I'd like to propose a new thread.  Most of us on this list are going
through some major transitions with the discontinuance of the HP3000,
now made more challenging by the current economic climate.  Rather than
each of us struggling in individual isolation and insecurity, it would
be great to come together as a community and share our stories.  Might
catalyze some new insights and directions!

For manageability, I suggest a brief, several sentence response to each
of the following:
1) Your background on the HP3000
2) What you've been doing in light of the HP3000 discontinuance
3) What you'd like to see happen (I know we're an irreverent bunch, but
please try to address this seriously!)
4) Your take on the general economy, and how you plan to navigate it in
the coming years.

Best Regards,
Bill Miller

======================
Here's my story:

1) Started on the '3000 with an entry-level programming job in the early
'80s. Developed a couple software utilities that I marketed through
distributors with modest success.
2) Ended up working as a contractor for my last distributor, maintaining
their legacy MPE applications, dabbling a bit on other platforms and
applications. Also have been doing cultural research and education
volunteer work with a Palo Alto-based non-profit org.
3) Seems like there are a number of big, core applications
(manufacturing, finance, inventory, education, health care) that are
rooted on the 3000.  Maintaining and enhancing these to ensure a long
service life and continuing to interface them with the larger IT world
seems the main task. Also seems like we all need to become more
entrepreneurial - it would be great if we could band together a bit more
to provide such services.
4) I'm pretty sure the 20th century growth-and-consumption-at-any-cost
economy is on the wane, being ecologically unsustainable. The "big-bang"
economy will probably have to transition to a "steady state" model that
provides a long-term sustainable level of commerce, a more equitable
distribution of wealth, and thereby a reasonable, secure quality of life
for more people. Such a system would produce fewer overnight billionaire
superstars, but would also have less desperation, criminality and
terrorism. (I know the first argument will be "Where's the incentive?"
Hey, if you need to be bribed to do something rather than doing it for
the joy of the doing, maybe it doesn't need to be done in the first
place!)

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