Well, here we are.  February 14th.  Saint Valentine's day.  On this date in
1929, the infamous Saint Valentine's Day Massacre occurred.  But, I digress.

So far, what do we have for the stalwart, die-hard e3000 fanatics?

We have HP shoving HP-UX at us like life preservers to drowning people.  The
only problem is that I don't feel like we're even in (hot) water yet.  My
three e3000's are still running the business, just like always.

We have OpenMPE incorporated, but it has the ultimate in vaporware
available:  HP hasn't agreed to release MPE to anyone.  And if HP decides to
release MPE to OpenMPE, we don't have any idea of when any product would be
available.  No problem, my e3000's are still running the business, just like
always.

We have third-party vultures, er, I mean solutions providers, circling
around us offering us such tidbits of advice as: "[We believe] that ... the
reversal of HP's decision [to abandon the e3000] and the availability of a
binary MPE/TurboImage emulator is extremely high risk and both options are
highly unlikely and should not be considered."  and "[To stay] on an
e3000 and use 3rd party maintenance is only viable in a short term of one to
two years after HP's termination of support and only for shops needing
additional time to move to other systems or shops that have a fixed short
term life of their application."  But my three e3000's continue to run the
business, just like always.

So, the smart money says to dump the e3000 now and make plans to move to
?NIX or Win?.  But, you know what?  I don't feel like dumping the e3000 just
yet.  Like my pappy used to say, "You've got to dance with the one that
brung you".  So we keep dancing, maybe on thin ice, and maybe we won't win
the gold because of collusion among the judges, but the business is still
running.  And costs are low.  So maybe I can keep myself and my associate
gainfully employed for a while longer (along with the two hundred or so
others).  Oh, and we'll make a profit for the umpteenth straight year.  Not
bad for a has-been computer system running a has-been operating system with
applications written in an out-moded language using a
soon-to-be-dumped-in-the-scrap-heap DBMS.  But how long can we keep this
going?

And if you've read this far, you're probably wondering what my point is, and
so, for you bottom-liners out there, here it is:  If something doesn't
happen soon in the open-sourced / sourced-by-other-than-HP MPE arena, there
won't be anybody left who gives a damn about it, nor enough customers to
make it worth while.  The time to strike is while the iron is hot, not when
it is luke-warm.  So, what can I do about it?

Jim Phillips                           Information Systems Manager
Email: [log in to unmask]     Therm-O-Link, Inc.
Phone: 330-527-2124                         P. O. Box 285
Fax:   330-527-2123                           10513 Freedom Street
Web:   http://www.tolwire.com          Garrettsville, OH  44231

I WANT MY MPE!

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