Paul Edwards said,

>
> Since HP has only a 40% positive response for this year's SIB
> and only 2 of
> the top 5, I don't have much interest in participating in any
> SIB process in
> the future. I think it will be a waste of everyone's time and
> effort. I
> would like to hear from other SIG leaders.
>

Putting my SIGMPE co-Chair hat on...

First, I would like to thank Jeff Vance and all the folks in vCSY who worked
hard to provide a response to the 2003 SIB. We (SIGMPE, etc.) have been
pushing to get a response well in advance of HPWorld 2003 and they came
through. Considering the results were available only three months ago and
the two Solutions Symposia also occurred during this time period, I think
having a response now is very impressive and shows the commitment to
customers that still exists in the remaining vCSY personnel.

I think Jeff Vance was being a little too self-critical by claiming only a
40% positive response. I consider the responses to 2, 3, 7, 8 and 10
basically positive (note that when the SIB was conducted, HP had not
committed to providing ANY PowerPatches, let alone two per year). This gives
a 50% positive responsive.

As for the remaining 5 items, let me give a little perspective. Item 5
(gigabit LAN connectivity) was a late addition to the SIB. We reasoned that
this might not be too difficult and would aid some of the larger sites.
Finishing 5th indicates there was certainly some interest in this among the
user community. I'm disappointed HP has not committed to taking this one on;
however, the fact HP has responded with "no plans" does not necessarily
consign this item to the scrap heap forever.

As for items 1, 4, 6 and 9, had HP responded positively to any of them I
would have been shocked - dancing in the street perhaps, but still shocked.
We do not believe HP will agree to any of these items, if at all, until
after (possibly well after) end of sales. However, we wanted to keep these
items on the table so they would not be forgotten. "no plans", while not
positive, is certainly much better than "not unless Hell freezes over". If
we hold another SIB, I will campaign to put all 5 "no plans" items on the
new SIB.

Keeping my SIGMPE hat on, whether we have another SIB will be a topic of
discussion during the SIGMPE meeting at HPWorld 2003. Please try to attend.

John

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