The Museum of HP Calculators
The Museum of HP Calculators
Please do NOT contact HP for information on this fictional calculator!!!
The link above uses an obscure (but legal) format that helps increase the illusion of being a real HP product. Unfortunately, a few browser/OS combinations don't work with it. If that link doesn't work, please use the following:
Go to the April Fool Joke (simplified URL)
This Frankencalculator was placed on the museum website on the morning of April 1st, 2002. Ernie Malaga supplied the 68WX materials which he originally called the 67CX and the suggestion to do this. I thought that the 67CX needed more of a "physical" presence for an announcement so the "new" 67CX was created and the "old" 67CX became the 68 Wide Body.
Because there had been "Pre April Fools" jokes on the forum for the preceding week, I gave it a realistic look, using the HP web page style and even using an URL that looks like it is on an HP server. The idea was to keep people hooked long enough to make the joke funny and not just an expected April Fools gag.
Well, it worked... A little too well... At least one person refused to give up when the Add to Cart function wouldn't complete and called the HP store. Unfortunately, while I had cleared it with two people in HP - we never talked to the store. It just hadn't occurred to me that someone would be willing to spend $399 on a calculator based on what they saw there.
I guess this shows the respect that people have for classic HP calculator design as the attempted buyer realized that the calculator he was buying "sounded too weird to be true" but was willing to give it a try for $399 anyway. A web site that didn't work and customer service reps who didn't know what he was talking about didn't dissuade him either.
It also shows how well HP tries to treat their customers. One annoyed caller became a major issue for the HP business store.
Other people had came close to buying but then noticed strange things like the fact that the belt loop case would nearly drag on the ground, that it had keys labeled HALT, CTCH, FIRE, Specifications including "Note Pad: On back" etc.
Perhaps there is a message for HP here that there's still a market for a high-end engineering calculator. Even it's a little "weird".
Go to the
April Fool Joke or...
Go to the April Fool Joke (simplified URL)