Excellent comments from the heart. Shawn may not have intended to trigger
this, but there's a lot here that needed to be said anyway. Good job, Denys.

--
Greg Cagle
gregc at gregcagle dot com
ex-Interex Board Advisory Member

"Denys Beauchemin" <[log in to unmask]> wrote in message news:9tv6qh0fd5@enews3.newsguy.com...
> You know, the first time I read your response I was debating whether to
> simply ignore you or say "Screw you!"  For one thing, I have been on the
> board only two years and before that I thought I did a fairly decent job as
> a VOLUNTEER conference committee chairman.  So how you can qualify my
> contributions to Interex as only marginal over the last five years is a
> little beyond me.  I was not aware my contributions were being measured over
> the last 5 years.
>
> Then I decided to be civil and to answer your comments and others I saw.
>
> You know, there is one thing about being a volunteer in such an organization
> as Interex, it seems to be the same people who do the job over and over
> again, although every once in a while, there is an infusion of new blood.
> Other times, long-time volunteers just get tired and fade away.  On the
> other hand, the general apathy and the gimme, gimme, gimme attitude is ever
> present.
>
> I ran for the board because I thought I could be effective on such a body
> and it would be a new experience for me.  The last few years have been very
> difficult for Interex and while this is changing, it has taken a toll on
> people.  As you know, the past two HP World conferences have seen a
> shrinkage in attendance.  While substantial, the HP World shrinkage is
> nothing compared the one experienced by all other conferences.  I was just
> at Comdex and that show is a mere shadow of itself.  (More on this show in
> another post.)  Other conferences have been canceled or have seen 50-75%
> shrinkage.  HP World only went down 25% this year.  Advertising revenue for
> industry magazines has gone down all over the place; Interex has stayed
> flat, actually showing signs of increasing.
>
> Membership figures have been going down steadily over the last several years
> despite the best efforts of intelligent, dedicated people to reverse the
> trend or even to stem the flow.  It just seems that people do not see any
> benefit in joining an organization of HP users, actually HP buyers and in
> participating in the well being of the organization and coming up with new
> creative ways of serving the membership, or supporting efforts to advocate
> their position to HP and other vendors.
>
> What you and some of the other pundits and critics are ignoring are some
> simple facts.  HP World (and its earlier names) is the longest running
> industry trade show in North America.  It was ranked in the top three a
> couple years ago, now it should be #2.  Interex's worldwide advocacy survey
> has been garnering a lot of attention and recognition within HP.  The SIB
> and other advocacy vehicles have been very useful in getting HP to address
> many issues that would never have been addressed otherwise.  The magazines
> have maintained a high quality and have even improved over the years.  The
> Hot News, a weekly e-mail compendium of all things HP, is excellent and
> compares favorably with any other such news e-mail.  The web site keeps
> getting better and more complete as time goes by.
>
> Now, let me tell you about the volunteers and their work.  These volunteers
> are few and far between but they do yeoman's work.  The SIB, the forums, the
> conferences, the solutions symposium, the advocacy surveys and others that I
> am forgetting because it's late, these are all accomplished with volunteers
> and some professional staff.  I have forgotten how many hours and days I
> have given freely to Interex and their users, but I can assure you that
> contribution exceeds the ones from some volunteers and is dwarfed by the
> contributions of other volunteers. Saying that my contributions over the
> last five years have been marginal insults all volunteers.  Maybe I am
> getting old and grumpy, but I resent this.
>
> When one joins the board, the first thing one discovers and must abide by,
> is the board speaks as one.  There is no showboating by board members about
> their accomplishments on the board, everyone is the same and there is only
> one voice.  This does not mean things are always lovey-dovey and rosy during
> board meetings.  I am here to tell you, there are some interesting dilemmas
> and challenges, which are resolved within board meetings or private emails.
> What one board member accomplishes is never seen by the outside world.  It
> is the whole board and by extension Interex, which accomplishes things. And
> that is how it should be.  Board members set direction for and monitor the
> performance of, the organization.  A large part of the direction is taken
> from the members.  If the members do not speak up or participate only
> passively, the board and by extension Interex, must then set the course to
> the best of its ability.
>
> (BTW, it is my opinion the HP Board of Directors should act the same way.
> The current and coming fracas between various board members is NOT conducive
> to the well being of the company.  If he thought the merger was a bad idea,
> he should have spoken against it a long time ago instead of voting in favor
> of it and then changing his mind, as was reported.)
>
> So, if Interex does not do exactly what you and other pundits say it should
> do, perhaps it's because you and they as members, are not making yourselves
> heard.  Just remember this, Mr. Shawn Gordon, I have asked time and again
> for people to make their grievances (if they must, everyone has a grievance
> of some kind) or their comments and especially suggestions known.  I have
> given the email address of the board where anyone can send messages, which
> are read, I guarantee it.  ([log in to unmask]) There have been very, very
> few messages sent to this address and none with your name on it.
>
> For the record, we (the board and Interex) are well aware of the situation
> regarding the HP e3000.  We have taken some steps and are planning some
> things, which will be explained more fully next week.  FYI, there is a board
> meeting this week starting on Thursday.  The issue is definitely on the
> agenda and steps have already been proposed, by yours truly if that makes
> you happy to know.  However, whatever comes out of the meeting will be from
> the board and will be the direction for Interex.
>
> In the meantime, if you feel that renewing or joining Interex will do
> nothing to help the situation vis-à-vis the demise of the HP e3000, then you
> are sadly mistaken.  Interex needs its members now more than ever, and the
> MPE users need Interex now more than ever.  It's a win-win situation.
>
> But just so there is no mistake, Interex represents all HP users, buyers.
> That means the HP-UX, Net Servers and Linux folks as well as the MPE folks.
>
> Good night,
>
> Denys Beauchemin
> Interex Board Member
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: HP-3000 Systems Discussion [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of
> Shawn Gordon
> Sent: Monday, November 26, 2001 4:45 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Using HP e3000 for the NEXT 25 years.
>
> On Monday 26 November 2001 02:33 pm, Denys Beauchemin wrote:
> > An excellent question Mr. Clark.  Interex certainly can AND will play a
> > part in whatever future is created for MPE.  Already the Interex web site
> > has some announcements about this issue and there will be more
> > announcements forthcoming, trust me on this (next week or week after.)
> >
> > In the meantime, let me once again urge every Interex member to renew
> their
> > membership when it comes due and for those of you who are not members, if
> > there ever was a time to join Interex, it is now
> >
> Certainly not intending to downplay your significant contributions to that
> organization over time, but they've been marginal over the last 5 years at
> best, and I certainly don't see any reason to renew let alone join if you
> aren't a member.  What is the logic?
>
> >
> > Kind regards,
> >
> > Denys. . .
> >
> > Denys Beauchemin
>
> * To join/leave the list, search archives, change list settings, *
> * etc., please visit http://raven.utc.edu/archives/hp3000-l.html *
>

* To join/leave the list, search archives, change list settings, *
* etc., please visit http://raven.utc.edu/archives/hp3000-l.html *