This morning Bill noted:

> I just got a call from HP - ....
>
> He said that in calling HP 3000 users he has been
> "getting a lot of that" (nobody is planning on
> migrating). "Maybe they'll rethink their decision".

Nobody wishes HP would have continued to sell and support
the HP e3000 for "the next 25 years" more than me....
remember that T-shirt ??..  But I am convinced that there
are no realistic circumstances we can envision at this
point that would cause CSY to fundamentally reverse their
decision and 11-14 announcement...  Which isn't to say
that I'd bet money that the 2006 "end HP of support" date
is absolutely written in stone for the more recent boxes;
i.e.:  If enough sites were to call for it, I wouldn't be
too surprised if that "end of support" date might be at
least slightly "elastic", and could end up being extended
for, say, six months or maybe even a year (purely a WAG
on my part).

But any such "tweak" would IMO only be just that:  A
slight adjustment around the edges to the fixed core plan.


For sites that know or think they will want to continue to
run MPE well beyond the 2006 "end of HP support" date, I
believe that fundamentally there are only two options:

(1)  As Wirt first suggested on this list, buy one or
more spare HP 3000 boxes and keep current systems running
as long as possible with 3rd-party hardware and software
support.  An attractive variant of this option is to
convince HP to relax the licensing restrictions at the
end of 2006 if not the end of 2003, so that MPE could
legally be booted on existing and pending HP 9000 boxes
that are and will still be compatible with 3000 hardware.
That would result in a huge jump in the available
"population" of boxes (and a huge jump in performance for
"A" and "N" class MPE platforms, since the CPU(s) would
not be "crippled").  But note that all variants of this
option will eventually come to an end:  No more brand new
e3000 boxes will be sold by HP after October 2003;  and
not too long after that HP 9000 hardware will "diverge"
from the HP 3000 equivalents;  and will no longer be able
to boot MPE even if HP solves the licensing issue;  i.e.:
This option yields a finite universe of MPE-capable
hardware;  for which in the very long run there is a final
end-point.

(2)  Help OpenMPE, Inc. and others convince HP to allow
a 3rd-party MPE Emulator for IA (MPEEIA) to get started
ASAP, by indicating that if a 3rd-party is successful in
getting an MPE emulator working, they HP will faciliate,
enable, and cooperate with that effort by granting
licensing authority for both development and end-user
run-time operation of said emulator.  If a successful
emulator can be produced and demonstrated, if that becomes
popular enough then MAYBE down the road it might be
possible to continue to at least incrementally enhance MPE
and its key subsystems (still TBD).  See
http://www.openmpe.org  for updates on this continuing
effort.

<plug>  If you are attending Interex HP e3000 Solutions
Symposium this week, remember OpenMPE session at 11:00
on Saturday.
</plug>

Ken Sletten
Member, OpenMPE Inc. BoD

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