UPFRONT Editor: Brad Whitworth HP graphics play heavy role Art director: a Annette Yatovitz in box-office smash. Associate editors: Betty Gerard Joanne Engelhardt Contributors: omputer securityis making could view the overall effect ofthe pro­ Gregg Piburn headlines around the world. (See posed graphics display at anygiven Karen Gervais C storyon page 16 bystaffer Betty point in the script. Gerard about HP's own efforts in the The final images were all created on a Circulation: field.) But HP also helped dramatize single design station using a desktop Kathleen Gogarty the problem through a supporting role computerconnectedwith an HP 9874A in the movie "WarGames." digitizer onwhich the draWings were In the spectacular closingscenes of done. The large size (up to 18 feet) of the movie. tension builds in the make­ the war-room screens meant the com­ believe U.S. defense command post. putergraphics had to be photographed MEASURE Wall screens and computer terminals from a very high-resolution vector dis­ "Man is the measure of all things." around the room flash with the chang­ play (the HP 1345A) driving an HP -Protagoras (circa 481-411 B.C.) ing pattern ofapproachingenemy 1336Adisplay tube. The huge mass of nuclear missiles. draWings was stored on an HP flexible Measure is published six times a It's all a skillful illusion created by disc drive. then played back-one year for employees and associates computergraphics consultantColin frame at a time-by three otherdesk­ ofHewlett-Packard Company. Pro­ Cantwell. using four HP 9845C desk­ top computers. each connected to a duced by Corporate Public Rela­ top computers alongwith other HP motion picture camera by a 16-bit tions. Internal Communication eqUipment. interface. Department. Gordon Brown. Colin and his firm. Crystal Chip. These computer-controlled camera manager. Address correspon­ spent 10 months on the project. which stations usually filmed three to four dence to Measure. Hewlett-Pack­ was a critical part ofthe film's dramatic frames a minute. 24 hours a day. seven ardCompany20BR. PO Box 10301. action. He designed and programmed days a week-slowlyexposing the Palo Alto. California. 94303-0890 halfa million frames ofcomputer 17.000 frames ofcomputergraphiCS USA. Report change of address to graphics. which were then reproduced reqUired for each minute ofaction your local personnel department. on film an.d projected onto screens be­ on the sound stage. hind the actors on the war-room set. "Under thegun ofsuch time pres­ Hewlett-Packard Company de­ Whatappeared to be 12 large ani­ sure. it was important to use a com­ signs and manufactures comput­ mated wall maps were actually images putersystem thatwas trouble-free and ers. electronic test eqUipment. beamed from a batteryofsynchronized could evolve the perfect version ofa pic­ handheld calculators. electronic movie projectors located off-camera. ture as rapidlyas possible." Colin says. components. medical electronic The manysmall terminal screens Colin. who designed the original mod­ eqUipment and instrumentation showed similar images that had been els for "StarWars" among his other for chemical analysis. Manufac­ transferred to Videotape. screen credits. has longbeen an admi­ turing facilities are located in 23 The multiple images had to mesh rer ofthe 9845C. As a consultant to HP. U.S. cities in eight states and in with the dramatic action. so Colin first he did the graphics for the original 10 cities in nine countries in the used the computer to draw 100 pages of demonstration package for the desktop rest ofthe world. HP sales and ser­ storyboard in order that the director when it was introduced in 1980. M vice offices can be found in more than 80 U.S. cities and (including distributorships) in apprOXi­ mately 200 cities in 70 countries around the world. ON THE COVER Meetthe HP 150 ... the company's newest entry in a busy personal computer market. The machine's most dramaticfeature is its touch­ sensitive screen which lets you point your way through a com­ puterprogram. Measure looks in­ sideHP's ComputerGroups atthe changes the machine hascaused in the organization. Cover photo by Tom Upton. Hewlett-Packard computer graphics were used In a splashy way In ''WarGamesn war room. 2 MEASURE www.HPARCHIVE.com HP's newest per­ sonal office com­ puter, featuring a touch-sensitive screen, puts the companyina fiercely com­ petitive market where there have already been casualties. But HP people around the world are betting that the new machine and the changes in the HP organization will provide just When HP unveiled the HP 150personal computer in September, the companyfound itselfin a market filled with uncertainty, competition and pitfalls the likes of which ithad never seenbefore. HP tackled the challenges as ifthe company's future depends on it. In manyways it does. "Success in personal computers is absolutelyessen­ tial to continuing in the business we are already in," says JohnYoung, HP president. It's much like a set offalling dominoes. IfHP isn't successful in the personal