It's an unfortunate fact of life. When a technology company grows, sooner or later the MBAs, lawyers, and vulture capitalists take over and the priorities get set by them and the quarter-over-quarter performance, rather that the science or engineering.
I detest managers who believe that a person can competantly manage anything, like a soft drink company, a sneaker company, or a high-tech company. One size dies not fit all. Not even close. I often wonder what good ideas and inventions died on the boardroom floor. This issue is not, by any means, limited to HP/Agilent. Corporate raiders, like Danaher, has done it to a bunch of companies, like Fluke and Tektronix. And they are not alone. EG&G, TRW, and ITT are other examples. YMMV, -John ================= > I imagine that Mr Hewlett and Mr Packard have been spinning in their > graves for years, seeing what has become of their company. Why anyone > thought it was a good idea to sell off the divisions that made "real" > products and become a PC company is beyond my understanding. > > Years ago, I thought HP printers were top rate. I'm not even sure that > is true any more. > > Joe Gray > W5JG > > On Sun, Jan 13, 2013 at 6:44 AM, Volker Esper <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> Thanks, Joe. Though I don't have such time equipment, the pictures are >> fascinating me and make me recall the days when the name "HP" stood for >> High >> Precision (or High Price) rather than for cheap printers. >> Those days are gone... >> >> Volker >> >> >> Am 13.01.2013 12:27, schrieb Dave Brown: >> >>> Thanks for these, Joe. >>> The photo with the sign 'set your watch' is especially interesting for >>> me as it shows a pair of old clock displays the same as one I have >>> here. >>> These are the two digital displays that are showing the same digits. >>> There's part of a third one the same on the extreme left but the >>> display >>> on that one is not visible in the photo. My clock has a different >>> mechanical dial on the ten turn pot at the extreme right of the front >>> panel- otherwise the unit I have here looks identical to those in the >>> photograph. >>> I have never been able to track down any info on this unit. Mine came >>> from a US military installation here in NZ (Black Birch) that has long >>> since been shut down. It's certainly old technology- RCA 'numitron' >>> displays and mostly TTL circuitry. I've had it running here >>> continuously >>> now for about six years driven from an HP 5245M timebase - the clock >>> has >>> never missed a beat. (recent quakes excepted ) Also. one of the >>> newspaper cuttings in that collection you posted mentions the flying >>> clock being down here in NZ to visit Mount John, a magnificent >>> observatory site in South Canterbury. These days it's a well known >>> astronomical observatory run as part of Canterbury University Physics >>> Department. >>> Dave Brown >>> Christchurch, NZ >>> >>> >>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Joseph Gray" <[email protected]> >>> To: "Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement" >>> <[email protected]> >>> Sent: Sunday, January 13, 2013 10:10 PM >>> Subject: [time-nuts] 1970's flashback >>> >>> >>>> Some time ago, a local Amateur gave me a CD with some radio related >>>> information. Also on the CD was some information from when he was in >>>> the Air Force. As it is Time Nuts related, some of you might find this >>>> of interest. I have posted the images in my Dropbox and will leave >>>> them there for a few days before removing them. Several images are >>>> large. >>>> >>>> https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ri8md891qne99vn/fuSDWspqWD >>>> >>>> Joe Gray >>>> W5JG >>>> >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> time-nuts mailing list -- [email protected] >>>> To unsubscribe, go to >>>> https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts >>>> and follow the instructions there. >>> >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> time-nuts mailing list -- [email protected] >>> To unsubscribe, go to >>> https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts >>> and follow the instructions there. >>> >>> >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> time-nuts mailing list -- [email protected] >> To unsubscribe, go to >> https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts >> and follow the instructions there. >> > > _______________________________________________ > time-nuts mailing list -- [email protected] > To unsubscribe, go to > https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts > and follow the instructions there. > > _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list -- [email protected] To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.
