[Info-vax] Did HP get rid of VMS to make itself a more attractive takeover target for Xerox?

[IanD]

When we needed to drill down into CPU timings, we used to get out the HP scope, they were simply the best there was at the time

HP calculators used to be the best too. I still have my HP 41CX, still works with those awesome solid click keys (HP went to membrane later like everyone else claiming it was for environmental reasons). I still have the maths and circuit analysis plug in modules too

I think the HP calculator division was run out of Melbourne, Australia before HP pretty much abandoned the calculator space altogether. They used to reign supreme in the education arena before yeilding to To and then Casio

I have a collection of HP calculator emulators now. Realcalc is the easiest to use and has that wonderful RPN. What an awesome way to enter calculations using a stack system, much better than infix notation
The advantage of using RPN is that you can effectively start anywhere in the equation and subdivide the equation.
Realcalc has other advantages like going up to 999 on the exponent range which exceeds most calculators, including the original HP calculators (most calculators have the 69! maximum limit)

Of course, there's things like Wolfram alfra now so the need for just a calculator had greatly diminished but there's something about playing with those old calculators

Years ago I nearly pulled the trigger on an HP 49 graphing calculator but never did. I realised that HP had lost its design edge and was just playing catch up and the interface lacked the design of previous generations of calculators and was replaced by endless menu depths, not the simplistic minimalist designs HP was known for in the calculator market

When HP merged, cough, took over EDS, the HP big wigs came out to brief is on HPs culture. When they said 'We make more money from printer ink than anything else' we realised that HP was nothing more than a commodity company and that they had no interest in making quality stuff, just pushing commodity hardware out the door.

Here we are today with HP having broken up into a commodity division and a supposedly service division but all it's real intellectual wealth and entrepreneurs have long since departed and I don't see the continual decline into oblivion stopping anytime soon