Hi,

I've been watching this thread with some obvious interest and wanted to
throw in my $.02.

There are some assumptions that should be challenged.  First, that Carly
would be directly responsible for the possible demise of the 3000, should
the rumor prove to be true.

Regardless of whether the rumor is true or not it seems very unproductive
to me to be throwing stones at Carly, although, God knows I sure don't like
what she's doing.  If the rumor is true, I suspect that Carly had
absolutely nothing to do with it.  I've known and trusted current CSY
management for some time and feel that,  1) If they felt the HP e3000
business to be sustainable, they would fight like cats and dogs to keep it
and 2) If they felt the HP e3000 business to NOT be sustainable, they would
inevitably pull the trigger themselves.

The next assumption is the "MPE is HP's cash cow".  I know this one to be
false.  For the 3000 to be such a cash cow there would have had to be a LOT
more new installations in the last few (several) years than have
occurred.  In my business we have dealt with many, many new, large 3000
sites.  The new installations have dropped off precipitously in the last
few years.

My understanding is that CSY doesn't participate in the support revenues,
just system and software sales.  How can CSY survive (read: "thrive") if
the new system sales just aren't there.

For several years running, Amisys was the top reseller of 3000's followed
by SGA/Ecometry and, presumably, Summit.  Additionally, Amisys was the
application environment *most* pushing the top end of the 3000 product
line.  Well, Amisys is mostly dead, having gambled and lost on the
Amisys/Open product, and haven't done much new business for at least two
years now.

That being said, I am forced to ask, "Where are the new system sales going
to come from?".

I also sat in the room a few years ago when Harry Sterling committed to the
port of MPE to IA-64.  I also heard the furthering of that commitment by
others since.  Can there be a more uncomfortable "rock-and-hard-place"
scenario than the one Winston Prather has been in the last few years?  I
probably would have wanted to open a vein on more than one occasion, and
not necessarily mine.

Should the rumor prove to be true, I want to say that, while it would
sadden me, it wouldn't surprise me.  In fact, we had a meeting in the
company two years ago where we estimated the effective life of the 3000 to
be three to five years.  Anybody who would be surprised just simply hasn't
been paying attention or is too unwilling to admit that, in the final
analysis, market dynamics rule.

Lastly, I want to say publicly that, because of my love of the 3000, my
affection for the community and my trust of CSY, I fully intend to do
everything I can to make any potential migration as easy for customers AND
beneficial for HP as I possibly can.  It would be absolutely craven of me,
and others, to abandon HP when they are at this low ebb.  I refuse to do
that because, when all is said and done, any business comes down to the
people, and the people I know in this community, both within HP and
without, are worthy of my personal loyalty.


Bill

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