News release

HP to Ship Microsoft Windows 2000 on HP Visualize Personal Workstations

Operating System Offers HP Technical Customers Reliability, Security, Manageability and Ease-of-use

PALO ALTO, Calif., Dec. 8, 2000

Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE: HWP) today announced that it intends to ship the Microsoft® Windows® 2000 operating system on its HP Visualize personal workstations as of the first calendar quarter of 2001. HP's technical customers should benefit from having Windows 2000 as an option for their technical computing needs for exceptional reliability, security, ease-of-use and manageability. The combined strength of the flagship operating system from Microsoft Corp. and HP's award-winning workstations provides a solid price/performance ratio for technical customers.

A Microsoft Windows 2000 Global Launch Sponsor, HP offers the HP Visualize workstation family that provides best-in-class manageability, stability and security, complementing and enhancing the many benefits of Windows 2000. HP is experiencing increased demand for its Windows 2000 pre-configured products.

Windows 2000 is designed with exceptional manageability and reliability for businesses of all sizes. HP's software tools and customer service make the transition to Windows 2000 even easier. The combination of HP's world-class engineering and the Microsoft Windows 2000 operating system is a strategic option for Internet-enabled computing.

The HP Visualize personal workstation family offers technical customers a complete range of high-performance systems to meet their rigorous requirements. Starting with the xu800, moving to the p-class and up through the x-class, the HP Kayak and HP Visualize personal workstation families offer the latest and most powerful Intel® Pentium® processors, the industry's fastest graphics accelerators, increased disk space and I/O capacities, industry-leading interoperability tools, and more RAM at a competitive price. These workstations deliver the power to financial professionals, engineers, scientists, analysts and designers who need to invent new ways to visualize, design and animate.

The Windows-based workstation has the power and visualization to drive large design applications, sophisticated office capabilities or complex 3D animations at affordable prices. A winning combination of industry-standard components and HP's engineering-focused, value-added technology delivers Windows-based workstations that have outstanding application performance with the reliability and support that technical customers expect from HP.

"HP is providing a successful combination for its customers who are planning to migrate to Windows 2000: Windows 2000 running on HP Visualize personal workstations," said Jeff Wood, worldwide personal workstation marketing manager, HP Technical Computing Division. "This solution enables both high performance and reliability, which are critical for the technical market."

HP Service and Support Offerings for Windows 2000

HP offers a variety of service and support for customers running Windows 2000, including: readiness assessment, active directory planning and design, server and storage consolidation planning, proof-of-concept testing, migration planning and implementation, education services, HP license management services and mission-critical support services for Windows.

About HP

Hewlett-Packard Company -- a leading global provider of computing and imaging solutions and services -- is focused on making technology and its benefits accessible to individuals and businesses through simple appliances, useful e-services and an Internet infrastructure that's always on.

HP has 88,500 employees worldwide and had total revenue from continuing operations of $48.8 billion in its 2000 fiscal year. Information about HP and its products can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.hp.com.

Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the U.S. and other countries.

Intel and Pentium are U.S. registered trademarks of Intel Corp.

This news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements. Risks, uncertainties and assumptions include the possibility that the market for the sale of certain products and services may not develop as expected; that development of these products and services may not proceed as planned; and other risks that are described from time to time in HP's Securities and Exchange Commission reports, including but not limited to the annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended Oct. 31, 1999, and subsequently filed reports. If any of these risks or uncertainties materializes or any of these assumptions proves incorrect, HP's results could differ materially from HP's expectations in these statements. HP does not intend to update these forward-looking statements.