There are several sad changes in electronics. Hewlett-Packard's idea to split the company into Hewlett-Packard for the computer division and Agilent for the test and measurement division (and I think the medical equipment) was ignorant. The split was fine, but hey ... Hewlett and Packard started the company by making test and measurement equipment. The split should have been the other way, using Agilent for the computer side of things.
I'm not sure where their component division ended up or whether they've just quit making the parts. Motorola has quit making their optoelectronics devices line from what I can tell. Clairex (a biggie in the LDR business) is gone, I think Perkin Elmer buying them out.
Dean