In late 1984 Hewlett Packard released its first entry into the fledgling PC market — only about a year after the original IBM PC was released. It was a fascinating device, light years ahead of anything else on the market. Here are a few reasons why:
- Number one is that this machine had a TOUCHSCREEN interface! In 1984!
Now it wasn’t like today’s sensitive touchscreens; this was a crude array of crisscrossing infrared light beans in front of the screen that would sense your finger position when it broke the beams… but still, way ahead of its time on a personal device! - All other PCs of that era had an integrated disc drive, meaning that you could get different storage capacity only by buying a different model device. The HP150 chose a smarter path: The computer was integrated with the monitor, but storage was a separate unit connected via an HP-IB cable. This allowed for all sorts of configurations simply by swapping or adding storage units.
- In a feat that I don’t think was ever repeated, HP used space in the top of the display unit to house an (optional) thermal printer!
- Being privy to the internal technical documents, I discovered that — even though no color PC monitor yet existed — the operating system had all the support calls and routines to drive a color monitor! Clearly the engineers felt that color monitors would be a consumer demand, and in the hopes that HP’s software would survive, they planned for it.
- Leveraging HP’s long standing as an engineering company, the device was wonderfully serviceable, with easy access and a number of modular, replaceable components.
- Finally, even though the device was powered by MS-DOS, HP built their own user-friendly interface on top of it (much like Microsoft did with Windows years later, albeit much simpler.) This was called P.A.M. (Personal Applications Manger), and it presented all loaded applications as a table of boxes — like the icons on today’s cellphones! To launch a program you simply touched the appropriate box.
- Understanding that HP’s target market was corporations more than personal users, the engineers made sure that the device could function as a full-featured computer terminal connected to the corporate mainframe or mini computers. This was a brilliant move that encouraged many companies to purchase the HP150 line.
I was blown away by the concept and the execution. Unfortunately for HP, where they were brilliant in engineering , they were very poor in marketing. Although MS-DOS based, the system was NOT compatible with the IBM PC, and the same programs could not run on it unless they were modified (much like IOS/Android apps are not interchangeable). Personally, I believe that had they engaged the right marketing talent, they had a chance to blow away the IBM PC market. But their marketing failed to promote some of the main advantages that I outlined above, and so within a few years the HP150 line had to be abandoned.
In any case, I was excited about the possibilities that I saw in 1984, and decided that I wanted to try my hand at becoming one of their software creators. I chose an application that (1) I had some familiarity with, (2) was understandable and useful to most corporations, and (3) that adapted very well to the touch interface. (Unfortunately, I was so convinced that this was the future, that I designed my program such that it REQUIRED the use of touch). The application I chose was calendar management (setting, moving, deleting, notating appointments on a calendar and finding available time slots across multiple calendars, etc.
In order to become a certified HP software development company (and get huge equipment discounts and access to internal technical information) I had to write up a detailed plan and submit it to HP. I was successful, and received their approval.
So I purchased the original HP150 (a couple of years later they came out with the 150B) along with all the “trimmings” — hard disc drive unit, double floppy drive unit, internal printer, etc. and got to work on the detailed design and programming. Most was written in Fortran since there was a Fortran compiler available.
Since I did not have financial backing, I did everything myself: Program design, coding, testing, writing a user manual, all aspects of product packaging, designing and producing a marketing flyer, publishing ads, creating sales incentives, and doing sales!
Just as an example, the packaging alone required seven vendors: (1) a box, (2) a foam liner, (3) a plastic diskette box to hold the required 3 discs, (4) a die-cutter to cut a hole in the foam liner to hold the diskette box, (5) a commercial printer to print and bind the user manual, and to print a box wrapper, (6) assembly of all the components in the box (discs, manual, warranty card, feedback postcard), and (7) shrink wrapping of the final packaged product.
I will let the attached documents speak to the actual program capabilities. Although laughable by 2020-era applications, this was unmatched for its time. It sold in very small numbers — probably several dozen total — but in more than 4 countries! I gained experience working with computer stores, various corporations (a branch of General Electric in Texas comes to mind; also a couple of hospitals and doctors.) By the time it came to market in mid-1986, the HP150 had already lost way too much ground to the IMB PC, and within 2 years had to be discontinued by HP. So my market was doomed from the start because the program REQUIRED the HP150 PC.
I’ve attached the marketing flyer, the full user manual (produced on my own text printer and a small HP graphics plotter that I also purchased), a magazine review and some ads that I placed. I was particularly pleased when the reviewer heaped praise on my user manual, because I personally hated the way most program manuals of the day were impossible for an average user to understand or use effectively. I also pulled out the actual computer (which I still have, in pristine condition) a few years back and found it to still work perfectly — and have attached a couple of photos and a short video clip showing the touch function.
Also attached is the cover of a user guide for a second application that I didn’t write, but marketed for another software author. This was a very simple program that allowed the creation of signs/banners created on a character printer by converting the words to huge sideways characters. I used this to print all of the kids’ birthday banners (one attached.)
To this day, I value all of the vast experience I gained from this project. Although it cost me a lot of money, I would not trade that experience for anything. This could not be obtained in any school.
