At least, that's the impression I got while speaking with Tony Prophet, Senior Vice President of Operations for HP's Personal Systems Group. Prophet didn't share any lofty goals or grand visions for HP's future, now that the company has decided not to sell or spin off its personal computer business. If anything, the company seems pleased with its decision to continue selling Windows PCs. After all, HP is the world's largest--and, according to the company, most profitable--PC maker.

"There's not necessarily a need for reinvention of the core business," Prophet said in a phone interview.

"That being said, we're working hard on our roadmap for Windows 8 to make sure that we have leading products in the Windows 8 timeframe, and we're working hard in the mid-term on a line of thin and light notebooks. And one of the products we're working on is a tablet."

I asked Prophet why HP won't be part of the first wave of Ultrabooks--Intel's term for MacBook Air-like Windows laptops--this holiday season. He didn't give a straight answer, but he also didn't seem concerned that HP would be arriving on the scene later than its competitors.

"As this very, very new category emerges, I don't think--and we don't think--success is going to be measured by a lead of a matter of weeks or a month or two," Prophet said.