Donna wrote:

>ah 'whining' :-)
>for the 10 people who already heard me say this during sig sysman :-)  i
apologize for saying this again....
>as a whole, hpe3000-l has whining down to an art.  we take every deserved
and undeserved opportunity to jump allover hp.  i >fully admit that at times
hp should be 'taken to the shed' but it doesn't detract from my point --that
we do very little other than >whine.

<whine>
Hey! That's not fair. Not fair! Not fair! Not fair. : -)

Seriously donna's point about helping HP market the e3000 is valid. I think
that many of us have tried in the past. Alfredo, Joe Geiser and others do
marketing tours. We all give our two cents worth and not just in a whining
way. If I was struck by anything at HP World it was the sincerity of the CSY
people, from Winston on down.  I can unequivocally say that I believe they
are making every attempt to "do the right thing." I am not sure how much
further up the HP corporate ladder my trust goes. Carly is doing what she
perceives to be in the best interest of HP, i.e. the shareholders. Her
perception of "good" and mine may not agree but she is the one being paid to
define "good" not me.

Sitting in the MPE Roundtable we discussed the marketing issue. We were told
that HP had few or no plans to do any massive ad campaigns for the e3000. If
the marketing budget isn't there then it isn't there and we can't change
that. What can we do that won't cost money? We have hashed and rehashed the
fact that *C* level executives may never have heard of the e3000. If HP
executives mention the platform whenever possible we can use those quotes to
market the e3000 at least internally. Talk is cheap, literally.

This is one of the major points we have been trying to publicize. I know
Winston understands this point. Does Ann? Does Duane? Does Carly? Is this
whining? If yes, so be it.

Some one asked earlier in this thread why is marketing the e3000 our job. I
am reminded of a sign I saw in a small shop. It read, "If you like the
product tell your friends. If you didn't like the product tell me." I think
we like the product. Let's tell our friends. Let's help HP tell their
friends. I don't know much about marketing. I do not know that I can
contribute much in the way of innovative marketing schemes. I do know that I
am willing to be a simple foot soldier in this battle.

We should all help in anyway that we can. One thing I am going to try to do
is restart my local RUG. Little things do matter.
</whine>

Joseph