At 03:21 PM 8/25/98 -0400, Eric Bender <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>It's truly unfortunate that Interex and HP remain so California-centric. We
>too would like to send participants (maybe just one, once) but the costs
>associated with such a trip are well beyond the pale of the Professional
>Development budget of an eastern college like ours. Not to mention the CDN
>dollar at all time lows compared to the Yankee greenback. Oh, well, maybe
>next time...
Eric raises a very cogent point, the persistent California (nay, South Bay
Area) location of the MPE Programmers Forum. It is important to place this
in historical perspective, I think. The first such conference took place
actually on the HP campus in Cupertino. A primary and amazing benefit, was
the ability of an HP lab engineer to say something like, "Oh yes, I've got
something abobut thayt on my desk, let me go get it", and 5 minutes later,
there was the needed information.
The incredibly high (1:1) HP/Attendee ratio at this event makes it necessary
to keep it as close as possible to Cupertino. This is not, after all, the
same sort of event as HPWorld, or Interworks. Those are broader in scope,
and dedicated to multiple technical capabilities. The MPE Programmers Forum
exists solely to focus on MPE - its creators, its users, its proponents and
its (if such there be!) competitors. Without such closeness to the source of
MPE, there would be little or no added value.
Having said that, let me re-iterate that the MPE Forum (not just
programmers!) is exploring ways in which a much lower cost distribution of
technical content can be made. Those who attended the HP Interactive
Classroom in San Diego will have a small idea of what we are looking at.
Maybe come February 1999 we will be able to roll out a prototype....
(Just to make you salivate)
So, in summary,
The CA location is really a fundamental aspect of the MPE Programmers Forum,
but we are actively working on alternative delivery mechanisms for highly
focused technical content.
HTH
TOny Furnivall
CoChair MPE Forum
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