Ah, the good old days when HP manufactured real electronics with real value.
And to be an HP employee then was like being an Apple employee now.
Then came the sales wench. “Off with their brands. HP now sells printers and ink. Talented engineers must never use the brand of salescritters.”
And now, we have HP, a “brand name” equivalent to the Nobel Peace Prize. Soon to be further split into two even lesser brands.
I miss good HP printers. The 4000 series was one of the best. Not fast or fancy but rock solid reliable.
The HP 12c was the best calculator ever made.
RE: And to be an HP employee then was like being an Apple employee now.
A little history for those who don’t know....
During a guided tour of a newly renovated computer museum, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak highlighted the fact that he had offered his original design for the Apple I personal computer to his former employer, HP, 5 times, but was turned down each time.
And Steve Jobs was rejected by the recruiting process at HP, despite all his talent, simply because he had no college degree.
I remember HP making some cheap tablet computers a few years ago that were a big flop, but I can’t think of anything else. Of course, they probably have a lot more competition these days from the likes of Samsung, ASUS, Acer, Toshiba, Lenovo, etc. I still think they make some darn good laser printers.