How do you like the Woodstock calculators?

[Jim Horn]

Do remember that the Woodstocks were introduced with the HP-25 which was the first programmable calculator for US$199. While not as powerful as the '65 or '55, it wasn't far behind them at a fraction of the price and yet with HP's great keys, construction, etc. (I'll ignore the horrible battery charging). But I knew how useful even limited programming would be and waited for its introduction, resulting in my being the only Electrical Engineer in my graduating class still using a slide rule as I knew it would be out weeks later, due to pointed hints from an HP source (cf. H^2).

While only 49 steps and 10 storage registers sounds pitifully small today, it was more than the non-existent competition. During the year I had mine, it served me very well. During Communications-Electronics Engineering training for US Air Force officers, it and I quickly became known as the go-to number crunchers for the entire class as I could churn out equation values far, far faster than the others who had non-programmable machines.

The only reasons I gave it away was that I bought an HP-67 the day it became available. And my younger brother, who was fascinated with the '25, was delighted to be given it. He really dove into pushing its limits to the maximum, resulting in his becoming one of the PPC Hall of Fame mentions due to his articles about it.

Some day I will have to answer to St. Peter for introducing him to HP calculators. And motorcycles. And.......