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From: taber@ultnix.enet.dec.com (Patrick St. Joseph Teahan Taber)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.handhelds
Subject: Re: calculators vs computers
Message-ID: <1990Sep24.082943@ultnix.enet.dec.com>
Date: 24 Sep 90 12:29:43 GMT
References: <1049@helens.Stanford.EDU>
Sender: guest@ryn.esg.dec.com
Reply-To: taber@ultnix.enet.dec.com (Patrick St. Joseph Teahan Taber)
Organization: KC1TD@KB4N.NH.USA.NA.EARTH.SOLAR_SYSTEM.UNIVERSE.MIND_OF_GOD
Lines: 38

In article <1049@helens.Stanford.EDU>, zimmer@calvin.tmc.edu (Andrew Zimmerman)
writes:
|>DISCLAIMER:  Currently I am a little upset with HP, so some of my comments
|>might be biased.
|>

Why are you upset at HP?  Surely not because of the '48?

|>I purchased an HP48sx a couple of months ago to play around with.  I was 
|>quite impressed with all of the features of the calculator, and just had
|>to have a calculator that actually supported the kermit protocol.
|>
 
And so you got exactly what you wanted.  It sounds a little bit like you bought
it more as a fashion accessory than as a calculator, but that's what democracy
is all about -- you can buy what you want for whatever reasons you want.

It sounds like, after playing around and running Kermit, you were left in the
position of "I have this great solution -- where can I find a problem?"  And
that will certainly lead to discontent.  While everyone in this newsgroup can
appreciate calculators for their own sake, just as carpenters would appreciate a
beautiful new hammer, for any tool to be useful, you have to have a need for
what the tool does.  The HP48 is first and foremost a calculator.  It is not an
entertainment device.  It's not an electronic address book. It's not a PC.  It
*can* take on aspects of all these things, but it's design was not centered on
those applications.  So it shouldn't be a surprise that it's not as good at
those things as something that was designed for that application.  Neither does
a Nintendo do a good job of calculating with complex numbers.  Different jobs,
different tools.


--
                                             >>>==>PStJTT
                                     Patrick St. Joseph Teahan Taber

My employer doesn't care what I think.  I, in turn, don't care what
you think.  You probably don't care what my empolyer thinks.  Thus is
life a circle.