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Jake Schwartz · 10-08-2021, 06:47 PM

(10-08-2021 12:24 PM)rprosperi Wrote:
(10-08-2021 07:04 AM)KimH Wrote: I had 2 - #1 (odd one to know) and the long list of “unused” model-numbers, 44 was what got my attention there.

On the shortest lifespan, I had 28C - I recall it was about 12 months between the C and the S. Can’t find a list anywhere with intro- and obsoletion dates. I am sure one exist, but don’t know where.

Fun video to play along with, thanks Bob!

Checking... The 28C was officially available Jan 87 - Feb 88, so 14 months and thus this ties with the HP-70. Probably the 28C was not discontinued until February to allow enough time for the new 28S (introduced in January) to fill the channel.

Good call Kim!!

I am learning so much here!

On the other hand, I saw the 18C at the 1986 CHIP special meeting in Chicago on 5/30/86 where HP's Janet Cryer and Nancy Ullman introduced it and also Rick Furr's poster confirms "6/86". Also, CHHU Chronicle V3N1P9 lists the HP Press Release, dated June 1, 1986.

Jake

**rprosperi** · 10-08-2021, 10:50 PM

(10-08-2021 05:29 PM)Eric Rechlin Wrote: The QuickCalc on the door prize table (sorry, I didn't take a photo) said HP-01 on the back of the packaging, and the loose calculators I've seen said HP-10 on the back of the calculator, which is the opposite of what Bob put in his slide. As Richard said at the conference, according to Sam Kim what is on the calculator itself is definitive, which is why we call the QuickCalc another HP-10 and not another HP-01.

Dang it! A result of assembling the Challenge slides at the last minute, you are absolutely correct, Q3 on the slide has it backwards. In Q16's answer, I have this right.

@Bruce - I suspected it was clear-front case you had (there are 3+ styles of packaging) but ijabbott got you there.

**rprosperi** · 10-08-2021, 10:54 PM

(10-08-2021 06:47 PM)Jake Schwartz Wrote: On the other hand, I saw the 18C at the 1986 CHIP special meeting in Chicago on 5/30/86 where HP's Janet Cryer and Nancy Ullman introduced it and also Rick Furr's poster confirms "6/86". Also, CHHU Chronicle V3N1P9 lists the HP Press Release, dated June 1, 1986.

Jake

Phew... salvation! So the HP-70 is right answer (not counting Ann Editions, etc. which have no official sales windows). Thanks Jake, so that keeps my Challenge mistakes down to 2... less than I imagined, but this carnage is not over yet I fear...

**rprosperi** · 10-08-2021, 10:57 PM

(10-08-2021 06:15 PM)KimH Wrote: AFAIK Every employee at the time got the choice of a 14b or 32s with the emblem.

"Every employee" ?

Every HP employee?
Every Corvallis employee?
Every Corvallis employee that will eventually become an eBay seller?

If not mistaken, some of these were actually sold, and seem to recall EduCALC had a few available. Maybe there were not enough employee takers??

KimH · 10-09-2021, 06:28 AM

Thanks a lot for this Andi,

I couldn’t make the link work at first, but now all is good.

I was quite sure that the 28c was about a year before the 28s came out - the 18b was introduced mid 86. in the fall that year I had a chance to peek into the - not completed - 28c manual. Most can imagine the reaction I had. Same package as the 18b and then symbolic algebra, graphics, RPL and all the new stuff.

(10-08-2021 10:28 AM)AndiGer Wrote:
(10-08-2021 07:04 AM)KimH Wrote: Can’t find a list anywhere with intro- and obsoletion dates. I am sure one exist, but don’t know where.

Here you can find some info on discontinuation ...
http://www.vcalc.net/hp-date.htm
Andi

KimH · 10-09-2021, 06:31 AM

Sorry, should have added the 2 letters HP before employees.

I am not sure about this, but I think there was about 86.000 „badged“ employees at the time. So if they made a few more (100.000?) I can imagine some went to customers and maybe even into trade

(10-08-2021 10:57 PM)rprosperi Wrote:
(10-08-2021 06:15 PM)KimH Wrote: AFAIK Every employee at the time got the choice of a 14b or 32s with the emblem.
"Every employee" ?

Every HP employee?
Every Corvallis employee?
Every Corvallis employee that will eventually become an eBay seller?

