I especially liked the following part:
Engineers being engineers, they craft a workaround: the company’s purchasing department gets a requisition for HP parts, the set needed to re-assemble the 9100A they lust after. This, being HP, is easy to do, the 9100A is “overdesigned”, I used to take the machine apart and rebuild it on the spot as a proof of the product’s maintainability, even by a certified klutz. Next, they have to keep their treasure hidden. They condemn a toilet by pouring plaster of Paris in the bowl, pad the seat, jury-rig a shelf as a desk and keep the door indicator stuck in the “occupied” position. Thus they compute in peace.Full article at http://www.mondaynote.com/2010/05/09/the-incumbent%E2%80%99s-curse-hp/
Ah, those unruly end-users…