I heard back from an HP Executive relations person.
It really is just as bad and awful as
any scientist or engineer would fear.
Their words to soothe our fears? That they
proudly introduce "9G" and "9S" (Walmart junk)
for our needs, as well as "hp30s" (more junk).
However financial people will continue to get their HP12C.
I have the e-mail address for this . It's
a good shortcut to write direct (not thru the
HP webpage). I encourage anybody else who cares
to pepper him loud & strong. Strength only thru numbers.
If anybody wants to complain to HP, like I did, you may
e-mail ME and I will forward you the communications
that took place. If you e-mail me a request,
do that at analogee@gte.net and I'll forward
you 3 e-mails I did to these guys. The middle one
has the executive's e-mail address which is your shortcut.
Stick a megaphone in their ear, and yell loudly.