In <[log in to unmask]> [log in to unmask] writes:

> This subject keeps comming up from time to time.
> The response that I keep seeing from HP is that
> they don't see much of a market for such a thing.
> A few months ago, I did kind of a clunky prototype
> of a transportable HP 3000 and Stan Sieler
> put it on their Web site.  I only got one inquiry about
> it.  Now mind you, this prototype was not exactly as
> lightweight as the portable HP 9000/700, nor was
> it attractlively packaged.  However, it would seem to
> me that if there was some kind of real market demand,
> it would have precipitated some sort of discussion and
> maybe some inquiries.

I too saw that box and was impressed. However, it's still just a 8(?)-user
HP3000 in a portable case. What developers need are 1-2 user boxes, with
the *software* priced for those platforms so it doesn't cost the equivalent
of 16-boxes to buy the compilers you need to write software on it... I'm
afraid noone but HP can address that issue.

It's frustrating that it seems such an *easy* thing for them to do. The user
license limiting code is in the OS already. Adding a '1' (or 1 + console)
user option should be trivial. The only real battle is the red tape to get
HP to create software-pricing tiers for that level machine... a sad thing
as that would seem to be yet another indicator of how hard it is to do
business with (aka "buy stuff") from HP... [I'd be the first to admit that
it's getting better; but it's not where it should be]

One other stumbling block - gotta work out something REASONABLE for software
support. Remember that each of these machines that ships is probably doing
more to market the 3000 than any sales people (if there are any left) could.

Take a 918. Change the user-license limit to 1+console. Maybe change the
system name to a 908. Load it up with MPE/iX 5.5, Image/SQL, COBOL, C (or
even the GNU compiler stuff), 1.something gig disc, 40-something Mb memory,
a Dat, and sell the bundle for about $7-8k. Throw out a message to the
HP3000-L (see - don't even need to budget for marketing it! The people on
this list would pass the word around better/faster than any ads would
anyway!) :-)

                  -Chris Bartram


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