computer market, itwon't be successful in the entire computer market. And ifHP January-February 1984 3 www.HPARCHIVE.com lar for the HP label, knOWing that it for HP's new machine. stands for quality and superior tech­ "Our objective in designing the HP nology. Market research had been in­ 150 was not to build another IBM per­ formal, based largely on HP engineers' sonal computer look-alike," explains opinions ofwhether customers' engi­ Tom Anderson, general manager ofthe neers would accept a product under Personal Software Division in Santa consideration. Clara, California. The personal computer market has One important difference was HP's changed that. With 1983 sales ofabout choice to use twin 3 112-inch floppy disc 7 million machines, the personal com­ drives as the HP 150's standard instead puter is much more ofa mass con­ ofan IBM compatible 5 1/4- inch drive. sumerproduct. But to the casual con­ The reason was simple. The 3 112-inch sumer, there's a fuzzy line dividing drives, made bySonyand introduced personal computers for the home (the by HP more than a year ago, are less ex­ Ataris, Colecos, Sinclairs and Commo­ pensive than their larger cousins, use dores) from personal computers for less space, and have had a failure rate business (the IBM PCs, Apples and one-fourth that ofthe 5 1/4-inch drives. doesn'tsucceed in computers (now DECs). Part ofthe reason: More than Yet both discs hold the same amount of more than halfthe company's revenue), 200American companies now manu­ information. it would hamper the company's overall facture personal computers, double the But the feature which most clearly performance. number ofonly two years ago. Dozens sets the HP 150 apart from the IBM PC Paul Ely, executive vice presidentof ofEuropean andAsian companies have is its touchscreen. the ComputerGroups, puts it another alsojumped into the market. Jim Sutton, an R&D section man­ way. "At some point toward the end of ager at the Personal Software Division the decade, personal computers will be explains that the touchscreen was origi­ ourprimarybusiness ifwe are a suc­ More than 200 American com­ nally designed as an option. "Over the cessful computer company." course ofthe development ofthe prod­ To be sure, HP has had offerings in panies now manufacture per­ uct, we convinced ourselves first ofthe the personal computer market before. sonal computers, double the value ofthe touchscreen and second of In 1977, HP established its commit­ number of only two years ago. our ability to manufacture it for a cost ment to the young industrybycreating low enough to make it a standard fea­ the Personal ComputerOperation in ture ofthe product." the Corvallis (Oregon) Division. That Invisible beams ofinfrared light group's Series 80 computers, intro­ HP is aiming the HP 150 for the busi­ crisscross the HP 150'sscreen. When duced in 1980, have become one ofthe ness market. "Companies will put a your fingertip breaks both a vertical most popular in the technical and engi­ computeron every desk longbefore and a horizontal beam, it sends a signal neering markets and serve as work­ there'll be a computer in every home," to the computer, justas ifyou'd horse controllers for many instrumen­ says Srini Nageshwar, manager of touched a key on the keyboard. tation systems. PCG's retail marketing program. One industryobserver feels HP's But confusion has overshadowed Despite the fuzziness in both the touchscreen goes beyond other point­ such successes. In addition to Corval­ companyand the marketplace, ing devices such as the mice and light lis' Series 80, the DataTerminals Divi­ Hewlett-Packard has had a good track pens. "It's almost as ifthe touchscreen sion in Sunnyvale, California, was record. "We had more than $500 mil­ turns your finger into a conduit be­ cranking out the 100series ofpersonal lion in sales in the personal computer tween your mind and the computer." office computers, while people in Fort marketin 1982," Cyril points out. To take advantage ofthe touch­ Collins, Colorado, were responsible for But to focus its efforts, HP set about screen, most ofthe software packages the 200 series ofdesktop computers for in early 1983 to revamp its product for the new computer were written with the technical market. thinking, modifythe Computer fingertip control in mind. "We had several organizations in the Groups' organization, improve its For example, the first screen you're company that were somehowaddress­ dealer program and begin consumer likely to see when you turn on the HP ing the market," says Cyril Yansouni, advertising (see boxes about dealers 150belongs to PAM (for PersonalAppli­ now general manager ofthe Personal and advertising on pages 5 and 7). cations Manager). This software ComputerGroup (PCGl. "but none of PCG decided to build the HP 150 to shields you from memorizing the doz­ them had it as their major focus." microcomputer industrystandards: ens ofnitty-gritty commands needed to In some ways, it was as ifHP's the MS-DOS operatingsystem and the run the computer's operating system.