Richard Gambrell wrote:

> Just about the only possible viable future for the HP e3000 is to
> stake out the middle ground for business oriented database servers that
> do Apache, Java and all the necessary up-to-date "stuff", but don't
> have the cost factor of Oracle.

amen to that!

> SQL-Server on win2000 is in this camp,
> as are some IBM solutions.  If the e3000 can win (and keep) a reasonable
> share of application vendors in this market, then it has a chance for
> continued viability.  MPE/iX offers significant cost savings in
> administration, too.

(boy i hope hp is listening....)

two things:
 - the 'entry cost' for image is too high.  by that i mean, the perception
remains that in order to have an application on a 3000 that uses image, you
have to have a custom interface written for the database.  a custom
interface isn't a bad thing -- you are much more likely to have a well-tuned
application.  i'll also maintain you're much more likely to find this
'design' in legacy applications.  but what about *new* applications?   do i
train my 20-something programmer how to do image?  (do i even have my
20-something programmer working on mpe??)  can i tolerate the performance
problems of odbc/jdbc?
 - richard is absolutely right -- with how the computer industry has
evolved, mpe is a genuine bargain these days.  but without a more modern
database, who's going to use the platform?  it's more than time for another
database solution.  i wish i had an answer for what that solution is.  i
don't see csy dedicating a team to developing 'image2' (although i wish it
would happen).  csy's forays into bringing an industry-recognized dbms to
mpe have (sadly) fallen flat on their faces.  folks -- to me -- this is the
real problem.  it's not mpe, it's not the lack of marketing.  it's image.
it was a great database -- but not in today's world.            - d

--
Donna Garverick     Sr. System Programmer
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"Unix _is_ user friendly.
It's just very selective about who its friends are.
And sometimes even best friends have fights."

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