WEBVTT - The HP Story: Part Two 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:02.920 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray. 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:08.840 It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology with 0:00:09.000 --> 0:00:17.639 tech Stuff from how stuff dot com. Hello everyone, and 0:00:17.680 --> 0:00:20.360 welcome to tech Stuff. My name is Chris Poulette and 0:00:20.360 --> 0:00:23.080 I am an editor at how stuff works dot com, 0:00:23.120 --> 0:00:28.560 and sitting across from me is senior writer Jonathan Strickland 0:00:28.920 --> 0:00:32.160 the sun shone having no alternative on the nothing new 0:00:33.000 --> 0:00:37.200 mm hmm. Welcome to part two of our story about 0:00:37.240 --> 0:00:41.159 Hewlett Packard, which has been a company about almost everything 0:00:41.200 --> 0:00:42.959 new in a lot of ways. Yeah, it was all 0:00:43.000 --> 0:00:49.919 about new measuring devices for other devices. If you're just 0:00:50.040 --> 0:00:53.840 tuning in. Two guys named Bill and Dave decided to 0:00:54.720 --> 0:00:58.960 work in a garage create a company because they were 0:00:59.000 --> 0:01:03.240 both electrical engineer years and their their mentor from college 0:01:03.240 --> 0:01:06.880 from Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, and said, hey, 0:01:06.920 --> 0:01:08.720 you know you, you should come up with some kind 0:01:08.760 --> 0:01:13.880 of measurement tools that will be able to help companies 0:01:13.920 --> 0:01:18.280 identify negative feedback. Uh. And they did, and then they 0:01:18.360 --> 0:01:22.760 started making other kinds of products too, and uh gradually uh. 0:01:22.760 --> 0:01:26.920 And when I say gradually, very rapidly in a burgeoning 0:01:26.959 --> 0:01:32.039 electronic field. We're able to demonstrate their leadership both as 0:01:32.319 --> 0:01:37.760 innovators in technology and innovators in price. We're able to 0:01:37.800 --> 0:01:41.600 accumulate a pretty big business customer base in very short time. 0:01:41.720 --> 0:01:44.360 They also did a lot to help employees and change 0:01:44.360 --> 0:01:47.280 the way people did business in the United States. And 0:01:47.319 --> 0:01:51.080 if you're wondering about other famous companies that began as 0:01:51.160 --> 0:01:54.920 a business run out of a garage in California, look 0:01:55.000 --> 0:02:00.520 up companies like Apple, Microsoft, and Google. Yes, because, as 0:02:00.560 --> 0:02:02.800 it turns out, if you want to create a technology 0:02:02.840 --> 0:02:05.480 company in California, your best bet is to start in 0:02:05.560 --> 0:02:08.400 someone's garage. You know, I necessarily have to be yours either, 0:02:09.240 --> 0:02:12.000 you know. I uh, I have a car poard and 0:02:12.040 --> 0:02:13.920 I feel like most of my projects are short of 0:02:13.919 --> 0:02:17.840 open ended, right right, So I don't know, Yeah, it 0:02:17.880 --> 0:02:22.160 doesn't You don't have the full protection that a garage provides. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. 0:02:22.280 --> 0:02:24.600 I've got a garage, but I only run a lemonade stand, 0:02:24.600 --> 0:02:27.000 and unfortunately my garage does not face the road, so 0:02:27.160 --> 0:02:31.119 it has had some hard times starting off. Also, we're 0:02:31.120 --> 0:02:34.960 in the winter right now, so not a huge demand. Clearly, 0:02:35.120 --> 0:02:37.560 I should have looked at my goals a little more 0:02:37.639 --> 0:02:40.960 closely before I launched this this endeavor. But let's get 0:02:40.960 --> 0:02:43.320 back to HP. Yeah, we decided we were going to 0:02:43.360 --> 0:02:45.920 take a break towards the end of the nineteen fifties, 0:02:46.000 --> 0:02:50.640 right before the end of the nineteen fifties, literally because um, again, 0:02:50.680 --> 0:02:54.079 as you're just tuning in, HP has grown so much 0:02:54.080 --> 0:02:59.840 in its first twenty years. Um that wait, no, yeah, 0:03:00.080 --> 0:03:04.600 first twenty years right that it has decided that it 0:03:04.680 --> 0:03:08.720 can grow globally, and it um decides to open its 0:03:08.720 --> 0:03:15.280 own marketing group in Switzerland and a manufacturing operation in Germany. 