Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Why HP Fell

mondaynote.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 161 posts

Re: Why HP Fell

#41

Post by Scarblac »

flyinghamster wrote: post #16
ahartmetz wrote: post #9

The story does not seem very convincing to me. The split between lab instruments and computers - may actually help fix the next problem. The disregard of consumer products - partially fixed later when they managed to sell large numbers of printers and not only business laptops. So maybe the big problems did start around Fiorina's time after all.

Also, past the LaserJet 5, their printers started taking a nosedive in quality. In my own experience at work, the 1000 didn't last long before it started spewing toner all over the page, and the 4550N, a gigantic color laser with extremely expensive consumables, did likewise. Don't get me started on their inkjets. Nothing like an all-in-one that won't even let you SCAN when it decides to "expire" a costly printhead.…

What's a brand of printer that doesn't sell the printer at a loss and then has you pay through the nose for tiny cartridges of ink? I made the mistake of buying a Canon once and now I'm looking for a new printer.

Re: Why HP Fell

#42

Post by tonyedgecombe »

flyinghamster wrote: post #16
ahartmetz wrote: post #9

The story does not seem very convincing to me. The split between lab instruments and computers - may actually help fix the next problem. The disregard of consumer products - partially fixed later when they managed to sell large numbers of printers and not only business laptops. So maybe the big problems did start around Fiorina's time after all.

Also, past the LaserJet 5, their printers started taking a nosedive in quality. In my own experience at work, the 1000 didn't last long before it started spewing toner all over the page, and the 4550N, a gigantic color laser with extremely expensive consumables, did likewise. Don't get me started on their inkjets. Nothing like an all-in-one that won't even let you SCAN when it decides to "expire" a costly printhead.…

I think it started before the 5, we used to track failures and the 4 was worse than the 3. This wasn't unique though, it happened across the industry.

Re: Why HP Fell

#43

Post by specialist »

kristianc wrote: post #26

Gassée's problem is that he sees everything through an Apple-tinted lens. There's almost no subject that he can't turn back to his comfort zone of talking about Apple. Here we're promised an alternative account of why the conventional story of HP mismanagement is false, and end up with a lot of handwaving and 'Apple starting' as an inevitable explanation for HP's decline, despite Apple nearly going bankrupt in the in…

Gassée acknowledged the conventional wisdom, but says the problem started even earlier. Seems uncontroversial.

Re: Why HP Fell

#45

Post by specialist »

madengr wrote: post #25
flyinghamster wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, past the LaserJet 5, their printers started taking a nosedive in quality. In my own experience at work, the 1000 didn't last long before it started spewing toner all over the page, and the 4550N, a gigantic color laser with extremely expensive consumables, did likewise. Don't get me started on their inkjets. Nothing like an all-in-one that won't even let you SCAN when it decides to "expire" a costly printhead.…

Ditto. I’ll never buy another HP product. They are now the purveyors of garbage computers and printers. The mid 90’s printers, scanners, and Apollo workstations were the pinnacle of quality. The 85xx line of test equipment was even beyond that. I don’t think something like those would even be attempted now. The true HP is Keysight, though they have quality issues now. The tile floors were to find small parts when dro…

In the 90s, HP engineers used to visit our offices, just to see how we used their gear. Printers, large format plotters, workstations, networking, etc. They'd cold call me, arrange visits, hang out for a while.

I'd see how they take our feedback and improve their products.

I don't think I've loved another brand as much as I loved HP, back in the day.

Alas, things change.

Re: Why HP Fell

#46

Post by yardie »

tonyedgecombe wrote: post #44

I was always surprised they let Microsoft come in and commoditise their business, why wasn't there an HP operating system to compete with Windows?

There was WebOS. Which I felt was really ahead of its time. But an OS takes time to develop because of the chicken and egg problem. Once Hurd was fired it no longer had C-level interest. They sold it to Samsung, who renamed it Tizen. The UX designer went to Android. And the engineers were scattered across the mobile ecosystem.

Re: Why HP Fell

#47

Post by mattkevan »

I never understood HP's acquisition and rapid scuttling of Palm. What a waste.

The Touchpad was only on the market for just over a month before being discontinued. Why do that?

WebOS had a lot of potential as a platform, to the extent that both Google and Apple subsequently borrowed major chunks of the UI.

Re: Why HP Fell

#48

Post by robdachshund »

HP has been crap for about 2 decades. It seems like everyone I knew with hp laptops experienced motherboard failure early on. The pavilions had great specs for the money but could die within 6 months to a year. Things seemed to get a little better around 2014 or so, and from what I've heard they are more reliable these days. Still wouldn't buy one, though.

Re: Why HP Fell

#49

Post by Isamu »

kristianc wrote: post #26

Gassée's problem is that he sees everything through an Apple-tinted lens. There's almost no subject that he can't turn back to his comfort zone of talking about Apple. Here we're promised an alternative account of why the conventional story of HP mismanagement is false, and end up with a lot of handwaving and 'Apple starting' as an inevitable explanation for HP's decline, despite Apple nearly going bankrupt in the in…

>he sees everything through an Apple-tinted lens

In this case he is bring his experience having worked at HP, knowing and talking with people from there over the years.

He talks about Apple a lot because people want to hear about Apple a lot.

Re: Why HP Fell

#50

Post by dhimes »

krisroadruck wrote: post #35
flyinghamster wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, past the LaserJet 5, their printers started taking a nosedive in quality. In my own experience at work, the 1000 didn't last long before it started spewing toner all over the page, and the 4550N, a gigantic color laser with extremely expensive consumables, did likewise. Don't get me started on their inkjets. Nothing like an all-in-one that won't even let you SCAN when it decides to "expire" a costly printhead.…

Odd, I've gotten to the point where HP printers are the only ones I trust. I've had issues with just about every other major manufacturer of printers, but my HPs always held up like tanks. The only issue I've ever encountered with them seems universal among all inkjets. Namely that the ink cartridges seem to dry out if you don't use them often, even if they ought to have a lot of life left. Perhaps I've just had a lu…

I'm with you on this. My Lexmark was great as it worked with Linux- until it crapped out and became useless. Now my HP (inkjet) is pretty dependable. Disclaimer: I don't print very much.
Post reply on HN