# The decline and fall of HP **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 29, 2011, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decline-and-fall-of-hp/597965 "2011-09-29T02:30:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![velveeta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/13edae/32.png) [@velveeta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velveeta)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decline-and-fall-of-hp/597965/21 "2011-09-29T14:33:15Z")
Take heart, their service is no better even with “Gold Support 24x7”, or whatever they call it now. Even though I support millions of dollars worth of their equipment, I still get the same grief. I hope this gives you a bit of a warm fuzzy. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decline-and-fall-of-hp/597965/22 "2011-09-29T14:36:02Z")
HP’s biggest screwup was acquiring Compaq and then shutting the name down. ---
**Author:** ![paperbackwriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@paperbackwriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paperbackwriter)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decline-and-fall-of-hp/597965/23 "2011-09-29T14:53:09Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > I’m curious as to why the young knight was in need of succor, being that his magic box worked perfectly well. Oh, go ahead. Contaminate my poorly-wrought story with logic, why don’t you? FTR, the hardware does what it’s supposed to, but the software (drivers, utilities, etc.) does not and because it is “obsolete” HP won’t fix those issues. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decline-and-fall-of-hp/597965/24 "2011-09-29T15:00:08Z")
Mark Hurd and I were friends, having met in college and in the same fraternity. Many of my neighbors are HP execs as we’re pretty close to Compaq’s old HQ. Many of them know of our ‘history’ and at times I could tell they were dying to make certain comments but usually disgression won out. Truth be told, I’m probably far more sympathetic to their plight than they ever could have imagined. ---
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decline-and-fall-of-hp/597965/25 "2011-09-29T15:05:25Z")
> [@BubbaDog](#): > > On those rare occasions when I buy from the big box store the sales minion will point at an HP product as a possible purchase. > > My statement at that time is always the same - " I won’t buy an HP anything!" > > Too many shitty printers, computers, products have passed through the gates of my credit cards. > > Never again. > [@velveeta](#): > > Take heart, their service is no better even with “Gold Support 24x7”, or whatever they call it now. Even though I support millions of dollars worth of their equipment, I still get the same grief. I hope this gives you a bit of a warm fuzzy. HP is the greatest salesman for Apple that anyone could have imagined. I won’t waste time on typing out my stories but . . . NEVER AGAIN!!! P.S. Meg Whitman . . . Geeesh. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decline-and-fall-of-hp/597965/26 "2011-09-29T15:49:18Z")
> [@BubbaDog](#): > > On those rare occasions when I buy from the big box store the sales minion will point at an HP product as a possible purchase. > > My statement at that time is always the same - " I won’t buy an HP anything!" > > Too many shitty printers, computers, products have passed through the gates of my credit cards. > > Never again. Do they even still make calculators? If my 15C ever dies, HP is the first place I’d look to get a replacement. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decline-and-fall-of-hp/597965/27 "2011-09-29T15:50:13Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Stop trying to spin doctor the evil HP! HP is the one who loves you Ludovic, can’t you see? He ain’t got no tablets or nice PC’s, but he knows what a Tech company ought to be! ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decline-and-fall-of-hp/597965/28 "2011-09-29T15:58:02Z")
Carli Fiorina destroyed a great company. It’s never been the same after her. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decline-and-fall-of-hp/597965/29 "2011-09-29T16:01:53Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Do they even still make calculators? If my 15C ever dies, HP is the first place I’d look to get a replacement. They not only still make calculators, [they still make the 15C](http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF05a/215348-215348-64232-20037-215351-33532.html). My 41CV, bought more than 20 years ago when I still thought I was going to be an EE, is still working perfectly. ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decline-and-fall-of-hp/597965/30 "2011-09-29T16:16:05Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > They not only still make calculators, [they still make the 15C](http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF05a/215348-215348-64232-20037-215351-33532.html). > My 41CV, bought more than 20 years ago when I still thought I was going to be an EE, is still working perfectly. My 15C from 1986 is still working fine, but I’m sure it’ll eventually bite the dust. I’d been concerned because all the comparable replacements kinda sucked, but now… Limited Edition. Crap. Maybe I’ll put it on my Christmas list, and keep it in the packaging, just to be prepared. hm. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decline-and-fall-of-hp/597965/31 "2011-09-29T17:16:16Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > They not only still make calculators, [they still make the 15C](http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF05a/215348-215348-64232-20037-215351-33532.html). > My 41CV, bought more than 20 years ago when I still thought I was going to be an EE, is still working perfectly. That’s annoying. I heard about the re-released 15c last week, but [the link I found](http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/product_detail.do?product_code=NW250AA%23ABA&aoid=41841&srccode=cii_23393768&cpncode=00-45248349-2) said that it was out of stock. So I’ve been rechecking it multiple times a day since then without any luck. I ordered one from the link you provided. Let’s see if I get it. I bought a 15c back in college, around 1986 or so from the bookstore in the student union. At the time it cost about $225, which was a lot of money for me. But then I lost it sometime after graduating. I had friends in school who didn’t understand the advantage of RPN (reverse Polish notation) over algebraic calculators, so we actually had races to see who could solve an equation more quickly. Geeky, I know, but RPN always won out. As for HP, I always thought that the spin-off of Agilent Technologies was a mistake, as that was the real heart of the company. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decline-and-fall-of-hp/597965/32 "2011-09-29T19:02:52Z")
