HP's free book shows quite a lot about them

Not only did I get a free book about the history of computer systems from HP, the other day, but I also received a call of apology, just in case I'd not received it. The book makes ideal toilet reading, giving a potted history of computer systems since the 1800's.

Unfortunately, the following segment appeared on one of the book's pages:

Oh dear. It appears that HP's intelligence is certainly less than completely visible... I originally thought that I had misread the line and that it referred to the systems of several companies. However, the word a before the plural possessive of company indicates that there is discord in this sentence.

They probably meant to say a company's systems. However, I wonder if we should give them the benefit of the doubt and suggest that this is the fault of a redraft. Had the sentence have originally read companies' systems and had the word a inserted, then we could probably understand why the oversight may have occurred.

However, it's still a shame that a multi-national conglomerate, who supply most major offices (including the U.S. Pentagon), cannot get such a simple thing right.

6 April 2001
Ashley Frieze