The Museum of HP Calculators

HP Forum Archive 21

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Let's see if HP helps out
Message #1 Posted by Matt Agajanian on 24 Apr 2012, 1:03 p.m.

Hi all.

I just got off the phone with HP about some of the bugs in the 35S Bug List. At first, the tech questioned where I got the list from. And, being that our list is from 2007, he seemed to shrug off the claim of bugs because the list was so old. From which they were uninterested. I then proceeded to cite personal examples based on our bug list. It seemed as though the tech was willing to at least give credence to my issues. Then he asked what I'd like to see. I told him flat out that there should be a recall and ROM revision issued. He then said that he'd give me case number and escalate the problem.

Not certain why the HP tech was reluctant to acknowledge these glitches but, I'm certain I'm not the only one to call HP about the bugs

      
Re: Let's see if HP helps out
Message #2 Posted by Paul Dale on 24 Apr 2012, 6:52 p.m.,
in response to message #1 by Matt Agajanian

The bug list isn't that old. It has been updated from time to time since 2007 and if a bug was fixed, I'd remove that from the primary listing and relegate it to an "in older firmware" section.

- Pauli

      
Re: Let's see if HP helps out
Message #3 Posted by Matt Agajanian on 24 Apr 2012, 7:11 p.m.,
in response to message #1 by Matt Agajanian

Thanks for keeping the list up-to-date. Although, perhaps I'm fighting City Hall. Since the Bug List comes from an external source, HP is easily shrugging the issues off too easily.

            
Re: Let's see if HP helps out
Message #4 Posted by Eddie W. Shore on 24 Apr 2012, 9:23 p.m.,
in response to message #3 by Matt Agajanian

Quote:
Thanks for keeping the list up-to-date. Although, perhaps I'm fighting City Hall. Since the Bug List comes from an external source, HP is easily shrugging the issues off too easily.

Yeah, either (1) they consider the cost of letting the HP 35S be as cheaper or (2) there is a HP 36S (or whatever the number is) being developed to address these problems.

                  
Re: Let's see if HP helps out
Message #5 Posted by Matt Agajanian on 25 Apr 2012, 7:52 p.m.,
in response to message #4 by Eddie W. Shore

Hello there. You may have a point there. But, the big hurdle is are there indications that HP's willing to acknowledge there are bugs with the 33S and 35S?

Edited: 25 Apr 2012, 7:53 p.m.

                  
Re: Let's see if HP helps out
Message #6 Posted by Lincoln R. on 26 Apr 2012, 12:59 a.m.,
in response to message #4 by Eddie W. Shore

I honestly think we have a better chance of seeing a 15C LE bugfix than a 35S bugfix, simply because HP actually owns the 15C LE code, and it can just be flashed. The 35S code was developed by a subcontractor, and the CPU has mask ROM which would require actual silicon fab work to make 35S units with new software.

      
Re: Let's see if HP helps out
Message #7 Posted by Software49g on 27 Apr 2012, 9:42 a.m.,
in response to message #1 by Matt Agajanian

You are funny ;-)

There are severe and heavy bugs in the O.S. of the 49g for over ten years !!!

And HP never bothered to even think about fixing them and here they *own* the source code and updating the O.S. through the SD card is a child’s play.

As a matter of fact there has been no update for over three years now for the 50g.

Therefore I would bet a yearly salary that the 35s will stay as it is until it finally gets out of production.

This is, unfortunately, the truth.

Regards,
Andreas
http://www.software49g.gmxhome.de

            
Re: Let's see if HP helps out
Message #8 Posted by Marcus von Cube, Germany on 27 Apr 2012, 11:16 a.m.,
in response to message #7 by Software49g

Are you sure the 49g is updateable? It does not come with an SD card either. We are talking about the rubber key version here.

                  
Re: Let's see if HP helps out
Message #9 Posted by bill platt on 27 Apr 2012, 11:33 a.m.,
in response to message #8 by Marcus von Cube, Germany

Of course it is updateable! It has a serial interface. If you go to hpcalc.org you can download the old obsolete builds if you want them.

                  
Re: Let's see if HP helps out
Message #10 Posted by Luiz C. Vieira (Brazil) on 27 Apr 2012, 11:37 a.m.,
in response to message #8 by Marcus von Cube, Germany

Yep, the HP49G was the first of the 48 family to be O.S. upgradeable. I had mine upgraded as many times as new OS's were available.

Cheers.

Luiz (Brazil)

Edited: 27 Apr 2012, 12:05 p.m.

                  
Re: Let's see if HP helps out
Message #11 Posted by Software49g on 27 Apr 2012, 12:20 p.m.,
in response to message #8 by Marcus von Cube, Germany

The 50g uses the O.S. of the 49g (which is an enhancement of the 48G some say), so from a software point of view this is still pretty much the same.

The point is that HP does not really bother to fix errors in their calculators – even if they are public knowledge. Which leads to the point that HP, as company does not really care, too. Which, again, is not very surprising as they have mutated into a box-mover long ago ... and with fixing bugs you can not earn money, it costs money. With rushing out buggy products you can earn money – to a certain point, but by that the management person that is responsible for the disaster will be gone. The poor guys blamed then are the developers, trying to explain why HP is internally such a mess and why bug fixing is so hard, etc. etc.

And never ever will you get an official statement about a bug in a HP product as that would be a legal issue !

So what we have here is the result of the majority of customers demanding *cheap* products and companies maximizing *short term* profits.

And there you go again with a fundamental economic law:

"There is hardly anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper. People who consider price only are this man’s lawful prey.

It is unwise to pay too much, but it is even worse to pay too little. If you pay too much, you lose some money, that is all. If you pay too little, however, you will sometimes lose everything, as the thing you bought cannot do the intended job.

The law of economy forbids to obtain something of high value for little money. If you accept the lowest bid, you must add something for the risk taken by you. And if you do so, you have enough money to pay for something of higher value."

John Ruskin (1819-1900)

Regards,
Andreas
http://www.software49g.gmxhome.de

                        
Re: Let's see if HP helps out
Message #12 Posted by fhub on 27 Apr 2012, 12:26 p.m.,
in response to message #11 by Software49g

Quote:
It is unwise to pay too much, but it is even worse to pay too little.
So the consequence is: it's the best to pay nothing!? ;-)
                              
Re: Let's see if HP helps out
Message #13 Posted by Luiz C. Vieira (Brazil) on 27 Apr 2012, 2:10 p.m.,
in response to message #12 by fhub

I'd say it's the best to pay what it's worth paying for.

Edited: 27 Apr 2012, 2:22 p.m.

                        
Re: Let's see if HP helps out
Message #14 Posted by bill platt on 27 Apr 2012, 12:54 p.m.,
in response to message #11 by Software49g

John Ruskin! Awesome!


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