John Clogg wrote :

> I guess the expectation is that they can keep their customer
> base without
> incurring the cost of supporting a proprietary OS.  The
> assumption would be
> that most MPE customers would convert to HPUX or some other
> HP-supported OS.
> If I have anything to say about it, that won't be the case
> here.  I think it
> would be unwise to invest the effort to convert to the
> products of a company
> that abandons its most loyal customers and seems bent on
> self-destruction.
> Perhaps we as a user community could influence events by
> making it clear to
> HP that killing MPE is a sure-fire way to drive us to IBM or Sun.

Same remark goes here. If HP persists in its corporate-approved blindness
and does such a "monumentally stupid" move, their most loyal customers AND
partners are simply going to leave HP entirely and run (and sell) Sun and/or
IBM boxes. It's not blackmail. It's just orchestrating a powerful reaction
with whatever means you have at hand when you're mighty pissed off. If it's
your checkbook and/or order forms, then go for it.

What I want to underscore here is that the partner/integrator community
(which I belong to) has as strong a role to play as the user community. We
have exactly the same interests.

After all, Unix is Unix, and both IBM and Sun sell and support pretty good
Unix OSs.

Oh my, don't they remember 1994 when all blue-chip customers threatened to
walk away entirely from HP when vague rumors (compared to the tidal wave we
now have) were mildly suggesting there would be no new developments on the
3k ? These people, whoever they are, are simply doing the biggest
miscalculation of their lives. After all, I sold twice as many 3ks in 2001,
without any promotion, as in 2000. 2001 is my best year so far in terms of
3k sales. Any other partner/integrator care to comment ?

> I hope all of this turns out to be much ado about nothing...

Yes, let's hope. But (from other sources) I treat it as REAL stuff. If we do
nothing, it's just going to happen, whether we like it or not.

> Of course, my opinions are my own, not my employer's.

Same goes here, of course. And since I'm speaking for myself, no corporate
.sig appended this time.

Christian Lheureux

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