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> Look at how HP calculators got trashed by TI. That had almost nothing to do with syntax and almost everything due to lobbying. HP was not an "approved" calc
by bsder 3y ago
> Look at how HP calculators got trashed by TI.
That had almost nothing to do with syntax and almost everything due to lobbying.
HP was not an "approved" calculator for all manner of standardized tests while really shitty TI ones were.
HP calculators were everywhere in my engineering department from 1988 to 1992 (the HP-28S and then the HP-48SX went through them like wildfire).
- agumonkey 3y agoAnd they're still both amazing piece of hardware and software and very much prized by people today. It falls in a totally different space of immense possibilities.
- bsder 3y agoMy point is that they were objectively better than anything TI was producing in the calculator space for a very long time--the evidence is that engineering students at a state school were forking over what were non-trivial amounts of money at the time for them. The problem was that places like the College Board allowed calculators in 1994. That meant that an "approved" list of calculators appeared and for a long time the HP programmable calculators were considered "too powerful" and disallowed. That "approved" list propagated to other things that used calculators in official capacities. That absolutely killed HP as the volume all went to TI since everybody bought TI calculators and nobody was going to then spend on an HP calculator that might not be allowed on your test. By contrast, look at business and finance majors where lobbying didn't create an "approved" list--you will pry an HP-12B from their cold, dead hands.
- agumonkey 3y agoYeah I understand, I wonder what would have been if school had 50/50 blend of both brands. Educationally speaking it would have propelled a lot of things forward... but I guess education institution weren't able to foresee that much of a leap.