o  What makes you decide to go up onto a newer release?
Sometimes new enhancements but usually because of EOL on a previous release.

   o  Which Powerpatch (first, second, third, ...?) is the appropriate
       one to "Push"?  What criteria should HP use to determine which
       Powerpatch is the "Push"?
Hopefully the first patch would be a push to fix all the problems in the initial
release. I was on the front lines when we installed 6.5 (which is the first time
I ever did that - I usually wait for patch 1 before jumping in) and although we
didn't have major issues we did run into a few bugs that were inconvenient to
our production process/schedule.

   o  Should we "Push" at all?  Would you prefer simply to receive the
       Communicator once we come out with a release, and you can decide
       whether you want it?
We went from 5.5p7 to 6.5 without hardly a mention of 6.0. I had heard of so
many problems with 6.0 that by the time it became relatively stable 6.5 was
already being released. Since each release is being unsupported after 2 new
releases have been out (5.5 is now unsupported) we needed to load the latest and
greatest. I had to travel all over the country upgrading our 18 3k's and
management doesn't want to spend that kind of money every 12 - 18 months.

   o  Once you get up onto a particular release, how long do you want to
       stay there?
As long as possible, provided it's stable.

   o  What is your expectation concerning the availability of new
       functionality or enhancements on your current release?
I generally try to implement some of the new enhancements right away. For
instance, we determined that the BRW's need to be segregated into their own job
queue because they hammer the cpu pretty hard.

I also agree with others who have already responded... if you don't push a
release then who will be implementing/testing it to find the bugs? We have a
development box where we test all new releases prior to implementation.