John Painter <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>HP has announced the end of 3K sales by October 2003 and the end of
>support of all systems by December 2006.
>
>I encourage all vendors who will continue to support the platform to
>"register" their support on this thread.

I never thought of myself as a "vendor" (I am a programmer at heart).
Regardless of the "label", I want to stress (as if I had not already
done so many times) that I have been asking myself this question, every
minute of my life, since at least 1977, when I wrote this note:

       What can I do, now, that will help the most?

Fortunately, there are many worthy individuals who share the same
attitude.  I quote from a message I received a few minutes ago (I
have changed things a little bit to obscure the identity of the
writer, as a courtesy):

       I look forward to working together to nudge and
       nurture things in a positive and constructive
       direction for hp3000 users, for software and hardware
       providers, for non-HP people and for HP people, for
       small companies and for large companies, for Robelle
       as well as for HP.  This is what it is all about!


>There is no sense now in
>complaining about HP's idiotic decisions over the past five years.

We are all inclined to say "you are an idiot" to another person.
This means, of course, that the other person is just as inclined
to tell *US* that we are idiots.  This is an interesting path to
pursue and many people enjoy following it.  I, for one, prefer
to take a slightly different path.  I would rather assume that
people are good at heart and, when faced with extremely difficult
circumstances, they make the best decision that they can make.

Some people may not like the decision.  But everyone has full
control on her/his individual reaction to the effects of the
decision.  I, naturally, don't like HP's decision.  But I have
full control regarding *my* reaction to HP's decision.

Some people (particularly the providers of migration services :-)
are ecstatic because they see dollars/pesos/lire everywhere.  Some
people (particularly the MPE/Image customers who are happy with
their systems) are seriously worried because they may go bankrupt
in the process of distracting valuable resources from their
business (time, attention, and billions of dollars worldwide)
into migration exercises.   To add insult to injury, thousands
of these users do not think that they are migrating to BETTER
alternatives (the ones mentioned in HP's announcement).  They
would rather upgrade to better MPE/Image systems software and
they would love to run it on IA-64 (or Itanium, or whatever the
name-du-jour is).

Some people (such as myself) are seriously pursuing every
available option (some obvious, some not so obvious) to work with
this last category.  My vision is to let MPE/Image survive
*and prosper* beyond anybody's wildest dreams.  Yes, this is
not for everybody.  Only people who love MPE/Image need apply.

By MPE/Image I mean the ACTUAL MPE/Image as well as the POTENTIAL
MPE/Image.  Do you remember where Windows was 10 years ago?  Do
you know where Windows is now?  "The ugly duckling" comes to mind.

I have always said, in public, that I greatly admire Bill Gates
for his vision and for his relentless drive to push Windows beyond
anybody's wildest dreams.  Some people may even say that I am an
apologist for Bill Gates.  When it comes to his technical
leadership, I am proud to be his greatest apologist (it's a
different story when it comes to his "business" shenanigans :-)

Windows didn't just "happen".  People with tremendous energy and
direction worked very hard to make it what it is now.  Am I being
naive?  Perhaps.  But then, again, I have been naive all my life.
I like to read fairy tales with my kids and certain titles keep
coming to my mind: "The goose that lay the golden eggs", "The
ugly duckling", "Cinderella", "The little engine that could", and
so on.  I also like movies, as I mentioned in a previous post.
"Apollo XIII", "Thirteen days", ...  I also like books.  One of
my favorites has to do with Shackleton's Polar adventures.


>Let's band together for the sake of the users still out there who will
>continue to use their 3000s for as long as they can.

Don't forget the thousands of potential users who will START to
use MPE/Image as soon as they can.  Whatever happened to marketing
MPE/Image outside of the installed base?


>My company, for one, will continue to support the 3000 in the
>capacities we have provided in the past for as long as there is ANY
>customer demand.

This sounds as if the hp3000 is on its way out.  I prefer to think
that the time for MPE/Image to truly take off has finally arrived.

Of course, that's just my opinion, I could be wrong (as Dennis
Miller likes to Say).

Be it as it may, thanks for the public reminder, John.

Now, I *must* get my bike ready.  I am late.  I'm sure my email
in-box will be overflowing when I come back in a few days.

   _______________
  |               |
  |               |
  |            r  |  Alfredo                     [log in to unmask]
  |          e    |                           http://www.adager.com
  |        g      |  F. Alfredo Rego
  |      a        |  Manager, R & D Labs
  |    d          |  Adager Corporation
  |  A            |  Sun Valley, Idaho 83353-3000            U.S.A.
  |               |
  |_______________|

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