[teraflop]

An anecdote about the HP-35, from the HP Museum (http://www.hpmuseum.org/hp35.htm):

> The HP-35 had numerical algorithms that exceeded the precision of most mainframe computers at the time. [...] This forced time-consuming manual comparisons of results to mathematical tables. A few bugs got through this process. For example: 2.02 ln e^x resulted in 2 rather than 2.02. When the bug was discovered, HP had already sold 25,000 units which was a huge volume for the company. In a meeting, Dave Packard asked what they were going to do about the units already in the field and someone in the crowd said "Don't tell?" At this Packard's pencil snapped and he said: "Who said that? We're going to tell everyone and offer them, a replacement. It would be better to never make a dime of profit than to have a product out there with a problem". It turns out that less than a quarter of the units were returned. Most people preferred to keep their buggy calculator and the notice from HP offering the replacement.

And here is a scan of that recall notice: https://imgur.com/K1k0cSQ (original source: http://www.hpmuseum.org/forum/thread-2821.html)

[jacquesm]

That letter should be required reading and the anecdote further cements the 'fish rots from the head' proverb as accurate. After all, without ethics at the top there is no corrective action against such relatively minor nudges in the wrong direction and over time that will accumulate until you get a completely different version of the company. One that will never ever have the kind of stature that HP enjoyed.

[JohnJamesRambo]

Oh, how things have changed. In fact reading the whole article made me wish for a return to a time where people took this much pride in what they made.