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I appreciated the flyer, and am likely to share it with those here who do
not yet appreciate the 3000's fine legacy. I believe that Ted Ashton and
Alfredo Rego had positive words for this flyer, and that they hope to
encourage more and better.
"...a product that has been praised as one of the computer industry's most
enduring success stories."
"It is a great platform".
"this platform is nothing short of amazing -- if for no other reason than
its longevity"
"I can think of nothing more reliable and nothing more stable than the
rock-solid hardware and operating system that come from the MPE environment"


With all due respect, I also share some of the concern expressed by Wirt
Atmar and Stan Sieler, two individuals whose opinions are generally well
respected in this forum and elsewhere. While I realize that the original
context of these HP World 2000 speeches were not intended as pure anthems of
praise for the e3000 alone, in the context of a flyer, the hedges and
qualifications are discomfiting, perhaps even more so than they were at the
time of the keynotes. So please reread the above quotes with this in mind,
and see if you can see what else we see in those otherwise positive words: a
shadow of a doubt.

With all due respect, as someone in marketing, could you have said these
things better, could you have chosen more glowing and positive words than
those chosen for the keynotes? While I am not in marketing, I believe that I
could have, and would have expected those involved to have done so as well.
The praise is qualified, and interspersed with:
"... along with NT, HP-UX, and Linux, MPE/iX is definitely a part of HP's
multiple operating systems strategy."
"But it didn't begin that way. In fact, by many counts, it got off to a
rocky start."
"So, if you ever want to transition to another operating environment, we
intend to be the best partner possible to help you do that."
"we realize that the e3000 cannot continue to meet everyone's needs."
"So as long as customers like you find the HP 3000 [sic] trustworthy, we'll
continue to make them and sell them."
"There are many people using this solution,"
"it is part of the ecosystem that we're putting in place"

We are very much used to seeing and hearing self-congratulatory speeches
from lesser luminaries than HP, and resounding anthems of praise for passing
fancies, products that are now dismissed as yesterday's news, even by those
who once touted them. Bill Gates at his hand-clenching worst still manages
to shed a more positive light, such as when at its introduction he called
Windows 98 a beginning and a first step to a grand future.

This flyer is, perhaps unfairly, bearing the brunt of our years of
accumulated disappointment. While Wirt is probably right that we are not
whining, Ted is probably also right that we are complaining. That may be no
way to sustain this dialogue, but please hear us, hear our gratitude and our
criticisms both, the positive and the negative, the bad with the good. They
come from some of HP's most loyal customers (another positive and gratifying
theme in this flyer), and we are truly trying to tell you what we need. We
need whatever we can share with our peers, our employers, our customers, to
help justify our loyalties, and our plans and decisions to stay loyal and
continue to use "the computer industry's most enduring success stories". We,
your business partners and loyal customers, who live with the realities of
our business needs every day, have some thoughts and ideas of what we need
to hear HP say not only to us, but to the business world at large.

Let this be a good beginning, a preview of coming attractions, the start of
better things. Stay the course. Fight the good fight. Keep the faith.

Gregory Stigers
978-946-3186
Senior Consultant
CGI Information Systems and Management Consultants, Inc.
http://www.cgiusa.com

P.S. For more thoughts on this subject, please see
<http://raven.utc.edu/cgi-bin/WA.EXE?A2=ind0008A&L=hp3000-l&P=R20503> and
its related threads at <http://www.optc.com/Webbot/Thread17860.html>, for
instance.

-----Original Message-----
From: MUELLER,COLLEEN (HP-USA,ex1) [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, November 08, 2000 4:56 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Hewlett-Packard Talks about the HP 3000

With all due respect, "...a product that has been praised as one of the
computer industry's most enduring success stories.", hardly sounds
unenthusiastic or reluctant to me.  I sense a great deal of negativity no
matter what we do, why is that?
Sincerely,
Colleen Mueller
CSY Marketing