0:03:15.560 --> 0:03:18.880 So now we've got UH locations in Europe and in 0:03:18.960 --> 0:03:22.600 the United States, and it has become a multinational corporation. Yes. 0:03:23.200 --> 0:03:28.639 Also in nineteen HP acquired its second company, the Boonton 0:03:29.160 --> 0:03:32.760 Radio Corporation, which was originally founded in nineteen thirty four, 0:03:33.160 --> 0:03:37.280 and this company created electronic test equipment, so right there 0:03:37.320 --> 0:03:41.920 in HP's wheelhouse. So the company is kind of solidifying 0:03:42.120 --> 0:03:47.400 it's it's u place in the electronics market and again 0:03:48.000 --> 0:03:53.680 still really concentrating on one particular set of electronic devices, 0:03:53.720 --> 0:03:58.400 stuff that's not for consumers. I think it's interesting because Chris, 0:03:58.400 --> 0:04:01.680 now when you think of HP today, you often what 0:04:01.680 --> 0:04:03.560 what sort of products do you think of Well, I 0:04:03.600 --> 0:04:07.640 think of of consumer products, especially computers, because that's what 0:04:07.720 --> 0:04:11.680 I see more advertising for, and computers. I tend to 0:04:11.680 --> 0:04:14.440 think also of printers. HP is very big in the 0:04:14.480 --> 0:04:16.760 world of printers, so we we tend to think of 0:04:16.800 --> 0:04:19.440 these devices as HP. If you say HP today, and 0:04:20.360 --> 0:04:22.719 we'll get to it in our our third part about 0:04:22.760 --> 0:04:26.240 how when HP was looking at the possibility of spinning 0:04:26.240 --> 0:04:29.400 off its personal computer business, everyone freaked out. But really, 0:04:29.400 --> 0:04:31.320 when you look at the history of the company as 0:04:31.360 --> 0:04:35.360 a whole, the personal computer business is just a very 0:04:35.400 --> 0:04:38.440 tiny sliver of what that company is all about. And 0:04:38.480 --> 0:04:41.080 it's easy to forget that because that's sort of the 0:04:41.120 --> 0:04:45.480 face that the public is really familiar with. But yes, this, 0:04:45.720 --> 0:04:49.640 this Boonton Radio Corporation was more along the lines of 0:04:49.680 --> 0:04:53.359 what the real core of HP's business was all about. 0:04:53.440 --> 0:04:59.360 Creating these these devices that help companies measure and quantify 0:05:00.040 --> 0:05:02.520 what their systems are doing. This is really important in 0:05:02.560 --> 0:05:07.000 businesses like radio or telecommunications, where you build up these 0:05:07.120 --> 0:05:11.240 complex networks, these complex infrastructures, and you have to be 0:05:11.279 --> 0:05:13.960 able to test different parts of the infrastructure to make 0:05:13.960 --> 0:05:17.960 sure everything's working properly right um well as as you 0:05:18.080 --> 0:05:21.560 pointed out to UM, you know, UH, you might think 0:05:21.600 --> 0:05:25.960 that a company that is started and organized and run 0:05:26.000 --> 0:05:29.720 by engineers might be more uh methodical and may not 0:05:29.800 --> 0:05:33.960 necessarily have that UM business aspect to it, where the 0:05:34.279 --> 0:05:38.320 person running the company as a real business person. But 0:05:39.880 --> 0:05:44.240 Bill Hewlett and and Dave Packard always had the sort 0:05:44.279 --> 0:05:46.919 of an idea of how they wanted to run a 0:05:47.040 --> 0:05:49.520 company behind it, and they came up with the HP 0:05:49.680 --> 0:05:53.120 way of doing things, and uh Mr Packard came up 0:05:53.200 --> 0:05:59.960 with his UH rules interactions, and those included keeping an 0:06:00.000 --> 0:06:04.359 I on your core businesses and uh growing to to 0:06:04.520 --> 0:06:07.279 make sure that you're competitive in the future. And this 0:06:07.360 --> 0:06:10.640 acquisition sort of I think exemplifies that because it is 0:06:10.680 --> 0:06:13.880 it is both of those things. And also in nineteen 0:06:13.920 --> 0:06:16.440 fifty nine, that was the year. If you listen to 0:06:16.480 --> 0:06:20.040 our previous podcast about HP, I mentioned that HP had 0:06:20.040 --> 0:06:23.800 created a spinoff