Bad medicine

With the merger uptick leading to front-page pieces, there have been some editors offering advice on right targets for others to go after.

2 suggested takeovers definitely don't sound like what a well-intentioned doctor would prescribe.

- Cisco - EMC: A columnist suggested that Cisco should be buying EMC to recover its lost sheen. That would be a bad move - worse than Symantec's recent decision to buy Veritas. Cisco is better off buying smaller companies in storage switches and security.

- HP - Gateway: The suggestion that HP even consider buying Gateway is downright dumb. HP's buy of Compaq was a tragedy, one that kept the buyer barely breathing and whose fallout is still being felt. IBM's sale of its PC unit has shown that it is a bad business to be in. If anything, HP should sell its Compaq unit to Gateway as part of its restructuring, which can now begin in earnest.