!!
I don't understand the importance of his departure. He was just an end user as we are and worked from home and played on social websites. He was not an active participant in Palm or it's future. He was a proactive advocate and will mostly remain so. Why is this community always so negative and 'the sky is falling' orientated? Maybe his departure will enhance HP WebOS by his future endeavors - lets stay positive as I am sure he is excited for his new direction.
Because everyone else left.
Because when you have next to no news except a rehashed Pre 2 after 18 months and the only other indicators you have to work with is a reliable stream of departing supporters you only have so many impressions you can draw.
... ... ... ... wow... of all people Rahul Sood!!!? WOW, faith in HP has dropped yet again.
HP, give us something to believe in. Your "tight" community maybe be cracking... slowly.
No God, you must have misheard me: I prayed for GOOD news this week, not Sood news!
LMAO! You must learn to annunciate !
In that case perhaps I should ask Sister Mary Annunciata (http://bit.ly/aFdU6e) to intercede on my behalf.
thanks for everything wish him the best
"Your community reminds me of the old Voodoo community."
Ugh...and yet, where is Voodoo? Gone the way of the Dodo.
voodoo is still around in some parts.
what i find disturbing is to in anyway be associated with evangelism. Not my thing. And it's real close to religious fanaticism. I'm not trying to convert anyone to anything like evangelicals.
update: it just occured to me voodoo may not be the same voodoo i'm thinking about. Like it may be some tech device i've never heard of. Still hate the evangelical thing.
And I hate to be Debbie Downer, but I think we can see the writing on the wall for Palm too.
The Pre 2 is the Voodoo Blackbird of Palm. All other products will be integrated into HP. Which is fine. HP is a huge company with major resources and I honestly look forward to what they do with WebOS.
I think Ruby will stick around but not forever.
I think as webOS is integrated into Tablets and net books, and... toasters, Palm will fade as a brand. It's just the way of things.
Here's to Rahul. Can't wait to see what he's up to next...
In discussing the status of Voodoo and HP, Rahul Sood's blog dated 9/17/09 (I believe that was about 3 years after acquisition)and titled "It's time to give you an update...!" stated the following:
"Voodoo, as you all know, was to be integrated into the larger business units so we could take some of our ideas and products to a much larger audience. I can't tell you how many times people in Dubai, London, India, and other places asked for the Voodoo Envy. It was frustrating for me because I've always wanted to get the brand out there, but changing the way the machine works so that we could take it globally isn't that simple. Essentially it's not as easy as I hoped."
and:
"So there you go, I'm here, we're here. In life as in business I find my work to be challenging and somewhat frustrating at times, but in the end it's rewarding to see the Voodoo influence continue to build on our legacy... Don't ever believe what you read online unless you hear it from the source.. ;-)"
Well, we've heard it from the source. How long until the same thing happens for Palm. Say, it ain't so HP.
It hurts that the major webos players keep leaving!! And where has ruby been!! We haven't heard or seen him for a long time!!
In what way was Sood a major webOS player? He was an exec at HP who really likes webOS. Now he is a guy who will be doing something else who really likes webOS. He made it clear he had no actual ability to influence anything that had to do with webOS.
You're right. Pre fanatics have a tendency to elevate anyone who says something positive about WebOS to messiah status. It's kind of like a fat girl who just got waved to for the first time.
You'll hear from him tomorrow.
and what ever he has to say will be lost in the din of the new apple announcement.
He's probably in his bunker er,office hunkered down like Hitler as the Russians close in from the east....
Guess this explains why he said no to the Palm DevDay invites....
Everything is about money as I'm sure this is.
No, everything is not directly about money. You can bring it into this in a round-about way though..... He has enough money he doesn't need to remain at HP to live, and he would be much happier if he was able to focus on doing something he enjoyed more. I think it has more to do with that.
He has talked about in the past how he would love to design/build products again. It sure seems he was not able to do any of that at HP.
In the executive world, money is just a small detail. Influence, recognition, responsibility and resources to tackle new goals are what makes these moves happen. Money is a given when you've already proven yourself.
He's not stocking shelves at the Safeway or processing the same transactions day and night. That's when money is a bigger influence.
It scares me that all the webOS champions are all leaving, it kinda leads me to believe that HP is doing or planning on doing something that the webOS fans in the company do not want to be a part of. If Ruby leaves I think its over, maybe I should start really scoping Android and WP7 phones. I mean I love the Palm/webOS community but if the founders and strongest supporters are leaving whats the point.
