To the Board

I see things a bit different.  After having a personal conversation last
week with Dave Wilde, I sensed a real honest approach to helping us
homesteaders.  Dave was sincere and I got a good comfort level that HP is
getting on board with the fact that many of us will still be using the e3000
for many months/years to come and that HP would not hang us out to dry.  So
I say to all you skeptics out there, give HP and Dave the benefit of the
doubt.

On the other side of the coin,  I still have a genuine fear that support for
our beloved system is fading and fading fast.  To that I say lets keep the
OPENMPE movement alive, get off the elections bull sh@t, talk to Dave and
Ross. Tell them what we all want in the most professional manner possible
leaving your emotions behind.  Remember this was a business decision from HP
not an emotional one.  It will take another business decision from HP to
release the source code.

To the board of OPENMPE, I say to you .... be "open" and as honest as
possible regarding all issues concerning the future of the e3000.  If you
have to sign an NDA with HP,  be assured there are very real legal reasons
for this.  HP after all, HP is protecting their property just like you would
protect your individual programs, databases etc.  By the same token don't
give away the store either.  Pressure is the best weapon of choice in such
matters.

Being a native New Yorker, I tend to be a bit terse.  So please forgive me
if I get to the point without all the hoopla rhetoric

Zelik

-----Original Message-----
From: OpenMPE Support Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Chuck Ryan
Sent: Thursday, April 15, 2004 12:35 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Elections, and meaningful results

> I'm a lot more interested in whether HP's latest message gives you
> any hope, and what you think will make a difference in deciding your
> 3000's future. Despite what you may have heard, at least a plurality
> of 3000 owners have not yet decided how to compute in 2007. Your
> organization is as forward-looking as any in the 3000 community.
> Instead of looking back at a nondisclosure arrangement that appears
> essential to HP's intellectual property negotiations, why not look
> ahead -- to what you will need from HP and OpenMPE to continue as an
> MPE user?
>

All I saw was an attempt at buying off the board and more promises to
consider the possibility of deciding to make a decision about the date
they would be able to discuss the meeting where they might be willing to
discuss the future of MPE sometime in mid 2005.

In other words, I saw an attempted payoff and more stalling.

What I am waiting to see is the response from the board. Maybe they will
even get around to posting something before the mid 2005 date set by HP.

Comments are my own, not my employer's... etc.