Ken made a comment re:  HP management not knowing what they had in MPE.

Ironically, considering what I've seen in IT over these many years, they
may just have had a better idea than anyone is willing to admit.

They had a resilient platform with a marvelously rich (and richly enhanced)
OS supported by a communitiy of niche specialists who were all family.
They had an environment which was readily embraced by the user community, a
community of friends and peers ever willing to lend knowledge and
perspective openly and without fear that their cards were venturing a bit
far from their stuffed shirts.  They had an environment which enabled
purchasers to stretch what had been their most valued and precious
resource - their staff.  You truly COULD do it all, with far less manpower
and far greater interaction and interdependence.  And greater profitability.

What a wonderfully productive and cost-effective world that was for so long!

The IT world has changed.  Each kernel operates independent of the needs of
other kernels, so everything needs to be too bloody redundant just to
assure that up is still up, and not merely some random direction.  Those of
us who valued elegance in concept, design, and execution, meanwhile saving
buckets of money, have pretty much been left in the dust of the MBA-and-
bean-pusher mentality while far too many have watched their positions
either disappear or get off-shored.

Nope, I think HP knew EXACTLY what they had.  And seeing the way they've
pulled their own cards so close to their chests that even they can't read
them, re OpenMPE,  is just about all the evidence I need.

What a bloody waste!

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