With so many attractive alternatives among IT companies which face short-term,
business cycle issues and/or fiscal cliff panic, why bother with HP's
seemingly endless list of self-inflicted wounds which might take years to fix.

Answer: entertainment value!
At 0.1% of my portfolio I can afford to take a flutter.
I went for $13 call options at $1.45. By fat the most likely outcome is that I lose $145.
If they go back to their 52 week high I make $1555. As I say, pure entertainment value.
Plus, it's faintly possible that they will have a very different reputation in a year.
Maybe flattish revenue but rising earnings & share price and a secure looking dividend.
Weirder stuff has happened.

With hindsight the main problem with the acquisition was clear:
you can't successfully take over a company called "autonomy".

Jim