HP Prime FW for 2023?

[toml_12953]

(01-12-2023 10:16 AM)Steve Simpkin Wrote:  “Don't design a calculator with schools in mind. Design one good enough to replace PCs and laptops for engineers, surveyors, and scientists.”

Is that realistic though? Engineers, scientists, technicians etc. didn’t stop using calculators en masse because they weren’t powerful enough. They stopped using them for many tasks because there were better tools available. I used scientific calculators at school and work for over 40 years. They were my primary engineering hand tool for much of that time. Even after I initially had access to a computer the calculator was a very useful engineering tool but over time, it’s usefulness to me grew less and less. My use of a calculator went from hours a day to almost never. I found myself trying to find a reason to use my HP-48SX because it had been my primary engineering tool for many years. Slide rules were a mainstay tool for over 200 years in the science/math/engineering fields before they were replaced by scientific calculators. Calculators, outside of education, had a much shorter useful lifespan in those fields. They are still useful of course, but now much less so.

If school is the only place calculators are still used then HP (Moravia?) might as well quit making them at all. There's no way to compete with Casio and TI in that market and generate the sales necessary to make them profitable.

The main reason I stopped using calculators in my work was because they were slow and not as easy to use as a computer. Also, the presentation of information wasn't as useful. My design proposals would change that. They would be as fast as a computer and have a hi-res graphics screen for the display. What would set them apart from a computer is the add-on, internal modules and, of course, portability (much easier to carry with you than a laptop) A surveyor could measure distances, elevations and angles easily. A sailor could know his position on the Earth within less than a meter, and make course calculations on the fly. A chemist could analyze compounds to perform both quantitative and qualitative analysis, etc. The need is there if designers would let their imagination run free. We need a Lockheed-Martin style Skunk Works project where engineers are free to promote ideas without the restraints of marketability. A
device that could replace traditional computers would have a market big enough to be self-sustaining.
Progress doesn't come from doing the same thing over and over. "It's always been done this way" should be a phrase that's banned from business. Don't reinvent the wheel, come up with a total replacement!

We have to be willing to think bigger than the accounting folks would be comfortable with. Are there any unknown Tony Stark-type entrepreneurs out there?