company called Well, originally Dinak but then 0:06:23.920 --> 0:06:26.760 later di mac uh and they did they figured out 0:06:26.760 --> 0:06:30.000 the name by flipping the HP logo upside down and saying, hey, 0:06:30.000 --> 0:06:33.400 this HP looks like a d y uh. Well in 0:06:33.720 --> 0:06:38.680 nine that's when they folded DIMEC back into the HP. Actually, 0:06:38.720 --> 0:06:41.960 I guess not back into but brought DIMEC under the 0:06:42.000 --> 0:06:45.520 fold of the umbrella of HP and UH, and it 0:06:45.560 --> 0:06:49.039 became a division within the company. Now that was when 0:06:49.279 --> 0:06:53.279 HP had created this whole division structure, So DIMEC became 0:06:53.360 --> 0:06:57.320 its own sort of autonomous division within HP, and that 0:06:57.400 --> 0:07:02.880 and that organization was built. You basically offer UH solutions 0:07:03.200 --> 0:07:07.120 to customers using HP products. So it made sense that 0:07:07.160 --> 0:07:09.920 they weren't so far removed from the mother company that 0:07:10.240 --> 0:07:12.560 it was going to be a poor fit. Now, do 0:07:12.600 --> 0:07:15.080 you have anything for nineteen sixty because my next note 0:07:15.120 --> 0:07:19.960 for sixty one another acquisition? Uh? Yeah, Well they acquire 0:07:20.080 --> 0:07:23.680 the Sandborn Company, which was a medical equipment manufacturer and 0:07:23.800 --> 0:07:25.480 this is a different a bit of a different field 0:07:25.520 --> 0:07:27.680 for them, right and uh and this would be part 0:07:27.720 --> 0:07:31.320 of HP for well several decades um. It would eventually 0:07:31.320 --> 0:07:33.400 spin off, and we'll talk about that when it happens. 0:07:33.440 --> 0:07:36.680 But this was an attempt on HPS part to really 0:07:36.800 --> 0:07:40.160 kind of broaden its its horizons and get into some 0:07:40.320 --> 0:07:44.800 industries that at this point it really hadn't dipped its 0:07:44.840 --> 0:07:47.720 toe into. And also in nineteen sixty one, it was 0:07:47.960 --> 0:07:51.640 a big year for HP because on March seventeenth, it 0:07:51.760 --> 0:07:53.680 listed for the very first time on the New York 0:07:53.680 --> 0:07:58.040 Stock Exchange. Yes, so, uh, you know, it had launched 0:07:58.080 --> 0:08:01.120 its I p O previously, but now it's actually listed 0:08:01.160 --> 0:08:04.000 on the n y s E. Which is that's a 0:08:04.040 --> 0:08:07.240 big deal for a company. Yes, yes, um. And as 0:08:07.240 --> 0:08:10.440 a matter of fact, in sixty two, HP had a 0:08:10.440 --> 0:08:15.920 a another famous uh organization, take note of them, Fortune 0:08:16.400 --> 0:08:19.120 the magazine. They were named to the Fortune List at 0:08:19.160 --> 0:08:21.440 number four sixty. It's hard for me to believe now 0:08:22.360 --> 0:08:25.040 that HP was ever that low on that list, but 0:08:25.280 --> 0:08:27.800 you know they didn't start at one point yep, yep. 0:08:27.880 --> 0:08:29.680 And this is you know again, it's the company is 0:08:29.680 --> 0:08:33.480 not even thirty years old yet, and it's uh, that's impressive. Yeah, 0:08:33.520 --> 0:08:37.400 and it makes the Fortune List and that's pretty pretty impressive. 0:08:37.440 --> 0:08:39.599 And that year they brought in revenues of around a 0:08:39.679 --> 0:08:42.760 hundred ten million dollars and they had more than six 0:08:42.760 --> 0:08:46.480 thousand employees by now, so big jump from that two 0:08:46.520 --> 0:08:50.760 employee operation run out of a garage in Palo Alto. Yes, indeed. 0:08:51.480 --> 0:08:54.520 So in in nineteen sixty three, the eight the company 0:08:54.520 --> 0:08:58.400 comes up with the fifty one hundred A frequency analyzer, 0:08:59.040 --> 0:09:02.160 which you know, it's it's one of those pieces of 0:09:02.160 --> 0:09:05.600 equipment again not meant for the average consumer unless you 0:09:05.679 --> 0:09:08.959 go into space. Yeah. Yeah, Now, if you want to 0:09:09.000 --> 0:09:11.720 take a look at these, HP has a lot of 0:09:12.400 --> 0:09:15.839 pictures of these and and I don't know if you 0:09:15.880 --> 0:09:17.760 took a look at some of them for some of 0:09:17.760 --> 0:09:21.760 these products brochures as well to sell those products, which 0:09:21.800 --> 0:09:24.920 are very very entertaining. Um, but you can get an 0:09:24.920 --> 0:09:28.200 idea of looking at of looking at these early instruments 0:09:28.200 --> 0:09:31.400 that HP was providing. Now, the documentation I read about 0:09:31.400 --> 0:09:34.640 them was that they were very They weren't glamorous, they 0:09:34.640 --> 0:09:38.040 weren't pretty boxes, but they did they worked very well. 0:09:38.200 --> 0:09:42.160 The early ones were actually housed in wooden boxes, wooden cabinets. 