Earlier today Eric noted he got some feedback from Ann L.:

>     I sent an email addressed to her regarding my concern
> that the HPe3000 was not receiving enough press and I
> received a very cordial, but short reply, indicating that HP's
> MPE customers were "very important". It was CCed to
> Winston Prather and was not an automated reply. I think
> HPWorld will be a good place to press our case.

After:

> > Is anyone hearing anything from the emails sent to Ann?
> > I noticed that she will be at HP World.  ....

I received a private reply to my initial message from Ann
Livermore this morning....  Maybe I'm pressing the bounds of
etiquette a little, but given that her reply was in no way "personal
private";  and was sent in the context of public questions about
senior HP Management's commitment to the HP 3000 from a
number of readers of this list;  I attach verbatim her short reply
to me and my response in return....  I am actually quite
encouraged by her reply;  i.e.:  She was responding to a
narrow question;  and that was not clear from the context of
the published quote (at least to me).....   sounds reasonable to
me;  I'll buy that...  but as I noted in my reply, somebody should
try and "run in to" Ann at HPW and offer her an "I Love MPE"
or "MPE Forever" and "IMAGE Forever" button(s)...    Note I
think I can come up with at least one or two more of the limited
edition "MPE Forever" and "IMAGE Forever" variants;  I would
be willing to part with them in we could get Ann to wear them...
    :-)

Ken Sletten
==========================================

Ann,

You graciously replied to my harangue:

> Thanks for the note.  I do know what MPE is!  And I love it!!
> The quotation I am now famous for was in response to a line
> of questions about SUN's anti Microsoft, and anti NT position.
> My response was in the same context:  Showing that HP does
> support NT.  It was not a message about MPE lack of support
> for MPE.
>
> Regards,
>
> Ann

Ah....   thank you for explaining the context;  that did not come
through the way it was presented by the media (or at least the
way I read it)....   I am considerably encouraged.      :-)

CONFESSION:    I may share a bit of the responsibility for
making this particular quote "famous":  After I sent you my
initial message, I suggested on hp3000-L that it might not hurt
if a few other fellow MPE fanatics also mentioned it to you....

Since you have confirmed your continuing affinity for our
favorite OS, maybe we can see about getting you an "I Love MPE" button...
or even one of the special order, limited edition
brass "MPE Forever" variants....      ;-)

SIDEBAR:    Our site is glad to see HP supporting NT / Win2K:
Except for our HP 3000 at the core, we are a 100 percent
Microsoft shop:  Zero SUNs....

Cordially,
and thanks again for your positive reply,

Ken Sletten