> [@LIONsob](#): > > As a current HP employee I am hopeing that management gets it shit together but I am not gonna hold my breath waiting for it to happen. The appointment of Meg Whitman as CEO is not something I am happy about and don’t think will be good for the company in the short or long run. At least the area I work in is not on the chopping block to be spun off ( if that is still in the plans? ), the Enterprise Systems division has been one of the few bright spots on the balance sheet the last couple of years. > Peace > LIONsob I know someone who works for HP and is also not very optimistic. However, she says that everyone in her area hated Leo Apotheker and thinks that Whitman has got to be an improvement. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decline-and-fall-of-hp/597965/33 "2011-09-29T19:40:31Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > HP’s biggest screwup was acquiring Compaq and then shutting the name down. Or contaminating the HP name with Compaq crap. HP’s board is commonly viewed as one of the worst in the world. Maybe firing Hurd was the moral thing to do, but hiring Leo did not exactly make it look like they had ethics in mind. Meg actually made money, but she knows nothing of either hardware or services, the two things HP does. I assume it was a panic move, and anyhow she has time on her hands after spending hundreds of millions of dollars to not be governor. The HP people I knew all got spun off into Agilent, and they all hated Carley’s guts. BTW: Anyone saying how boards serve the stockholders and how CEOs deserve every penny should look at how much Leo got to leave after wiping out significant amounts of shareholder value and destabilizing the customer base. Any normal employee who did anything close would get booted, not get tons of money. ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decline-and-fall-of-hp/597965/34 "2011-09-29T20:16:43Z")
I now have an iPhone app that emulates my HP-41C. Thus I never have to buy another HP product, nor another N cell. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decline-and-fall-of-hp/597965/35 "2011-09-29T22:09:19Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > The sad thing is that the Touchpad is a _really nice product_. Maybe not worth what they were charging for it, but it’s about as good as the iPad, minus the store. It has one major flaw (currently, no way I can find to hook it to a projector), but WebOS is actually very nice and tidy. (Once you disable the insane logging.) The internal speakers are actually good, as well. > > HP can still design. Just as a clarification: HP had very little to do with the TouchPad, which was originally a Palm product. HP bought Palm with the hopes of productizing WebOS and the TouchPad (and the WebOS smartphones). We can all see how well that worked out. I’m not going to say any more since I’m married to a former Palm employee (current HP employee) who worked on WebOS, but yeah, that wasn’t HP. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decline-and-fall-of-hp/597965/36 "2011-09-30T02:05:18Z")
Infovore, I’m terribly sorry. I do want to say that the Touchpad is a lovely device and I’m not the only one saying it. Did you see the Slashdot article today? Half the comments were ‘WebOS really is better than iOS, and I love the cards’. (wouldn’t mind a second if someone has one they don’t mind ditching for near the sale price.) ---
**Author:** ![Wilson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@Wilson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wilson)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decline-and-fall-of-hp/597965/37 "2011-09-30T02:20:18Z")
HP: we killed off the legacy of Compaq AND Palm! Go us! ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decline-and-fall-of-hp/597965/38 "2011-09-30T18:04:10Z")
> [@paperbackwriter](#): > > Well, it made me feel better. Short version: HP phone tech support sucks. Their online support isn’t any better. I’ve spent about 20 hours in the past week trying to get my desktop computer to work correctly with my HP printer, including MULTIPLE uninstalls / restores. I’ve followed every bit of arcane information on the HP website and forums. No joy. Of note: this stuff all worked just fine at one point until it didn’t. And one function (the fax) appears to have died entirely; that may be a hardware problem but isn’t worth fixing. Needless to say, after having been an HP-printer family for the past 15 years, they’ve sold us our last printer. Which is annoying - their laser printer products seem to still have a fair reputation (and our older inkjet, bought 10 years ago, is working just fine). ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decline-and-fall-of-hp/597965/39 "2011-09-30T18:37:17Z")
> [@Wilson](#): > > HP: we killed off the legacy of Compaq AND Palm! Go us! Pretty soon they will have killed off the legacy of HP as well. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decline-and-fall-of-hp/597965/40 "2011-09-30T20:03:41Z")
compaq notebooks live on in China. I saw some monday on a visit to a retailer. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decline-and-fall-of-hp/597965.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-decline-and-fall-of-hp/597965.md?page=3)