0:09:42.240 --> 0:09:46.480 But eventually HP came up with decided that this this 0:09:46.559 --> 0:09:49.160 sort of decorative finish. All it really did was it 0:09:49.200 --> 0:09:51.959 added bulk and expense to the item, and it wasn't 0:09:52.000 --> 0:09:54.959 really useful. I mean, but yeah, there was a time 0:09:55.240 --> 0:09:58.720 early in the history of HPS products where if you 0:09:58.760 --> 0:10:00.600 bought one of these devices that be have you know, 0:10:00.640 --> 0:10:03.200 the metal front facing with all the controls and everything, 0:10:03.520 --> 0:10:07.000 and then the actual frame was would and they used 0:10:07.000 --> 0:10:10.840 oak by the way, that was the wood the voice, yes, 0:10:10.960 --> 0:10:13.640 and what they decided not to go with the industry standard, 0:10:13.880 --> 0:10:15.720 and they decided to go with Oak. By the way, 0:10:15.760 --> 0:10:18.480 when you talk about those brochures trying to sell these products, 0:10:18.720 --> 0:10:21.960 I can't help but think of like the stereotypical nineteen 0:10:22.000 --> 0:10:24.120 fifties commercial where you hear like the music do do 0:10:24.120 --> 0:10:26.920 Do Do Do Do Do Do do, and say have 0:10:27.160 --> 0:10:29.480 you come back from a long day at work only 0:10:29.520 --> 0:10:33.160 to jump into your deep space exploration vehicle and realize 0:10:33.240 --> 0:10:36.240 you don't have a frequency analyzer. We have just the 0:10:36.320 --> 0:10:39.400 item for you. And it sounds like the Raymond Scott 0:10:39.400 --> 0:10:45.520 accompany accompanied uh item of the future. Um yeah, these 0:10:45.640 --> 0:10:49.280 these pieces of equipment, um, since they weren't really aimed 0:10:49.320 --> 0:10:51.480 at the consumer market, they're the kinds of things that 0:10:52.200 --> 0:10:54.360 look like they cam came off the set of a 0:10:54.559 --> 0:10:57.800 nineteen fifties science fiction film when they're trying to recreate 0:10:57.800 --> 0:11:01.559 the control room of a spaceship. Yeah, these are definitely exactly. 0:11:01.600 --> 0:11:05.000 These are definitely the machines that go ping. Um yeah. 0:11:05.120 --> 0:11:08.959 And also they work. They did their actual work very well. Yes, 0:11:09.040 --> 0:11:13.160 not not exciting to know. It's if to the average 0:11:13.200 --> 0:11:15.880 person that it looks like, you know, random piece of 0:11:15.920 --> 0:11:18.440 electronic equipment a Hey, it's got a meter on it. 0:11:18.480 --> 0:11:21.640 What does it do? And it measures the sound frequencies 0:11:21.720 --> 0:11:24.760 there really what does it do? Why? Why does it 0:11:24.840 --> 0:11:28.160 do that? It's use but yeah, yeah, that's that's the 0:11:28.240 --> 0:11:30.760 trick of really learning about HPS early products is that 0:11:30.800 --> 0:11:33.760 if you really want to know, you know, why these 0:11:33.760 --> 0:11:36.320 things were important, you'd have to have we'd have to 0:11:36.360 --> 0:11:39.640 do like two more podcasts just to explain the the 0:11:39.640 --> 0:11:43.240 the equipment that this stuff was used to measure. Yes, 0:11:43.320 --> 0:11:49.160 but it helped the companies that use them, uh measurably. Yes. Well. 0:11:49.200 --> 0:11:52.400 In nineteen sixty three, they also entered their first joint 0:11:52.559 --> 0:11:57.760 venture from the Yokagawa Hewlett Packard venture in Tokyo. Yeah. 0:11:57.840 --> 0:12:01.720 So uh, this again shows that the company is looking 0:12:01.760 --> 0:12:06.840 to expand and this uh Yoka Gawa Hewlett Packard adventure 0:12:06.880 --> 0:12:12.559 would actually meet with