[time-nuts] Maintaining boatanchors

[Rick Karlquist]

Charles P. Steinmetz wrote:

> Approve it?  I bet most manufacturers can't even FIND the code for
> equipment designed more than 25 years ago.  Note that HP has had to
> rely on the kindness of strangers for copies of its older manuals.

In the old days, the manuals were typeset by some outside service,
and they maintained the manual.  There was nothing maintained at
HP, so when the product was discontinued, the outside service no
longer received orders for manuals, and they threw away their
stuff.  The only documentation at HP itself were actual copies of
manuals, that had to be purchased from the outside service.  It
was no one's job to save obsolete manuals, even at the division
that wrote them.  Some HP libraries collected whatever manuals
were donated and tried to archive them.  But there was no guarantee
any particular manual would get donated.  And then the libraries
ran low on space and had to purge.  Etc.

Rick Karlquist N6RK