If not mistaken, some of these were actually sold, and seem to recall EduCALC had a few available. Maybe there were not enough employee takers??

Didier Lachieze · (This post was last modified: 10-09-2021 07:38 AM by Didier Lachieze.)

The 14B and 32S anniversary edition were available to HP employees and stockholders only as mentioned page 31 in the Measure issue from March/April 1989:

[Image: mini_gMg9Mb--20211009-090008.jpg]

In 1989 there were 95000 HP employees according to the 1989 annual report available here, but we don't know how many ordered an anniversary edition.

Paul Dale · 10-09-2021, 07:20 AM

I manged a definite three correct (shortest model lifetime, most used model number and most colours of keys). The negative zero question: I'd have given an answer that was correct but not what expected (honestly, I didn't know that that answer was even possible). There were another couple I might have guessed if I had to commit to an answer at the time rather than leaving blank in the hopes of remembering.

Bob, thanks for a proper challenge. This was not in the slightest bit easy.

Pauli

**rprosperi** · 10-09-2021, 12:37 PM

@Didier - Excellent find, thanks for sharing that here!! It answers a question lonnng left open; with 95k employees, I'd guess they made only about 50k units and then sold what was left through reliable, specialty channels like EduCALC. It's unlikely the janitors and HR staff needed a scientific calculator.

@Pauli - Thanks!! I was not sure if it would seem silly, so I'm glad lots folks enjoyed the Challenge (though I suspect there are still some of the former as well).

Didier Lachieze · (This post was last modified: 10-09-2021 04:35 PM by Didier Lachieze.)

(10-09-2021 12:37 PM)rprosperi Wrote: @Didier - Excellent find, thanks for sharing that here!! It answers a question lonnng left open; with 95k employees, I'd guess they made only about 50k units and then sold what was left through reliable, specialty channels like EduCALC.

I think that they first took orders and then built the units according to the quantity ordered for each model as there was three months between the end of the orders and the shipment of the units:

Quote:Orders forms should be mailed by March 31, 1989. Calculators will be shipped by July 1st, 1989.

They may have built a few more units which ended up at EduCALC, but it would be nice to see an evidence that EduCALC sold the 50th anniversary 14B/32S.

**rprosperi** · 10-10-2021, 02:15 AM

(10-09-2021 04:34 PM)Didier Lachieze Wrote: They may have built a few more units which ended up at EduCALC, but it would be nice to see an evidence that EduCALC sold the 50th anniversary 14B/32S.

Yeah, I've looked and looked, but to no avail. Other folks seem to recall the same thing, but similarly vaguely and none with proof. Many of the weekly EduCALC telephone recorded messages are available on Jake's PPC Archive, but it takes a lonnng time to listen to them.

Special promotions were indeed mentioned on these weekly messages as some special deals were too brief or available in too limited quantities to bother printing in the catalogs, so this is how they were communicated to customers that would call to check status. If things get really (I mean really!) boring this winter, I'll listen to the late 1989 messages, but don't hold your breath...

BruceH · 10-10-2021, 11:28 AM

(10-10-2021 02:15 AM)rprosperi Wrote:
(10-09-2021 04:34 PM)Didier Lachieze Wrote: They may have built a few more units which ended up at EduCALC, but it would be nice to see an evidence that EduCALC sold the 50th anniversary 14B/32S.

Yeah, I've looked and looked, but to no avail. Other folks seem to recall the same thing, but similarly vaguely and none with proof. Many of the weekly EduCALC telephone recorded messages are available on Jake's PPC Archive, but it takes a lonnng time to listen to them.

Special promotions were indeed mentioned on these weekly messages as some special deals were too brief or available in too limited quantities to bother printing in the catalogs, so this is how they were communicated to customers that would call to check status. If things get really (I mean really!) boring this winter, I'll listen to the late 1989 messages, but don't hold your breath...

Unless I'm missing something, I can only see Newslines recordings (including transcriptions) from 1992 onwards in Jake's archives. Do you have earlier ones?

**rprosperi** · 10-10-2021, 01:16 PM

(10-10-2021 11:28 AM)BruceH Wrote: Unless I'm missing something, I can only see Newslines recordings (including transcriptions) from 1992 onwards in Jake's archives. Do you have earlier ones?

