Hello Friends:

Wirt Atmar commented on HP's willingness to catch MPE up with the
latest PJL printer capabilities:

>At the recent HP World CSY Management Roundtable, this subject was brought up
>again. The response from the majority of the folks on the dais was the only
>time in the last few years that management's response has truly made me
>angry. The mumbo-jumbo given in response to this same comment was a mumbled
>excuse that "HP doesn't want to compete with its third-party suppliers."

CSY's position on networked printer support is somewhat more complex
than "mumbo jumbo." Dave Wilde, one of the lab section managers in
CSY, reminded users at HP World that the free, bundled MPE network
printing was supposed to be a low-end solution -- missing some
functionality, and not as robust or adept as third party solutions
like the one built and sold by RAC Consulting's Rich Corn (which is
also resold by Minisoft as NetPrint). Wilde said it wasn't even
supposed to have page-level recovery. Apparently now that network
printing is running in a lot of the customer base (with the advent of
5.5 installs), people want to redefine low-end -- at the expense of
third party companies' business.

<plug> HP's answers to all the questions posed at the HP World
Roundtable appear in our October issue of the 3000 NewsWire. Go to
the URL below to sign up for a free trial subscription to get yours.
</plug>

I've listened for years to third party companies complain about how
HP used to blow them out of the market with solutions like HP
TurboStore True Online, offered when there were several tested and
proven backup products available for the 3000. We all know there are
things that only CSY can create for the 3000. Network print
management isn't one of them. I can think of dozens of other things
more important that only HP's engineers can do. Wirt noted that "The
problems with the new printers are not fatal. They're just
irritating." Keeping CSY focused on fatal problems should be our
first choice.

When enhancement requests for bundled MPE utilities ride roughshod
over third-party software companies -- jiggling benefits so there's
not enough value to justify purchasing a third party alternative --
it makes me sad. Modest-sized companies have provided the 3000
marketplace with rich functionality, some with features that HP took
years to bundle into the 3000. That's the value third parties provide
you.

Every time you ask HP to pump up something like networked printing,
some third party company goes to another platform instead of
competing in what they see, rightly, as an unfair playing field.
(Just try to sell something against a competitor that is free, if you
doubt that.) There is no free lunch. These light snacks of the
network printing upgrades might be justified. But I hope 3000
customers don't think CSY has reverted to "mumbo jumbo" management.
The truth is that CSY just remembers what they promised better than
some customers do. As a result of that kind of memory, third party
suppliers get a chance to earn a living by offering advanced
features. It benefits the 3000 customer base -- and it feels fair,
too.


Ron Seybold, Editor In Chief
The 3000 NewsWire
Independent Information to Maximize Your HP 3000
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