On Tue, 29 Oct 1996 16:36:21 -0500, John Korb <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>Last Wednesday I visited the HP booth at the FEDNET/FEDIMAGING show in
>Washington, DC.  No HP3000 products were on display.  No HP3000
>literature was available.  I picked up some of the literature that was
>available, including "Federal Solutions From Hewlett-Packard" (subtitled
>"Creating the Standard in Government Computing).
>
>I just got around to reading it.  Paragraphs on "Client/Server Computing",
>"Open Enterprise Solutions", "Data Warehousing/Decision Support",
>and "Internet/Intranet Service" are included, as are paragraphs on "The
>HP/Intel Relationship", "Hewlett-Packard's NT Strategy", and "HP's
>Dedication to Security".
>
>What operating systems are mentioned?  You guessed it, HP-UX, UNIX, and
>NT.  No mention of MPE/iX.
>
>What platforms were mentioned?  "... from today's Intel-based systems
>(x86, Pentium, etc.) and HP's PA-RISC-based systems (HP9000 products)."
>Hmmm.  I thought the HP3000 was a PA-RISC-based system also...

>John

And on Tue, 29 Oct 1996 13:44:46 -0800, nwtd <[log in to unmask]> replied:

>Gee. What a surprise. I'm shocked.

Well, I am not "shocked", I am outraged!  I am sick and tired of HP treating the
3000 as a second-rate system.  Every year (well, every year since the "Boston
Tea Party") we have had the same complaints and presented the same questions to
HP management ("When will HP promote the 3000 as a serious business system?"
"When will HP include the 3000 in its strategic planning?", etc. ad nauseum) and
received the same tired response from HP: "The 3000 is a mature system, but it
is an integral part of our strategic planning" and "We will support MPE until
the last user leaves it".  Then, we see no change whatsoever in HP's attitude or
committment (read, $) to the 3000.  Now, I admit that HP is showing *some* signs
of changing, what with porting Java to the 3000 and the web tools being made
available.  But what about the COBOL compiler?  What about ODBC?  What about
applications developers?  And why isn't the 3000 featured in any advertisements
for HP computers?  Why isn't Image/SQL promoted?

The bottom line is this:  What can we loyal HP customers do to influence HP's
attitude towards the 3000, other than what we have been doing?  Any answers?

Jim Phillips                            Manager of Information Systems
E-Mail: [log in to unmask]      Therm-O-Link, Inc.
Phone: (330) 527-2124                   P. O. Box 285
  Fax: (330) 527-2123                   Garrettsville, Ohio  44231