The results from the recent QuickPoll show that 95% said they
would like to see this happen and 5% said they were indifferent.  This
reflects a total of 20 votes.  The results are not surprising.  The
results of the second question reflect:

If HP were to allow HP9000 computers to be converted to run MPE, what
effect would that have on the need for an emulator?

10% - No effect.
 5% - It would eliminate that need.
20% - It would delay the need by a year or two.
15% - It would delay the need by five years or more.
50% - I would like HP to allow conversions regardless of the impact on
emulator development.

        Off line the reasons expressed to me seem to fall largely into
two camps.  One camp is the group of OpenMPE users that do not plan to
stay on MPE for the long haul but do not expect to be off by the end of
2006.  They would like to see a bigger pool of equipment available to
get them to their end point and it would easy the concerns within their
organization about needed to take more time then the "artificially"
imposed deadline of December 31, 2006.  The other camp are users that
desire to stay with MPE for the foreseeable future but have concerns
about the used equipment pool being deep enough to last until an
emulator can be created, tested, fine-tuned, and had a chance to build a
track record of it's own (like the HP3000 hardware track record).

        I've expressed these views with HP, including the results listed
above.  They would like to see some discussion to more concretely back
up these results and observations.  So, can you please be vocal (but
constructive) about you or your company would like to see the conversion
to be permitted?  Even if your fall squarely in one of the two camps
listed above, please respond to the list with that information.
Remember, HP is watching and still gathering this information.

Thanx,
    Jonathan (Jon) M. Backus, MPE-CSM ~ Chairman
    OpenMPE ~ 15 Catawba Place ~ Hagerstown, MD ~ 21742-6515
    Email: [log in to unmask] ~ Web: www.OpenMPE.org
    AIM: JMBackus ~ Yahoo: techgroupjon ~ MSN: [log in to unmask]
    Vmail: 301.988.0614 ~ Fmail: 301.714.1854