Sadly, I must concur with the 'Die, MPE, Die' perception,  if for no other
reason but that MPE and its community of supporters, proponents, and
devotees (yes, there is inevitably some emotional component - loyalty and
dedication and not entirely dispassionate) are the last vestiges of a time
when effectiveness, efficiency, reliability, durability, and overall
elegance of solution actually MEANT something in this world of IT!
Sadly, after over 35 years in this business (pushing 37 years, starting with
wiring boards and writing machine code on 1401s) and 23 on the 3k, I see an
IT Dark Ages looming - one in which it matters not how cumbersome a
proffered solution might be, if you just throw enough hardware into the mix
to compensate for the inefficiency.  The ability to design efficient,
resilient, and flexible software solutions has been relegated to the
basement in lieu of application generators or pre-canned software of one
flavor or another - rather like generic small-medium-large off the racks at
Walmart (regardless of the number on the price tag - they're no bargain).
Far too many vendors dictate how you run your business so that you fit THEIR
package or *solution*, rather than the other way around.
In this scenario, customers become the commodity, where the old partnerships
and true synergies (oh, how that word has lost it import!) are no longer
valued.
Perhaps I should again read Atlas Shrugged.....




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