Hello Friends:

Wirt said:

>It only takes a few minutes to realize that the argument that third parties
>will prosper best when HP is incompetent is the dumbest possible argument.
>Unfortunately, that appears to be the argument that Ron is making.

Wow. It's been awhile since I've had an idea called both "rubbish"
and "dumb" in the same draft. Feels like I may have hit a nerve.

Appearances aside, I'm not proposing HP be incompetent in any way
regarding the 3000. I simply  believe that CSY cannot do everything
3000 customers and channel partners think up, and stay profitable and
growing as a division. Asking isn't a sin -- but calling HP's
reasonable (if unsatisfactory) explanation "mumbo-jumbo"  makes a
business decision into an emotional argument.

I'm just guessing, but it looks like somebody is relying on MPE's
networked printing for an application and needs it fixed.

I hope this fix doesn't slow down any of the other things customers
are still waiting for: support for MPE Java classes on the 3000
(available, but not supported). A secure Web server. Mirroring the
system_volume_set. A supported C++ compiler, to let application
developers port software to the platform. An object strategy built
into the 3000's operating system like CORBA or COM (only recently
available through a third party product). FTP that works like the
rest of the world's. Advanced Telnet. Access to ODBC directly from
TurboIMAGE, without using Allbase/SQL. Some are in development, but
none delivered yet.

Take that last one. Nobody was more surprised than me when this
customer request -- which topped all balloting for two straight years
-- got dropped, once HP said they wouldn't do it. Third party
software from three companies takes care of that function, and the
customers must think that's acceptable. I made the mistake of
believing the customers were being pragmatic, by accepting the fact
that third parties deliver some functionality HP wasn't going to
engineer. I'm not arguing if networked printing ought to be fixed.
Saying HP's explanation about it was mumbo-jumbo is what prompted me
to post.

In our October Q&A interview, Robelle's President David Greer said
"It's not so hard to figure out what you should work on. The hard
part is figuring out what you shouldn't work on." Setting boundaries
is a healthy practice for both life and business. I can't see how
letting HP set a boundary on bundling ODBC native for TurboIMAGE is
any different than letting MPE networked printing be less robust than
third party alternatives. If one isn't mumbo-jumbo, why is the other?


Ron Seybold, Editor In Chief
The 3000 NewsWire
Independent Information to Maximize Your HP 3000
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512.331.0075