[time-nuts] HP Reliability

[Richard (Rick) Karlquist]

On 2/14/2016 11:20 AM, William H. Fite wrote:
> They don't wonder; they know very well. But they're stuck. Consider
> oscilloscopes. Why pay for a Keysight or Tectronix or LeCroy or, God
> forbid, a Rohde & Schwarz when, for the vast majority of applications, a
> Rigol will give you everything you need at 1/N the cost?
>

When I worked for HP/Agilent, there were countless examples of
low cost instrument prototypes developed at the central research
lab (HP Labs, and successors) that were killed by the manufacturing
divisions because they would "cannibalize sales" of the incumbent
product line.  The other excuse given was that it would "divert
resources" from the incumbent product line.  Or that the sales
force wouldn't sell it because there wasn't enough commission in it.
And we couldn't sell it direct because that would ruffle too many
feathers in the field.  I helped develop a product for which we had 
large volume purchase orders from several customers and they still 
killed it.

Rick