HP has always (after the Compaq merger) had unethical people running the company. I stopped buying their printers after LaserJet4. I did however have one of their DDS4 tape drives that I had paid over $1k for, about 25 years ago. I stupidly updated the firmware shortly after the warranty period was over, and then immediately noticed a new loud pinging sound whenever it loaded or ejected the cartridge. It died within a few days of the upgrade, and I always suspected that HP had deliberately killed it. I bought a refurbished unit from them for another big chunk of money, because I was locked into the media platform.

I haven't bought an HP product since.