[time-nuts] 1970's flashback

Scott McGrath scmcgrath at gmail.com
Mon Jan 14 06:03:01 UTC 2013


All this ties back to the US fascination with financial engineering which got rolling in the 80's. and the deregulation of the financial markets.  Back when most companies were funded by debt   The banks had a vested interest (sic) in making sure companies had a healthy pipeline and good long term management practice otherwise they were not going to get paid

Now it's all about manipulating the stock price for too many companies a prime example being Kodak. they killed a bunch of product lines which were generating a healthy operating profit. And broke businesses which depended on them. Just to cause a momentary jump in the stock price yes silver based photography is not the market it once was but there are segments which are relatively insensitive to price and those were profitable.  Kodak also killed professional digital products.  Including the best color printers out there if you had a picture at Disney it was printed on one of Kodaks printers.  And to add to the stupidity they did not even spin off the asset to another company.  They just left customers in the lurch

Sent from my iPhone

On Jan 13, 2013, at 3:40 PM, "J. Forster" <jfor at quikus.com> wrote:

> It's an unfortunate fact of life. When a technology company grows, sooner
> or later the MBAs, lawyers, and vulture capitalists take over and the
> priorities get set by them and the quarter-over-quarter performance,
> rather that the science or engineering.
> 
> I detest managers who believe that a person can competantly manage
> anything, like a soft drink company, a sneaker company, or a high-tech
> company. One size dies not fit all. Not even close.
> 
> I often wonder what good ideas and inventions died on the boardroom floor.
> 
> This issue is not, by any means, limited to HP/Agilent. Corporate raiders,
> like Danaher, has done it to a bunch of companies, like Fluke and
> Tektronix. And they are not alone. EG&G, TRW, and ITT are other examples.
> 
> YMMV,
> 
> -John
> 
> =================
> 
> 
> 
>> I imagine that Mr Hewlett and Mr Packard have been spinning in their
>> graves for years, seeing what has become of their company. Why anyone
>> thought it was a good idea to sell off the divisions that made "real"
>> products and become a PC company is beyond my understanding.
>> 
>> Years ago, I thought HP printers were top rate. I'm not even sure that
>> is true any more.
>> 
>> Joe Gray
>> W5JG
>> 
>> On Sun, Jan 13, 2013 at 6:44 AM, Volker Esper <ailer2 at t-online.de> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Thanks, Joe. Though I don't have such time equipment, the pictures are
>>> fascinating me and make me recall the days when the name "HP" stood for
>>> High
>>> Precision (or High Price) rather than for cheap printers.
>>> Those days are gone...
>>> 
>>> Volker
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Am 13.01.2013 12:27, schrieb Dave Brown:
>>> 
>>>> Thanks for these, Joe.
>>>> The photo with the sign 'set your watch' is especially interesting for
>>>> me as it shows a pair of old clock displays the same as one I have
>>>> here.
>>>> These are the two digital displays that are showing the same digits.
>>>> There's part of a third one the same on the extreme left but the
>>>> display
>>>> on that one is not visible in the photo. My clock has a different
>>>> mechanical dial on the ten turn pot at the extreme right of the front
>>>> panel- otherwise the unit I have here looks identical to those in the
>>>> photograph.
>>>> I have never been able to track down any info on this unit. Mine came
>>>> from a US military installation here in NZ (Black Birch) that has long
>>>> since been shut down. It's certainly old technology- RCA 'numitron'
>>>> displays and mostly TTL circuitry. I've had it running here
>>>> continuously
>>>> now for about six years driven from an HP 5245M timebase - the clock
>>>> has
>>>> never missed a beat. (recent quakes excepted ) Also. one of the
>>>> newspaper cuttings in that collection you posted mentions the flying
>>>> clock being down here in NZ to visit Mount John, a magnificent
>>>> observatory site in South Canterbury. These days it's a well known
>>>> astronomical observatory run as part of Canterbury University Physics
>>>> Department.
>>>> Dave Brown
>>>> Christchurch, NZ
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Joseph Gray" <jgray at zianet.com>
>>>> To: "Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement"
>>>> <time-nuts at febo.com>
>>>> Sent: Sunday, January 13, 2013 10:10 PM
>>>> Subject: [time-nuts] 1970's flashback
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>>> Some time ago, a local Amateur gave me a CD with some radio related
>>>>> information. Also on the CD was some information from when he was in
>>>>> the Air Force. As it is Time Nuts related, some of you might find this
>>>>> of interest. I have posted the images in my Dropbox and will leave
>>>>> them there for a few days before removing them. Several images are
>>>>> large.
>>>>> 
>>>>> https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ri8md891qne99vn/fuSDWspqWD
>>>>> 
>>>>> Joe Gray
>>>>> W5JG
>>>>> 
>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
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>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
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> 
> 
> 
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