Hello Friends of 3000-L:

(And greetings to Martin Garvey of InfoWeek):

As is often the case with modern journalism, the angle on the story
Mr. Garvey is writing is pretty evident, long before he does any
reporting about how customers feel.

CNET has a report on HP's McDonnell's quotes online. He said what
Garvey claimed. But ah, context is such an important thing. CNET
reported that:

"Eventually, HP will converge toward Linux, NT and Unix, according to
McDonnell. The challenge will lie in coming up with a product road
map that will push customers toward a more streamlined OS portfolio
without alienating them."

And what a challenge it will be. And has been, because this is hardly
news. The 3000 installed base has been through this kind of scheme
before, and it turned the barbarians away at the gates in the middle
1990s. Now, because HP's CEO wants to absorb Compaq, in a deal that
shareholders might kill and regulators may well block, people like
McDonnell in HP get to try to homogenize technology again.

It's as if this kind of HP manager learned nothing from the "Open
Systems" push in the last decade.  People want diversity in their IT
environment. But some journalists are all too glad to help stir
things up.

Here's the truth: Every single HP product, from HP-UX to Jornadas to
the 3000, is being evaluated now. It's clear that McDonnell believes
there's something good about the 3000 platform, whatever "well
leveraged means." I can tell you what the general manager of the 3000
division told me: "Large, important customers of HP's use the 3000.
(Here I paraphase.) They'd be pissed if it went away. " Perhaps
that's what well-leveraged means.

In times of uncertainty, it's easy to get people to worry out loud.
If we all operate on the facts here -- like journalists should do --
we won't start speculating about wild things, like Garvey's jab with
a sharp stick:

"I get the feeling that it'll be your legacy system that's got to go first."

It's a free world, where everybody gets their say. But the above is
hardly professional journalism. If you get in an e-mail exchange with
such a journalist over the next few weeks, be sure ask them about
their facts behind such a jab. We're not all in a hurry to write a
rabid story.

--

Ron Seybold, Editor In Chief
The 3000 NewsWire
Independent Information to Maximize Your HP 3000
http://www.3000newswire.com
512.331.0075 -- [log in to unmask]

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