"Wirt Atmar" <[log in to unmask]> reports the death sentence:

> The rumor is true, as well as the "confirmation" this morning by whoever
that
> was that heard it from someone inside HP. Everyone seemed to shut him down
> because they don't know who he is. That's why I'm letting you know. If you
> were to say you heard it from inside HP, people will believe.
>
> 10/31/2003 - End of sales
> 12/31/2006 - End of support.

But then gives a ray of hope:

> If the MPE cause is taken over by an organization external to HP, neither
of
> those conditions would remain barriers. Hardware prices could drop to 20%
of
> their current levels, at absolutely no cost in increased unreliability,
and
> MPE could be opened up to run on a wide variety of hardware platforms.
>
> I don't believe this is necessarily the end. In fact, it may be just the
> opposite. In some ways, this may be the best thing that could happen to
MPE.
> While HP, beginning next Wednesday, will undoubtedly promote all sorts of
> propositions to "migrate" you to other HP-supported platforms, away from
MPE,
> for most MPE users, there really is no such thing as a practical migration
> process. It will simply be a complete restart. The best thing that could
> happen for all of us would be to migrate MPE somewhere else, in a
completely
> open fashion, so that you could buy your hardware from Dell or IBM or
whoever
> you cared to purchase it from, at commodity prices, and have you run your
> business uninterrupted without having to engage in an extremely expensive
and
> disruptive "migration" process.
>
> There may actually be a brighter future for MPE in the coming days than if
HP
> had continued to support the operating system and returned the deep sense
of
> faith and loyalty that the customers have given HP.

Well, HP has finally gone and done it now, haven't they?  If they think the
Boston Tea Party was a rude awakening, they ain't seen nothing yet.

I don't about the rest of you, but I will do my best to see that HP doesn't
get anymore of my (okay, my company's) money.  I mean no more HP inkjet or
laser printers (which means no more inkjet or toner cartridges), I'll never
buy another NetServer (we have three now), no HP PC's, no more HP nothin'.

There should be a special hell for managers like the ones who have ruined
HP.

As for MPE on other platforms, I say go for it.  Maybe we should start a
funding project (like the WSJ ad) to open up a non-profit organization to
oversee the port/reverse engineering of MPE?

LONG LIVE MPE!

Jim Phillips                            Therm-O-Link, Inc.
MIS Manager                        1295 Henry Brennan
Voice: 915-860-9933             El Paso, Texas
Fax: 915-860-9936                 79936
Email: [log in to unmask]
Web: www.tolwire.com

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