On Tuesday, shareholders will pack into an auditorium in Cupertino, California to vote for or against HP's $20bn deal to buy Texas computer maker Compaq.

The largest ever merger between PC makers is being vigorously contested by the heirs of HP's founder, led by Walter Hewlett, eldest son of now-deceased William Hewlett.

Apart from the soap-opera dimensions of the fallout between Mr Hewlett and chief executive Carly Fiorina, two issues are dominating discussion of the merger's prospects.

The first is whether HP would be able maintain day-to-day operations without being distracted by the merger, while the second is when the PC market will recover.

Flea bitten

On Monday, the Financial Times quoted an HP official as saying that they had won large institutional shareholders, or the "elephants", but that the company was "getting eaten alive" by individual stock owners, referred to as "fleas."