great success become very uh a 0:12:12.640 --> 0:12:16.160 very powerful company in its own right. So uh nine 0:12:16.440 --> 0:12:20.880 six four, we have some some titles coming down. Packard 0:12:20.920 --> 0:12:25.520 becomes the CEO of Hewlett Packard and Hewlett becomes the 0:12:25.559 --> 0:12:28.800 president of Hewlett Packard. He's also the Packard was also 0:12:28.840 --> 0:12:31.640 the chairman. Yes, he would later become the chairman as well, 0:12:31.840 --> 0:12:36.000 and in fact, that's different jafferent chairman, different chairman of 0:12:36.040 --> 0:12:39.840 the board. UM. In fact, eventually, not yet, but eventually 0:12:39.920 --> 0:12:44.160 it would become pretty standard at HP for a single 0:12:44.240 --> 0:12:47.720 person to hold the titles of CEO, President and chairman. 0:12:48.320 --> 0:12:51.000 Now at this point that's divided up. Packard is CEO 0:12:51.040 --> 0:12:54.040 and chairman and Hewlett as the president. UM. In ninety 0:12:54.120 --> 0:12:59.160 four was also when the fifties sixty A launched the 0:12:59.160 --> 0:13:03.000 atomic claws and you standard for international time. Yeah, tomic 0:13:03.040 --> 0:13:06.880 clock is very very accurate. You know, nothing, nothing says 0:13:07.120 --> 0:13:10.600 what time? Is it? Like atomic decay? Yep, yep. And again, 0:13:10.640 --> 0:13:12.240 if you look at one of these things, it doesn't 0:13:12.280 --> 0:13:15.320 look like your average desk or your clock radio that 0:13:15.320 --> 0:13:17.840 sits on your bedside table. It's it's a big machine 0:13:17.840 --> 0:13:19.839 with lots of things on it, right, it's not When 0:13:19.920 --> 0:13:22.319 Mickey's big hand is on the mushroom cloud and his 0:13:22.440 --> 0:13:25.000 little hand is on the Manhattan Project, that means it's 0:13:25.000 --> 0:13:28.080 time to get out of the house, crawl into something 0:13:28.080 --> 0:13:33.239 that's lead. Yeah, there's a completely different clock from the 0:13:33.240 --> 0:13:36.200 the bulletin the atomic scientists that that measures that I 0:13:36.200 --> 0:13:39.920 read a different brochure than you did. Anyway. Okay, so 0:13:39.920 --> 0:13:44.000 should we get into the nineteen six period. That's when 0:13:44.320 --> 0:13:50.319 HP laboratories laboratories laboratories, that was that was the first 0:13:50.360 --> 0:13:52.640 time at which they actually said, hey, let's set aside 0:13:52.679 --> 0:13:55.920 a group of people dedicated to come up with new 0:13:56.000 --> 0:13:59.320 and cool stuff. Yeah, this is their research and development 0:13:59.559 --> 0:14:03.760 arm where they're really looking into breaking ground in new technologies, 0:14:03.800 --> 0:14:07.720 which you know, again, HP wasn't so concerned with previously 0:14:07.720 --> 0:14:10.199 in its history. It's not that they weren't innovative. They were. 0:14:10.440 --> 0:14:14.760 They really looked at improving existing technologies, making the more affordable, 0:14:14.800 --> 0:14:18.880 making them more efficient. UM and both Hewlett and Packard 0:14:18.960 --> 0:14:22.720 were were known for designing their own, you know, devices 0:14:22.720 --> 0:14:25.600 that would later become products within the HP line. But 0:14:25.680 --> 0:14:30.120 this is a group specifically dedicated to, hey, guys, UH 0:14:30.320 --> 0:14:33.520 make new stuff. And they picked a guy named Barney 0:14:33.520 --> 0:14:36.200 Oliver to lead the group. He was the founding director 0:14:36.240 --> 0:14:39.640 of HP Labs. UH. And in nineteen sixty six was 0:14:39.680 --> 0:14:45.960 also when a new first for HP launched a Yes, 0:14:46.960 --> 0:14:51.200 first computer. H have you seen this thing? Yes, when 0:14:51.240 --> 0:14:54.760 Mickey's big hand is on the mushroom cloud. No, I did, 0:14:54.840 --> 0:14:57.480 I did see this. It was it was it was 0:14:57.520 --> 0:15:01.040 pretty big. Although we should say not as big as 0:15:01.080 --> 0:15:04.440 some of the other computers that were they were just 0:15:04.560 --> 0:15:07.440 hitting the market or in the in the mid sixties. 