Richard writes:
> All of this is very dependant on what you do with the
> machine, I suppose.  I
> personally feel this is a myth, as most of the people on this
> list know the
> O/S so well and in a number of cases the machine is running older more
> stable software with less functionality (I expect emails for
> that remark).

and

> With the HP, you have to have specialist staff, there aren't that many
> HP3000 experts out there, so it limits company choice with
> staff choices.
> The operating is very different from the most common ones
> (Unix & Windows),
> so the learning curve is steep.  The boxes are powerful, but extremely
> expensive and require HP support, again tying you into one supplier.

Just anecdotal, but of the dozen or so shops I have known, the operator was
ALWAYS someone much less technical than any developer.  It was not uncommon
to see accountants managing the 3K, a feat I have never seen on a Linux, VAX
or an HP-UX box.  I've even see the technical staff of the DEC or UX systems
push the operations of the 3K to non-technical folks.  I've had Novell folks
come into an HP/NT shop and said that it was easier to learn how to manage
the 3K than it was to pick up NT.  It is true that it's harder to buy
support off the rack but I don't think it's that tough a skill to pick up.

> Just think of how many Linux servers you could have for the
> same price as an
> HP3000 and with that the amount of choices of DB, Interfaces,
> Languages, products, staff, learning tools, courses, etc.

These economics are difficult to ignore, and you don't even mention the
price/performance advantage of the commodity boxes.  I think this is Duane's
point.  It isn't that my clients don't want to change, it's that they want
to change on their own terms and when the market isn't so crappy.  Would
they make the same decision on hardware today?  I'm not so sure, but they
aren't going to change technology for technology sake.  It's a business
decision and it's really just too expensive to do a gigantic migration in
this climate.

Mark Wonsil

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