I like conspiracy theories as well, but unfortunately this one does not seem
to fly. Here is the reason, based on my knowledge of timing :

- Crippled HP3000 CPUs did not come around before the early-90s, I'd bet '92
or 93. At that time, HP9000 sales had already taken off.
- From what I know of the code, it does not take man-years to develop the
"crippling" code. I'd bet more like man-weeks or so.

So much for the late-80s ...

Christian Lheureux
Responsable du Département Systèmes et Réseaux / Head of Systems and
Networks Department
APPIC R.H.
business partner hp invent
Tel : +33-1-69-80-97-22   /   Fax : +33-1-69-80-97-14 / e-mail :
[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
AIM nickname : MPE Evangelist
"Le Groupe APPIC recrute, contactez nous !"



> -----Message d'origine-----
> De : HP-3000 Systems Discussion [mailto:[log in to unmask]]De la
> part de Patrick Santucci
> Envoyé : vendredi 6 septembre 2002 19:46
> À : [log in to unmask]
> Objet : Re: [HP3000-L] HP Press Release about hp3000
>
>
> John R. Wolff writes:
>
> > Of course, MPE/iX uninhibited would run rings around a similar speed
> > HP9000  --  it would be most embarassing for HP to have to
> admit that
> > the obsolete MPE/iX is faster than the modern wonderful HP-UX!  I
> > must conclude that it has nothing to do with keeping prices low or
> > some technical issue or other altruistic claims.  This is simply a
> > mis-guided marketing strategy gone wrong with the goal of
> getting rid
> > of MPE/iX in favor of HP-UX.
>
> Scenario: an Engineer is called into the Boss's office at CSY
> (perhaps in
> the mid- to late 1980s?) and told, "The Company wants to sell
> more HP-UX,
> but jacking up the price on MPE boxes and licenses hasn't
> helped HP-UX sales
> enough. Marketing says we're making the UX division look bad.
> We need to
> come up with a way to slow down MPE, give the other guys a
> chance to catch
> up performance-wise, relatively speaking. Can you add some extra no-op
> cycles or something to MPE?" (Assuming a somewhat PHB here --
> no offense
> intended to anyone!) Who knows, he may have even reassured
> the engineer
> with, "Don't worry, once HP-UX sales take off we'll be
> allowed to pull out
> the idling code. We'll send out a patch and tell the customers they're
> getting a 'performance enhancement,' that'll make everyone
> happy. We just
> need to put it in temporarily. For the good of HP as a whole, you
> understand."
>
> Assuming this scenario, if that engineer (or group of
> engineers) would come
> forward and tell his/her/their story, *that* would be the
> "smoking gun."
>
> Patrick (What did I say about not believing in conspiracies?)
>
> "The truth is out there." - [log in to unmask]
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Patrick Santucci
> HP e3000 Systems Administrator
> Computer Operations Team Lead
>
> http://cornerstonebrands.com
>
> * To join/leave the list, search archives, change list settings, *
> * etc., please visit http://raven.utc.edu/archives/hp3000-l.html *
>

* To join/leave the list, search archives, change list settings, *
* etc., please visit http://raven.utc.edu/archives/hp3000-l.html *