0:15:07.760 --> 0:15:10.640 I love the language that HP used on its timeline 0:15:10.680 --> 0:15:14.160 for this, the first go anywhere, do anything comput Yes, 0:15:14.280 --> 0:15:17.320 if you had a forklift right. But still it was 0:15:17.400 --> 0:15:20.880 not the size of room. It wasn't as big as 0:15:20.880 --> 0:15:23.200 an entire room like some computers were. This is not 0:15:23.280 --> 0:15:25.120 what you would consider a netbook counter now, but it 0:15:25.200 --> 0:15:28.080 was the first time the HP used integrated circuits in 0:15:28.160 --> 0:15:32.160 its electronics, and uh, the computer was meant to work 0:15:32.360 --> 0:15:36.160 in and a quote unquote average environment, meaning that you 0:15:36.160 --> 0:15:40.200 wouldn't necessarily have to have a heavily air conditioned room 0:15:40.600 --> 0:15:44.120 with spring loaded floors so that so that it could 0:15:44.160 --> 0:15:48.160 support this machine and make sure that doesn't overheat. You know. 0:15:48.200 --> 0:15:51.160 The idea was that HPCE was trying to aim for 0:15:51.200 --> 0:15:55.400 a market for businesses that needed computing power but didn't 0:15:55.520 --> 0:15:59.440 necessarily have the um the money to spend not just 0:15:59.640 --> 0:16:03.720 on the computer, but also on completely renovating a part 0:16:03.720 --> 0:16:06.800 of their building so that could support a computer. Because 0:16:06.840 --> 0:16:09.120 think about that. Let's say that you own a business 0:16:09.120 --> 0:16:12.000 already and it's a successful business, and you need a 0:16:12.000 --> 0:16:16.000 computer for some reason like database management. And you realize 0:16:16.040 --> 0:16:18.240 that if you were to buy the computer, not only 0:16:18.280 --> 0:16:20.600 would it cost an astronomical amount, but you would have 0:16:20.680 --> 0:16:24.880 to completely change at least part of your building so 0:16:24.920 --> 0:16:27.720 that it could hold a computer. This was kind of 0:16:27.880 --> 0:16:32.440 HP's solution to that problem. And uh, it originally had 0:16:32.720 --> 0:16:37.080 four K of magnetic core memory, expandable up to thirty 0:16:37.080 --> 0:16:40.200 two K. Yeah. Yeah. Now, now it's important to to 0:16:40.320 --> 0:16:45.000 note that they developed this this device very quickly for 0:16:45.520 --> 0:16:49.560 a device like it, and um, it was fairly rare 0:16:49.680 --> 0:16:53.080 for a computer to ship with its own software at 0:16:53.080 --> 0:16:56.280 this point, but but this one did. Um. As a 0:16:56.280 --> 0:16:59.760 matter of fact, it took several data systems engineers and 0:17:00.280 --> 0:17:03.760 DIMAC employees working together to get this thing going. But 0:17:04.240 --> 0:17:08.400 it did power the woods whole ocean at graphic institutes 0:17:09.400 --> 0:17:11.760 work for many years. Yeah. And it was actually used 0:17:11.840 --> 0:17:15.280 on a boat. It was so so it was exposed 0:17:15.280 --> 0:17:17.760 to see air and was still able to work for 0:17:17.840 --> 0:17:20.760 more than a decade. You mean, the chain that was 0:17:20.800 --> 0:17:23.959 the research vessel that used this this computer. And so 0:17:24.040 --> 0:17:26.600 the original cost for one of these things, depending on 0:17:26.720 --> 0:17:28.720 if you wanted it totally tricked out or not, the 0:17:28.760 --> 0:17:31.680 base cost trick you mean with the flame paint job 0:17:31.840 --> 0:17:35.480 and the side and and yeah, and it and the 0:17:35.560 --> 0:17:40.880 glowing undercarriage tricked out, meaning that it had memory. Uh 0:17:41.040 --> 0:17:45.440 you hear it going down. The base price was base 0:17:46.600 --> 0:17:50.240 The base price was twenty five grand, and the upper 0:17:50.359 --> 0:17:53.680 level of it was a fifty grand, which in today's dollars, 0:17:53.960 --> 0:17:56.480 because he knew I had to do that, right, one 0:17:57.000 --> 0:18:01.879 forty six thousand for the cheap cheap or two d 0:18:02.560 --> 0:18:06.199 three thousand, ninety three dollars for the expensive one. So 0:18:06.240 --> 0:18:08.159 more than a quarter of a million dollars if you 0:18:08.160 --> 0:18:11.000 wanted to have that thirty two k of memory. Boy, 0:18:11.040 --> 0:18:15.919 I'm glad the memory prices have