"Winfield Hill" -edu wrote in
message ...
Stepan, wrote...
HP is enforcing their copyright over manuals, even for old
unsupported equipment. Look at this:
That letter from Agilent's counsel is going to bring a massive
response from me as director of a Harvard University research
laboratory, directed to the relevant authorities at Agilent to
get the policy changed.
Maybe you could start a petition from all HP enthusiasts.
I can see HP's point in that if someone puts poor-quality scans of their
manuals up, some people might think it reflects HP quality in documentation.
I'd argue anyone smart enough to need and buy HP kit would not blame HP/Ag.
HP made a good name for good kit that did a good job and price took second
place.
They were an American icon, like Harley Davison or Maglite or Leatherman.
Then some pointy haired bunch threw away the old name, diversified into new
areas, and promptly turned a steady business into instability.
Hmph.
Perhaps one could ask HP to provide the better versions, maybe donate mint
condition manuals for scanning or even original files.
It's dramatically counter-productive to
their own business interests
On one hand they pressure people to buy new products by doing so, but as a
customer I'd be put off buying kit from a company that was so petty as to
begrudge manuals to a old customers.
Making manuals free in electronic form reduces the waste of paper and office
space, which helps everyone.