Many HP3000-L members have probably received this informative news service
from Interex.  I would like to toss a few comments.


>--------------------------------------------------------------------------
>                       Hot News for HP Computer Users
>                        A Weekly Update from Interex
>                           http://www.interex.org
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Contributions to this moderated list may be sent to [log in to unmask]
>Changes to your subscription should be sent to [log in to unmask]
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------
>News Posted 11/19/97
>Table of Contents
>
>- NEW PENTIUM II HP NETSERVER FEATURE MANAGEMENT TOOLS, REMOTE ADMINISTR..
>- HP AND SIBS TO MAKE SIBS ELECTRONIC PURSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM MORE WIDEL..
>- MICROSOFT RELEASES BETA 1 OF WINDOWS-BASED TERMINAL SERVER
>- MICROSOFT GAINS BROWSER MARKET SHARE, BUT NETSCAPE STILL LEADS, STUDY ..
>- SUBMIT A PAPER TO HP WORLD '98
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------

There are FIVE topics.  Three of them could very well be Microsoft-oriented
press releases.  Ok, ok, HP makes a lot of hardware that runs Microsoft
software, but still :-)

The second topic covers some neat technology that uses HP 9000 Unix
machines in Europe.


The fifth topic reads:

>SUBMIT A PAPER TO HP WORLD '98
>
>As a member of the Hewlett-Packard computing community, you are
>strongly encouraged to submit a paper to the HP World '98 Conference &
>Expo.  This internationally recognized conference will convene San Diego
>Convention Center between August 2 and 7, 1998.
>
>HP World '98 paper presentations will address today's computing
>challenges as well as provide a "technical focus" on new and commonly
>used technologies.  HP World's conference tracks include:
>
>+ Enterprise-Wide Data Management
>+ Networking and Multiplatform Integration
>+ Security and System Management
>+ Internet/Intranet/Extranet
>+ Management Issues
>
>Proposal submission deadline is Friday, December 19, 1997.
>
>Take advantage of this opportunity to be part of this exciting and
>prestigious event! To submit your paper proposal, visit the HP World
>Web site at http://www.hpworld.org/cfp98/ or call 1-800-INTEREX, or e-mail
>[log in to unmask]

I certainly encourage everyone to attend and to submit papers.  I'll be
there and I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible!



The question still lingered way back in my mind, though:  Where is a
mention of OTHER hot news, just to provide the *appearance* that Interex
did not get a millionaire grant from Microsoft?  I am sure Interex did not,
but it certainly *appears* that there is a lot of Microsoft-centric
material  :-)


If Interex is going to cover "more than just the HP3000" (to pick one
example randomly), where is a mention of the landmark ISO Java Standards
Decision?  What can be hotter than that (for non-Microsoft eyes)?  Frankly,
the fact that Internet Explorer "is gaining market share" can hardly be
interpreted as "hot news" given the fact that it does not yet have 100%
penetration even as Microsoft continues to ram it down everybody's throat
(no pun intended).

Just to fend myself from ill-informed would-be flamers, let me say that I
have Internet Explorer on my Compaq PC and on several Macs (both the native
MSIE Mac version and the VirtualPC version, which comes fully licensed on a
Microsoft CD).  In fact, I had the pleasure of meeting several Microsoft
programmers (at Apple's R&D building in Cupertino, of all places) back in
March, 1996, when they were just beginning their campaign in earnest.  So,
I contribute as much to the financial well-being of Bill Gates & Co. as
everybody else.  These comments are not an attack on MSIE by any means.  I
just wonder how "newsworthy" the whole issue of its market share is in
comparison to something as fundamental as, let's say, the ISO Java
Standards.

This is a tricky thing for Interex.  Should they cover EVERYTHING?
Certainly not.  But why should anybody care to join Interex just to be able
to keep abreast of Microsoft's "hot news"?  There is a life-and-death issue
lurking beneath the seemingly benign dissemination of this non-HP-centric
information.

Am I missing something?  Probably.  It's late and I have been programming
too much HP3000-centric software... Including taking advantage of Mike
Hornsby's incredible technique to exploit MPE's wonderful command language:

>Originally no message was generated. This made the command
>if 1<>1
>very usefull! If you can imagine we used to have to share one terminal
>between several SEs, and you could
>psuedo reserve the terminal by entering the above command! Every command
>entered would be echoed, including bye, but nothing would happen. Until, you
>entered endif!

Now, this is true genius, Mike!


Back to work,





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|            r  |  Alfredo              mailto:[log in to unmask]
|          e    |                           http://www.adager.com
|        g      |  F. Alfredo Rego               Tel 208 726-9100
|      a        |  Manager, R & D Labs           Fax 208 726-2822
|    d          |  Adager Corporation
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