gone down recently. Well, um, 0:18:15.960 --> 0:18:19.000 it's interesting. Uh, we should probably step it up because 0:18:19.000 --> 0:18:21.360 we're hoping to make it to the eighties here. Um, 0:18:21.440 --> 0:18:24.080 but that that isn't important. That is an important product. Also. 0:18:24.119 --> 0:18:25.879 The next one that I had was the one that 0:18:25.920 --> 0:18:28.600 came out with the Night which, depending on how you 0:18:28.640 --> 0:18:31.560 looked at it, was the first personal computer. Ye, if 0:18:31.600 --> 0:18:35.480 you looked at the advertising computer. So this is the 0:18:35.520 --> 0:18:40.080 first time, the first documented case of the term personal computer, 0:18:40.400 --> 0:18:46.280 and it's for the the HP A. And this was 0:18:46.320 --> 0:18:49.919 not a personal computer. The way you and I are familiar. Um, 0:18:50.080 --> 0:18:52.880 it's not not like a desktop computer you sit down, 0:18:53.000 --> 0:18:54.760 or even a laptop or anything. No, it was a 0:18:54.840 --> 0:19:00.280 scientific calculator. Um. It was meant as a personal computer 0:19:00.320 --> 0:19:03.560 in the sense that it could compute operations like you 0:19:03.600 --> 0:19:06.400 would put in a scientific operation and it could give 0:19:06.440 --> 0:19:09.119 you the answer. It wasn't meant as a computer that 0:19:09.160 --> 0:19:13.000 would run programs the way that the modern computers do well. 0:19:13.000 --> 0:19:16.960 Wired magazine said it was the first personal computer. And 0:19:16.960 --> 0:19:18.760 I would argue that if you take it in the 0:19:18.800 --> 0:19:22.680 literal sense, they're probably right. Um it's it's a fairly 0:19:22.720 --> 0:19:24.680 big machine. Again, there are photos of it on the 0:19:25.040 --> 0:19:29.760 the HP website. Um, but it was a pretty significant machine. 0:19:29.800 --> 0:19:32.959 I mean compared to other devices that would would do 0:19:33.119 --> 0:19:36.679 this level of work. Um. You know, it was a 0:19:36.760 --> 0:19:39.919 smaller device and it could be used, uh, you know, 0:19:39.960 --> 0:19:43.440 pretty easily. Um. It is bulky by today's terms, by 0:19:43.640 --> 0:19:47.440 by every stretch of the imagination. Um, but it could 0:19:47.480 --> 0:19:51.399 do a lot um and uh, and it was you 0:19:51.440 --> 0:19:53.639 know able, you could you could put this on your desk. 0:19:54.480 --> 0:19:57.400 So you know, I think it's I think it's when 0:19:57.400 --> 0:19:59.640 you take it down to the term computer, I think 0:19:59.640 --> 0:20:02.000 that's an accurate description. But yeah, it doesn't do all 0:20:02.000 --> 0:20:03.720 the stuff that you're not you're not going to play 0:20:03.720 --> 0:20:06.240 farm villains. You're not going to figure it as a PC. No. 0:20:06.640 --> 0:20:09.000 But but that is interesting that it was the first 0:20:09.040 --> 0:20:11.119 documented case of personal computer. And now, of course that 0:20:11.160 --> 0:20:15.280 doesn't necessarily mean that what that term wasn't used before this. 0:20:15.320 --> 0:20:18.520 It's just this is the earliest documented instance. So in 0:20:18.640 --> 0:20:25.479 nineteen sixty nine, UM, the United States calls upon Packard. Again, 0:20:25.560 --> 0:20:30.240 Hewlett had uh been uh in shure. You know, Hewlett 0:20:30.280 --> 0:20:32.840 had served time in the United States Army as an 0:20:32.840 --> 0:20:37.679 officer from UH forty one through forty seven. But in 0:20:37.840 --> 0:20:41.320 nineteen sixty nine, the United States government called upon Packard 0:20:41.359 --> 0:20:45.679 and appointed him to be the US Deputy of Defense. Yeah, 0:20:45.760 --> 0:20:49.399 so Hewlett became the CEO, the president and CEO in 0:20:49.440 --> 0:20:55.760 Packard's absence. UM. Yeah, that that's pretty significant because again, 0:20:55.800 --> 0:20:59.000 one of the commitments that he wanted to make for 0:20:59.040 --> 0:21:03.520 the company was service, um, serving your community and serving 0:21:03.560 --> 0:21:07.479 your country. And yeah, nineteen sixty nine through nineteen seventy two, 0:21:07.560 --> 0:21:11.439 that's an extensive time period for any any you know, 0:21:11.560 --> 0:21:18.320 industry leader to step away and refocus on a government position. 