Jake-S@cup.portal.com (07/29/88)
The reason the 28 does not have I/O or expandibility is because it was not
planned to be the HP41 replacement machine, only a stepping stone.
At the Chicago HP users group meeting on June 3, 1988 in conjunction with the
Summer Consumer Electronics Show, Ron Brooks (The HP-User Group liason and
technical support person) explained that HP suggested that a calculator
conference be held in Chicago next June ('89) in conjunction with the next
Summer CES. He said that using Dan Terpack's words, HP would be announcing
products 'that would be of keen interest to the user community". This, by
all sources questioned, shall be the introduction of the 41 replacement,
with all the plug-ins and I/O and expandibility. Next summer marks not only
the 50th anniversary of HP, but the tenth anniversary of the HP41, an un-
believable feat, considering the useful life of electronics gear these days.
If one checks the mail-order catalogs such as that from EduCalc in Calif-
ornia, we see dozens of hardware and software products for the HP41 that
still sell well. I have a feeling that the 41 will NOT be dropped, even
though a successor may be in the wings. As long as it sells well, there is no
reason to give it a premature funeral. The same goes for the 12C. It is
HP's best selling calculator, bar none, by a very large margin. There is no
way they'll stop making it (in spite of the 17B, 18C and 19B) if college
classrooms require students to buy them by the dozens, and MBA courses base
themselves on the 12C as a primary tool.
In ten months or so, we'll see what all the excitement will be all about, I
think. In the mean time, the 28S is pretty nice. Print out those program
listings and pray you don't get 'Memory Lost'.
Jake Schwartz