Thanks for checking Bruce. The new release, v2.40, coming out around Nov 1st, adds many new updates to extend the covered date-range, though these are transcripts only. I honestly don't recall the new date ranges, and they may indeed not go back to 89, so this could be an invalid suggestion. I'm pretty sure the recordings actually were going on in '89 but it's possible these older ones did not survive until today.

Jake Schwartz · 10-10-2021, 10:36 PM

(10-10-2021 01:16 PM)rprosperi Wrote:
(10-10-2021 11:28 AM)BruceH Wrote: Unless I'm missing something, I can only see Newslines recordings (including transcriptions) from 1992 onwards in Jake's archives. Do you have earlier ones?

Thanks for checking Bruce. The new release, v2.40, coming out around Nov 1st, adds many new updates to extend the covered date-range, though these are transcripts only. I honestly don't recall the new date ranges, and they may indeed not go back to 89, so this could be an invalid suggestion. I'm pretty sure the recordings actually were going on in '89 but it's possible these older ones did not survive until today.

The additional newslines only extend forward to 1996 but do not extend backward earlier than 1992, unfortunately.
In HPCC's Datafile V28N3P7, Wlodek discusses the two commemorative calcs and also mentions there that they were supposedly only made available to HP employees.
Jake

Jake Schwartz · 10-10-2021, 10:55 PM

Hi,
The EduCALC Catalog Index shows that the first mention of the EduCALC Newsline in the catalog appeared in edition 58, page 60. That issue was from 1993, so I am skeptical that newslines appeared any earlier than 1992 (but I'd love to be wrong on this one).
Thanks,
Jake

**rprosperi** · 10-11-2021, 01:19 AM

(10-10-2021 10:55 PM)Jake Schwartz Wrote: Hi,
The EduCALC Catalog Index shows that the first mention of the EduCALC Newsline in the catalog appeared in edition 58, page 60. That issue was from 1993, so I am skeptical that newslines appeared any earlier than 1992 (but I'd love to be wrong on this one).
Thanks,
Jake

Quite unlikely you're wrong Jake, it's far more likely it's my memory that's bad. I thought it was the EduCALC Newsline where I first heard about the 42S in 1988, as I do clearly remember Richard Nelson explaining an overview of the features ("compatible with a 41, menus, faster. etc. but stupidly, HP left out the I/O") and since CHHU phone updates had stopped by then, and EduCALC had not started, it likely was just a normal phonecall.

Were some of these 50th AE machines displayed by HP at the '89 HHC?

Roberto Volpi · 10-11-2021, 05:03 AM

The HHC2021 Bob's Calculator Challenge video was one of the most interesting from that event.

It was also an opportunity to see again how much the HP35S is bashed by the Old Guard, who seems surprised to see that it is the HP scientific programmable with the longest life ever, and still alive.

Bob is right saying it is a very polarizing matter.

Jake Schwartz · 10-11-2021, 01:28 PM

(10-11-2021 01:19 AM)rprosperi Wrote: Were some of these 50th AE machines displayed by HP at the '89 HHC?

I can't remember if they appeared there or not, but looking back at the synopsis of that conference, I see that we both were speakers there :-) I'll have to skim through the DVDs. This was almost a decade before the era of digital still photos, and I'm not sure I can locate my 35mm slides from the event, but I can look for them.
Jake

Eric Rechlin · 10-11-2021, 02:18 PM

(10-11-2021 01:28 PM)Jake Schwartz Wrote:
(10-11-2021 01:19 AM)rprosperi Wrote: Were some of these 50th AE machines displayed by HP at the '89 HHC?

I can't remember if they appeared there or not, but looking back at the synopsis of that conference, I see that we both were speakers there :-) I'll have to skim through the DVDs. This was almost a decade before the era of digital still photos, and I'm not sure I can locate my 35mm slides from the event, but I can look for them.
Jake

Here's your HHC 1989 video of HP's marketing guy talking about HP after 50 years, if someone wants to watch through it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOxdKH97vi8

Jake Schwartz · 10-11-2021, 06:57 PM

(10-11-2021 02:18 PM)Eric Rechlin Wrote: Here's your HHC 1989 video of HP's marketing guy talking about HP after 50 years, if someone wants to watch through it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOxdKH97vi8

Unfortunately, Ron Brooks basically discussed the tenth anniversary of the 41 along with the intro of the 21S statistical machine, but nothing on any other new units.
Jake