0:21:19.119 --> 0:21:21.280 And this is also a time when the company is 0:21:21.320 --> 0:21:25.320 sort of gradually expanding its work to include more than 0:21:25.359 --> 0:21:29.000 just measurement and medical devices, but they're also getting in 0:21:29.040 --> 0:21:31.720 on the ground floor of what would become personal computing. 0:21:32.680 --> 0:21:39.760 So nineteen seventy one HP introduces laser interferometers, which take 0:21:39.800 --> 0:21:44.239 measurements using lasers, so that they started to get into that. Uh. 0:21:44.400 --> 0:21:48.200 Nineteen seventy two they introduced the HP three thousand, which 0:21:48.280 --> 0:21:52.040 was a computer meant for businesses. It wasn't a personal computer, 0:21:52.359 --> 0:21:56.400 but it was meant to help businesses manage databases. And 0:21:56.720 --> 0:22:00.560 they also introduced the HP thirty five. Uh. Now, the 0:22:00.680 --> 0:22:04.320 HP thirty five actually are a couple models, UM, well, 0:22:04.400 --> 0:22:10.119 sort of. The HP thirty five Classic is a handheld calculator. UM. 0:22:10.200 --> 0:22:15.080 They did, however, UH offer Mr Hewlett at abacus version 0:22:15.119 --> 0:22:18.160 of it. They took a shell and put an avocus 0:22:18.200 --> 0:22:20.440 where the buttons would be and presented it to him. 0:22:20.480 --> 0:22:23.080 There's a photo of it. It's classic. It's an awesome 0:22:23.160 --> 0:22:25.320 jo Apparently he thought it was hilarious. I didn't see 0:22:25.359 --> 0:22:27.440 this one, but that does sound like something he would appreciate. 0:22:27.800 --> 0:22:31.359 Would hold generally, I try not to hold stuff up 0:22:31.400 --> 0:22:33.280 where Jonathan can see it during the podcast because he 0:22:33.520 --> 0:22:35.560 you know, sort of goes home, especially since I don't 0:22:35.560 --> 0:22:38.600 have my glasses on. Okay, well then i'll show it 0:22:38.640 --> 0:22:40.879 to you later. But yeah, this was This was a 0:22:42.080 --> 0:22:44.560 When I think of calculators in the nineteen seventies, I 0:22:44.560 --> 0:22:46.840 think of t I Texas Instruments, a company we have 0:22:46.880 --> 0:22:50.800 already talked about. But HP was definitely right in there 0:22:50.840 --> 0:22:53.679 with them mixing it up. UM and the HP thirty 0:22:53.680 --> 0:22:58.040 five was one of the workhorses of the seventies handheld calculators, 0:22:58.240 --> 0:23:02.439 and HP claims it's the first handheld scientific calculator, so 0:23:02.520 --> 0:23:06.359 not necessarily the first handheld calculator, but first handheld scientific calculator. 0:23:07.040 --> 0:23:11.880 So they were doing science. Yes, this is a triumph 0:23:12.119 --> 0:23:15.679 making a note here success, we'll look at us here 0:23:15.720 --> 0:23:21.120 talking when there's science to be done. H this is 0:23:21.119 --> 0:23:24.040 not the one that can print in Japanese, because there 0:23:24.119 --> 0:23:26.720 is the nineteen seventy three they did introduce a scientific 0:23:26.720 --> 0:23:29.840 calculator that could print in Japanese. That was actually, you know, 0:23:30.440 --> 0:23:32.880 that sounds like it might be pretty trivial, but really, 0:23:32.880 --> 0:23:37.000 when you think about how complex the um that it 0:23:37.119 --> 0:23:40.600 is to to be able to print in a another 0:23:40.680 --> 0:23:42.960 language like that, especially one that has a completely different 0:23:42.960 --> 0:23:46.360 concept as far as alphabets are concerned. Um, well, there's 0:23:46.359 --> 0:23:50.680 a big deal. AT had a numbered data registers and 0:23:50.720 --> 0:23:55.040 the ability to store and recall um math and could 0:23:55.400 --> 0:23:58.280 could do built in conversion. It's better at math than 0:23:58.320 --> 0:24:00.520 I am than I can store and recall. Also had 0:24:00.680 --> 0:24:03.239 a hidden timer inside, so if you weren't doing your 0:24:03.240 --> 0:24:05.879 work fast stuff. I'm kidding. UM. And the and the 0:24:06.000 --> 0:24:09.760 HP eight was the first pocket sized business calculator UM, 0:24:09.800 --> 0:24:13.240