1985 First Student Laptop Program
This year saw two very major events. The first use of laptop
computers
and the award of the $2 million IBM Management of Information
Systems grant.
The HP110
Issued
to Executive MBA Students
In 1985, HP -- in an extremely visionary way introduced a laptop
computer, the HP110. (Click here
for a picture and technical inforamtion on this pioneering
portable).
I recall at a non-disclosure briefing at the Palo Alto HQ how one of
the
engineers explained that HP wanted to combine its growing computer
knowledge
and capability with its leadership in the hand-held calculator
field.
They wanted to put the big-computers into their
small-calculators.
The HP110 was the result. It was about the size of todayís
standard
laptop computers in a clam-shell case. It used a full-size
keyboard
and a 12 inch LCD monitor which was clearest when light was directed
onto
the screen. To make it all work out, all software was on a ROM
chip.
One chip had the operating system and a second slot contained a
combination
of Word Perfect and Lotus 1-2-3. There was RAM which was
partitioned
by the users into main memory and storage. Input/output required
connecting
up a separate floppy disk or printer. But what a wonder --
instant
on, relatively light so very portable, and designed for the business
user.
The following year HP replaced all the 110s with 110Pluses, which
was the
identical form factor, which improved operating system and
application
issues, and introduced a built in modem.
GSM acquired 150 of these powerful system. Each EMBA
student was
issued a system to use during their stay in the program. All
faculty
who taught EMBA were also issued systems to assist them in
preparing for
the classes so that it would increase utilization. Surprisingly,
this cache
of system where checked out to students entering the two year EMBA
program
for six consecutive years (1985 through 1990). Unfortunately, for
the class
entering in 1991, the number of fully functioning systems fell
below what
was need for the class and the laptop checkout was discontinued.
When Professor Brad Cornell entered his EMBA finance class in
1991 and
said "take out your HP110s, the students said what HP110s?"
This
motivated our moving to the students laptop requirement the
following year!
(see 1992 EMBA and FEMBA Laptop Initiative)
Personal Anecdote
A favorite personal HP110 story for me was how I spent Winter break
1985.
I can vividly recall spending many hours on our coach at home with
my back
propped against a window and my 110 literally on my lap. I had
been
working on a trying to layout my ideas about the future of computing
at
the School, and how all of the various components, minicomputers,
desktops,
and laptops would come together to provide value. My answer
then
(and today) was data access: extensive integration of academic
and
administrative databases, from home, office, classroom, on the road,
anywhere
at anytime. The new (2002) mnemonic WINWINI says it all:
What
I Need When I Need IT. Note that WINWINI replaces the 1985
Macintosh
slogan of WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get), referring to the
fact
that the Mac introduced the idea that what was on the screen would
be printed
as it appeared, without the need for inserting the formatting
commands
into the lines of text.
Return to Timeline
jason.frand@anderson.ucla.edu
November 1, 2002