Why do calculator manufactures like to reinvent the wheel?

[HP67]

(03-10-2014 10:30 PM)Manolo Sobrino Wrote:  

(03-10-2014 09:08 AM)HP67 Wrote:  A calculator is not a general purpose computing platform. HP has been selling handhelds and small tablets. To differentiate things enough that a calculator retains any meaning at all, means it has to be a calculator, above all else. Otherwise, what's the point? Just buy a cellphone app.

Yes, but we are in 2014: the whole concept of advanced (rechargeable) calculators makes little sense. The only advantages a calculator has are ergonomics and dependability. I suspect that basic scientific calculators will be around for decades, but when everybody has a multi-core computer with lots of RAM in their pocket it's just a matter of time that a killer piece of software capable of doing everything else on the go appears. Wolfram Alpha is getting close, even emulators are.

This discussion has come up, and the consensus (at least here on The Museum of HP Calculators forums) seems to be that we want calculators, not smartphone apps. Calculators, not iPads. Calculators, and not pocket computers. That's kind of the whole point. We like calculators. Yes, we realize that most people don't want calculators. But those kinds of people don't normally sign up here and post comments like that.

Are ergonomics and dependability such trivial things?

(03-10-2014 10:30 PM)Manolo Sobrino Wrote:  They can survive (and thrive) because of the educational lock-in. Somehow calculator companies have been successful in convincing people that for high school and maybe a couple of college courses calculators are an effective way to teach Mathematics, they are not (if they were students just would get better at it), but they make so much easy the life of mediocre teachers that they'll probably stay for a while. (And then there are the exam policies requiring crippled devices... it's just broken and sad.)

Yes, but HP has never had anything close to lock-in in the education sector. TI won there, and no, we still don't care. HP has lock-in with engineers and scientists, surveyors, and other areas. People in those groups still use HP calculators every day, even though we also sit in front of PCs, carry smartphones, etc.

(03-10-2014 10:30 PM)Manolo Sobrino Wrote:  And for doing Maths, the only thing I miss in a computer is a dedicated keyboard. A calculator should be a piece within a computing environment, not a totally isolated one in itself. I should be able to share a calculator session with my computer when I'm done. I should be able to open an Excel file in the calculator if I'm going to do some statistics there. What about a Matlab friendly calculator?

You will probably get that from TI if they don't already offer it. HP may offer it too at some point. I have no idea. But I do know the people who have bought HP calculators all these years don't have the same priorities you do because the people who have always chosen to buy HP calculators just don't care about this stuff.

(03-10-2014 10:30 PM)Manolo Sobrino Wrote:  My guess is that when a school-oriented tablet comes along all these niche calculators that we are talking about will be dead.

I don't agree with this and I really don't understand these comments in this forum.