Stupid CP/M question

From: D. Peschel <dpeschel_at_u.washington.edu>
Date: Sat Jan 9 03:53:55 1999

> Hewlett Packard! They should have owned the PC world, not DEC, not IBM.
> They were always pushing the envelope, they understood usability issues,
> including portability (my first computer was a 1974 HP65 -- no it's not a
> calculator, it's an amazing portable computer that nothing could touch
> until many years later).
>
> If the Universe had warped a bit such that HP decided to market to
> consumers much earlier or we had *many* more scientists and engineers
> (their target market) in the world, we'd be sitting very pretty.

Hmm, that's a possibility I hadn't considered. It has potential, since they
certainly had creativity. (I'm not sure if they still do, sadly.)

The disadvantage is that they always want to do things their way, and they
always assume their way is right.

I'm mostly thinking of their calculators. The old ones are unparalleled,
but the newer ones didn't evolve as much as they could have (IMO -- I've
become disappointed at the HP48) and in some ways are very conservative.
They tend to have a fantastic lifetime (for example, some people's 10C/11C/
12C/15C/16C models are STILL using the original batteries, and of course the
things are rugged like nothing else) but the flip side is that when that
lifetime starts to come to an end, you may not be able to get a new unit or
even spare parts.

I've always gotten the impression that their PC clones were a little wierd.
Many people say their version of UNIX is uniquely gross. (I'm sure some
people find it uniquely lovely, too.)

So, in your hypothetical universe, I would hope to see a less-haughty
version of HP. Perhaps that would be an effect of entering the PC market in
1980, being flooded with customers, and realizing that their previous
methods wouldn't work very well. Perhaps it would be a cause -- only a more
flexible HP could enter the computer market, even in your world. Or perhaps
it wouldn't be a problem at all, because (by now) HP would be the standard,
with parts readily available.

Or perhaps I just wish they would re-produce some of their old calcs or make
hardware and firmware info and revision histories available to emulator
writers. :) Or at least come out with a worthy successor to the HP48.

-- Derek
Received on Sat Jan 09 1999 - 03:53:55 GMT