As far as IT Infrastructure is concerned, Sun is toast, period. They are not
the big competitor they used to be. I have not been in competition with them
for about 2 years. The big names in the game are now IBM (have always been)
and Dell.

Oh yes, of course, HP would be blasted in the press, mostly for abandoning a
30-year old platform. Then HP could counter that bad press by telling how
they helped users migrate off last century's infrastructure (the 3000) and
invented this century's (Itanium-2). And other press would praise HP for
their migration plans, their great care of customers, their
just-about-anything. IMHO, it's a tie, at worst, and a big PR victory for HP
if they are careful enough to handle it.

So my point is, OK I hate HP's decision to kill MPE, and I hate even more
their lackadaisical handling of the homesteading community, but my biggest
fear is that we simply do not have enough leverage. In another post I got
this morning, someone else was referrign to threats of litigation. This is
nonsense. If there had been a serious threat, it would have materialized by
now, 2 1/2 years after 11/14.

In a nutshell, we may be overstating our strength.

Christian

> -----Message d'origine-----
> De : OpenMPE Support Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]]De la part de
> Mark Wonsil
> Envoyé : mardi 30 mars 2004 13:31
> À : [log in to unmask]
> Objet : Re: A Challenge to All Candidates for the OpenMPE Board of
> Directors
>
>
> > After Steve Suraci, Christian wrote :
> >> It is very obvious to me that HP is teetering with a PR
> disaster and
> >> is well aware of it.
> >
> > This is where I disagree. Let's be pragmatic : at best, CSY business
> > represented about 1% of HP's business, and probably way less in the
> > final years. They can easily do without less than 1% of their
> > business. A PR disaster, as far as MPE is concerned would involve
> > only MPE customers, with other standing on the sidelines unbothered
> > and unconcerned. IMHO, it would be a very minor PR disaster.
> >
>
> I don't know about that Christian.  I disagree that a bad PR
> move would only
> lose MPE users and others would be unconcerned.  All an IBM
> or Sun would
> have to do is get the "Executive Commitment" brochure that quoted HP's
> statement of support for MPE and create doubt that HP-UX will
> survive at a
> company that makes most of its money on ink cartridges.  Any
> HP-UX deals on
> the fence could fall away from HP.  HP and IBM have chosen
> different paths
> in handling their aging platforms.  IBM is trying to
> consolidate hardware
> and OSs while HP has walked away from a 30 year-old
> relationship.  Surely a
> Sun or IBM rep is going to point out who is willing to
> maintain a business
> relationship.  I wouldn't under-estimate a bad PR move in the
> corporate
> world.  I would agree that the consumer market would be OK,
> but then again,
> that seems to be Carly's target audience these days.  Again,
> something your
> local Sun rep will be more than willing to tell you.
>
> Mark W.