HP Forum Archive 19

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Dirk Dykson of H-P? Message #1 Posted by Karl Schneider on 13 Sept 2009, 5:20 p.m. A recent thread provided a link to the following Wall Street Journal article about the TI Inspire: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125244891686393811.html The article also stated the following: Quote: "We've had a bit of a late start," in the high-school market, said Dirk Dykson, head of H-P's calculator division. But the company is renewing its focus on the much larger middle and high-school markets. I'd never heard of Dirk Dykson, but a web search reveals that he is based in Fort Collins. Those who are attending HHC 2009 will surely meet him. I can't recall having learned of this in the Forum. Did he replace Sam Kim? H-P recently sold the complex in Vancouver, WA (where Sam is/was based) to Shin-Etsu, another high-tech firm. -- KS Edited: 13 Sept 2009, 8:09 p.m.

Re: Dirk Dykson of H-P? Message #2 Posted by Jake Schwartz on 13 Sept 2009, 8:15 p.m., in response to message #1 by Karl Schneider Quote: Did he replace Sam Kim? H-P recently sold the complex in Vancouver, WA (where Sam is/was based) to Shin-Etsu, another high-tech firm. Right you are. Part of the recent changes was that calculators got put under the accessories group and jobs got shuffled around. Unfortunately, Sam was not retained. This is a big blow to many of us, as he really cared about what went on, since he was "raised" on HP machines and belonged to the PPC Puget Sound chapter during the HP41 days. As an outsider, I have to say that he will be sorely missed. Jake Schwartz

Re: Dirk Dykson of H-P? Message #3 Posted by Tim Wessman on 13 Sept 2009, 8:51 p.m., in response to message #2 by Jake Schwartz Dirk has been with the calculator group for many years in a more managerial type position (working on deals for textbook/education etc). Wing Cheung, whom many of you met two years back at HHC, was promoted upwards earlier this year. A few months or so before that, the calculator groups was placed into the accessories group (mice, keyboards, general 'doesn't fit anywhere' group) When the groups were more tightly meshed, there were two R&D managers, and the other group was larger and she had been in charge longer. . . It was very sad, but the calculator group is in good hands. I will not go into details more as there is a lot of personal info, but I suspect Sam still reads here as he'd always send emails to us highlighting particular posts he found interesting. He has a very good job working with some good freinds, so don't be worried he is on a street corner somewhere living in a box. :-) TW

Management changes in HP's calculator division Message #4 Posted by Karl Schneider on 14 Sept 2009, 12:36 a.m., in response to message #3 by Tim Wessman Jake and Tim -- Thank you for the update. It's disappointing that Sam Kim is no longer part of the team. I wonder, though, if Sam had been seeing "the writing on the wall" regarding modest corporate support and emphasis for calculators, as well as for the future of the Vancouver facility. Sam has appeared routinely in the Vancouver (WA) Columbian for his work as a member and president of his local school board, and for community issues. However, the May 14, 2008 edition ran a story on Page C1 that identified him as one of four finalists for the City Administrator position in Bend, Oregon -- at a time when rumors abounded of scaling down at HP's Vancouver facility. When no story followed to announce his being selected for the position, I wondered about his future at HP. I had read the article, but did not mention it to anyone at HHC 2008. -- KS Edited: 14 Sept 2009, 2:25 a.m. after one or more responses were posted

Re: Management changes to HP's calculator division Message #5 Posted by Pal G. on 14 Sept 2009, 1:54 a.m., in response to message #4 by Karl Schneider Quote: It's disappointing that Sam is no longer part of the team. I agree. At HHC 2007, (perhaps selfishly), as soon as we broke for lunch, I tracked down Sam and asked if I could see the "prototypes" that were in the special black briefcase. Sam was so kind to spend the first half of his lunch hour talking and showing me the new calculators. He seemed to not mind our chat and graciously allowed me to keep drooling over the protos, never looking at his watch, so to speak. Thanks, Sam. PG ps - And Karl, I enjoyed our chats on day one too. I sat right next to you, until my wife had some drama that tore me away and home to AZ, before the end of the conferece. I think I still have my raffle ticket in my HP35s User's Guide. I was hoping to take home an HP48SX coffee mug :)

Re: Management changes to HP's calculator division Message #6 Posted by BruceH on 15 Sept 2009, 7:01 p.m., in response to message #5 by Pal G. And Sam took the stack of conference DVDs as his prize choice in the raffle. He's probably still going through them. :-)

A note to Sam Kim Message #7 Posted by db (martinez, ca.) on 15 Sept 2009, 9:33 p.m., in response to message #6 by BruceH Sam; I'm glad to hear that you landed in a good place but sad to hear that you will not be there to guide the calculator division. Thank you for all that you have done for this community and for people who do math (even simple math like me) for a living. You're the greatest. - db

Re: A note to Sam Kim Message #8 Posted by Reth on 17 Sept 2009, 7:03 a.m., in response to message #7 by db (martinez, ca.) May I know what exactly did he do to be regarded as "the greatest" by you?

Re: A note to Sam Kim Message #9 Posted by db (martinez, ca.) on 20 Sept 2009, 2:11 a.m., in response to message #8 by Reth Reth; For those who talk American, as opposed to those who speak English; that phrase would be like "the bee's knees" or something to y'all. I was for sure not comparing Mr. Kim to Alexander the Great. Suleiman the Great, Peter the Great, or even Catherin the Great. Still, taken at face value; why is he Sam the Great? That hp came out with seven or so calculators on his watch and all that i can think of had rpn or rpl, that he included four or so people from this forum (not me) in the design and documentation processes, that he allowed or instructed his subordinates to share info on the architecture and hardware of hp's new machines, that he shared hp's future plans and asked HHC attendees for their input, that he gave out samples of hp's newest calcs at those HHC meetings (i'm easy to bribe). Those are a couple of good reasons. I was thinking of addressing this note to Reth the Great, but i couldn't think of anything that you had done for me in the past week.

Re: A note to Sam Kim Message #10 Posted by Reth on 20 Sept 2009, 3:20 a.m., in response to message #9 by db (martinez, ca.) Oh, I see, you were talking "American". I wasn't aware of such language. Is it how they refer to it at school? So "the greatest" means nothing in that language. Fair enough. ;)

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