Speaking at HP's Technology Forum, Hurd spoke of the company's problems obliquely when he told attendees that Jack Novia, its managing director and senior vice president of technology in the solutions group, would be throwing out the first pitch Tuesday night at Houston Astros game. Hurd said he hoped Novia wouldn't "embarrass the company with all the press that we have had over the past week."

That was it on this subject from Hurd, who otherwise emphasized the company's overall technology strategy and left questions about some of the specifics of that direction to other HP officials expected meet with the 5,200 attendees.

The forum comes about two weeks after the company disclosed in a filing with the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission that it had obtained telephone records of board members, reporters and others in an attempt to determine who was leaking board information. Its acquisition of telephone records has touched off state and federal investigations and the threat of criminal charges, as well as a congressional inquiry.

Some HP officials are nonetheless discussing the company's boardroom problems.

One conference attendee, Mark Yturralde, a systems engineer at a major health care provider that he asked not be identified, attended two technical sessions yesterday. At each one, the speakers spent a few minutes on the board's problems, seeking to assure attendees that it's not going to be a big problem or affect HP technology. Yturralde said he's really not interested in hearing about HP's boardroom troubles.