That's my theory. HP is doing something with WebOS that the departing escapees aren't liking. They are probably under non-disclosure agreements as part of their golden parashutes, so we won't know until 2011.
Hp is killing my buzz...everytime I look up somebody I like seeing involved with WEBOS is leaving. I think hp is going to do something with WebOS that we are all going to hate. Thats why all these people are leaving...I love WebOS but i gotta jump ship before hp ruins it for me...i mean really how many people can we lose and expect hpwebos not to turn into something that we cant stomach
I have the same fear and if HP Palm doesn't bring more phones to the plate by June of next year (Pre 2 is not going to cut it) when my contract is up, I will most likely move on.
I have to agree with you. Hopefully HPalm will come up with something by CES.
Horribly cheesy looking photo...
Is it just me or does that photo look like something pulled out of the "Hair Club for Men" marketing portfolio?
If I didn't know better I'd think you were hating on the man's looks. LOL
It was good having him/his comments around at the HPalm transition time. Best of luck to the ol Pirate.
All I know is that I'm sticking with webos until they demolish Palm headquarters in California.
Mr Sood made Maria's show on CNBC this evening, tomorrow will be interesting with the meeting and all.
Hahahahaha this is making my decision to switch to android even SIMPLER, real development, support, much better hardware, people using aandroid, etc.... Webos was a let down from the start.
WebOS was not a let down from the start. This has been the best 1st generation of a new OS i've used on a mobile device. They just need to really step up their game in the hardware division.
This is what happens when small companies get acquired. The parent company creates new positions for those lucky enough to survive the first week. Then after a while, they make those remaining few an offer they can't refuse (severance package).
Exactly what position and role did he have at Palm prior to the acquisition and what role has he played since in Palm division of HP?
Sigh... Comon HP give us some good news. And don't come back to me saying "But we announced the Pre 2!". The pre 2 is a spec bump, which appears to not even be coming to the company Palm initially went exclusive with.
What a shit show.
Boy, can all of you calm down. A little sensitive here huh? Raul WAS NOT IN ANY WAY SHAPE OF FORM INVOLVED WITH ANYTHING RELATED TO PALM OR WEBOS, EVER!!!! How in the world this says anything about Palm or WEBOS? CHILL OUT!!
Soon you will be saying that the new Cholera outbreak in Haiti is another reason why PALM will fail....C'mon!!
Nice going Apotheker, you d1cKh3aD!
get rid of the talented people, and keep the idiots in!
crg28 is right, Rahul was from the voodoo acc. But it doesn't matter if he worked on webos Prjects or not. Point is, that HP starts losing the real creative and cool People, because of a greedy and idiotic management. HP SUCKS, end of line! anyone that still think hp is top of the line, either never worked for HP, or is in a bubble and totally blinded. comon people wakeup, stop supporting and buying HP stuff.. worst day in my IT life was, when palm got taken over by HP - I mean it! I hope HP is NOT gonna screw webOS up, and I'm looking forward to see good devices from them... but tbh I don't think that this will happen!
Wow! Tell us what you reallllly think! LOL
The more I think about it. Feel free to post/print out this on your blog/site/refrigerator/shower wall/bathroom mirror as a direct quotation by yours truly.
My opinion is so important that everyone will be utterly convinced and will never think ill of you again. Let me know if you would like this mailed to you in Gold Leaf.
I ,James Stanford, being of sound mind and body, willfully write this without coercion.
In my opinion Rahul Sood is the Divine Holy Gift to technology, the Internet, websites, stock trading, golfing, fishing, farming, dancing, walking, talking, boating, swimming, pontificating, running through the forest with glee, hockey, lumberjacks, long sleeve sweater shirts, turtlenecks, zippers, buttons, grass, leaves, dirt, rocks, and air.
He is the most awesome, smartest, insightful person even to grace the world. His presence inspires happiness and contentment, in kittens, puppies, butterflies, children, caterpillars, and gelatinous cubes. When the Divine One walks through a crowd; bystanders are consumed with a feeling a calm and smell a hint of jasmine.
Every successful product and idea will forever come with an asterisk that says "This product was thought of first by Rahul Sood. Eternally Rahul Sood." Once the world realizes the full extent of your omnipotence, then we can all bask in the glory that is: Rahul Sood.
hehe, that made my day.. had a good laugh :)