Dear Mr. Shankland,

I appreciate your effort to communicate news regarding the HP 3000 line
of midrange servers.  However, I feel that I must call you to task on
several different points.

1.  The "HP 3000 servers are part of a decades-old lineage..." is an
inappropriate description of the HP 3000 line.  While the name plate may
be decades old (approximately 25 years), the technology is only 10 years
old.  You probably don't recall that the HP 3000 was the first of
platform to embrace the RISC architecture.  Since it is also scheduled
to be among the first to implement the IA-64 chipset, I think your
statement is misleading.

2.  The HP 3000 line is indeed based on a proprietary operating system.
But, again, this in only part of the story.  The HP 3000 is the most
complete implementation of the POSIX standard that I had encountered in
my years of information technology.  This, I believe, would make it an
"open system"...

3.  You attributed a statement to Brad Day of Giga Information Group
that "the 3000 line will always play second fiddle to the HP 9000
systems...".  I would suggest that you check HP's corporate profits over
the last couple of years.  I believe that the HP 3000 line is the ONLY
line marketed by HP that has been completely profitable for HP during
this period.  In my opinion, it would seem that the HP 9000 is playing
second fiddle - not the other way around.

4.  You fail to make any mention of the reliability of the HP 3000
line.  It is consistently one of the most dependable systems available.
I think that reliability should be a concern for anyone considering
e-commerce.  It would be responsible journalism to make your readers
aware of this as well when talking about enhancements to a product line
as stable as the 3000.

5.  Finally, as a loyal 3000 user for nearly 23 years, HP's policy has
been to consistently deny that there were any plans to ever cancel the
HP 3000 line.  While I recognize that Christine Martino is a marketing
manager for the 3000 line, I would question this statement.  Why would a
company invest millions in developing the PA-RISC architecture in the
late 80's only to consider dumping the main product line a few years
later?  It isn't logical.  I would be interested to hear how the
response would have been from someone like David Weld or Harry Sterling.

One of the biggest concerns that the HP 3000 community is the coverage
of the press.  Traditionally, the press had either ignored the 3000 or
presented it in a negative light... neither response is consistent with
reputable journalism.   Consequently, I am copying this response to the
HP3000-L listserver.  This group is the most knowledgeable group within
the HP community and would welcome your responses.  In addition, I am
copying this response also to Mr. Sterling and Mr. Wilde in the hope
that they too will choose to respond.

Sincerely Yours,

Glenn J. Koster, Sr.

====================================================================
Please note:  The response contained in this e-mail is wholly my
personal response and does not necessarily reflect that of my
company nor of HP.
====================================================================
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