Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sdd.hp.com!hp-pcd!hpcvra.cv.hp.com!rnews!hpcvbbs!akcs.falco
From: akcs.falco@hpcvbbs.UUCP (Andrey Dolgachev)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.handhelds
Subject: Re: Re: HP-32S II Curiosity
Keywords: fractions,bug,HP-32
Message-ID: <281a22a5:2620.9comp.sys.handhelds;1@hpcvbbs.UUCP>
Date: 28 Apr 91 01:40:07 GMT
References: <51123@apple.Apple.COM> <1991Apr26.230049.200@Think.COM>
Lines: 52

From Laird Popkin,
> From Joe Horn,
>>You know HP; they don't duplicate other companies' work.  They build
>>novel solutions.  The fraction package in the HP 32SII is something
>>NEW.  It is only being added now because Rome was not built in a day.
>
>You're kidding, right?  Manipulating fractions is fairly trivial -- I
>can't
>imagine that it could possibly have taken a programmer more than a day
>to
>implement fractions.  Sure, it's nice, but hardly earth shattering.

There seems to be a belief from certain people that if a company creates
some sort of an idea, like using fractions on a calculator, then they
deserve a lot of credit, even if the idea is implemented in an awful way.
 Sure, the Casio had fractions before HP, so what?  I had one of those
calculators, and actually I remember that one of my old math-teachers had
a calculator which did fractions which was prob. made in the 70's.  The
implementation sucked and sucks now on the Casio.  All it does is convert
fractiosn to decimals (ooh!) and show the fractions with that annoying
symbol thing.  HP did NOT duplicate the work of Casio, as Joe Horn
explained, the fractions on the 32sII are on a step (actually a couple of
floors) above the implementation found on the Casio.  It's easier to use,
it converts from decimals to fractiosn with a user-specifiable max.
denominater, you can specify common denominaters which you want the
fractions to be set to (like 1/8), etc.  Well, Laird, maybe you could
implemetn and program these functions (and make them very fast) in a day,
but I guess those HP engineers ain't as ingenious as you.

>And as far as "they don't duplicate other company's work" you must be
>kidding.  HP makes some pretty good IBM _clones_ (unless you consider an
>almost unused IR "touchscreen" on some models fundamental innovation).  
>And the 95LX ispretty obviously HP's attempt to catch up in a market
>reated by Poquet and Atari.

Again, you miss the main point, HP makes it better.  Come on, how can you
compare the Atari Portfolio with its measly software and Ram, and speed
to the power, software, 123, RAM, keyboard, look and feel of the 95LX. 
So what if Atari and Poquet started the market (though HP has been making
DOS palmtops for a while now, the 95 is not the first Lotus-HP merger
with DOS), HP made it better.  Same with the IBM's, so what if IBM has
been making expensive, slow PC's for longer, HP's are better.  For that
matter have you seen the new HP workstations?  56 and 76 MIPS! And the 56
MIPS one is not much more expensive than the IBM model 95 which runs at a
whopping 15 or so (Actually, I think its less, but you get the point). 
HP makes awesome products, and I agree with Joe , you can't compare them
with other calculators like Casio and Atari (even if they were the first
to implement functiosn "years before HP did") becasue the features are
still very sad.

      HP's rule,
           ------Falco