You know, the first time I read your response I was debating whether to
simply ignore you or say "Screw you!"  For one thing, I have been on the
board only two years and before that I thought I did a fairly decent job as
a VOLUNTEER conference committee chairman.  So how you can qualify my
contributions to Interex as only marginal over the last five years is a
little beyond me.  I was not aware my contributions were being measured over
the last 5 years.

Then I decided to be civil and to answer your comments and others I saw.

You know, there is one thing about being a volunteer in such an organization
as Interex, it seems to be the same people who do the job over and over
again, although every once in a while, there is an infusion of new blood.
Other times, long-time volunteers just get tired and fade away.  On the
other hand, the general apathy and the gimme, gimme, gimme attitude is ever
present.

I ran for the board because I thought I could be effective on such a body
and it would be a new experience for me.  The last few years have been very
difficult for Interex and while this is changing, it has taken a toll on
people.  As you know, the past two HP World conferences have seen a
shrinkage in attendance.  While substantial, the HP World shrinkage is
nothing compared the one experienced by all other conferences.  I was just
at Comdex and that show is a mere shadow of itself.  (More on this show in
another post.)  Other conferences have been canceled or have seen 50-75%
shrinkage.  HP World only went down 25% this year.  Advertising revenue for
industry magazines has gone down all over the place; Interex has stayed
flat, actually showing signs of increasing.

Membership figures have been going down steadily over the last several years
despite the best efforts of intelligent, dedicated people to reverse the
trend or even to stem the flow.  It just seems that people do not see any
benefit in joining an organization of HP users, actually HP buyers and in
participating in the well being of the organization and coming up with new
creative ways of serving the membership, or supporting efforts to advocate
their position to HP and other vendors.

What you and some of the other pundits and critics are ignoring are some
simple facts.  HP World (and its earlier names) is the longest running
industry trade show in North America.  It was ranked in the top three a
couple years ago, now it should be #2.  Interex's worldwide advocacy survey
has been garnering a lot of attention and recognition within HP.  The SIB
and other advocacy vehicles have been very useful in getting HP to address
many issues that would never have been addressed otherwise.  The magazines
have maintained a high quality and have even improved over the years.  The
Hot News, a weekly e-mail compendium of all things HP, is excellent and
compares favorably with any other such news e-mail.  The web site keeps
getting better and more complete as time goes by.

Now, let me tell you about the volunteers and their work.  These volunteers
are few and far between but they do yeoman's work.  The SIB, the forums, the
conferences, the solutions symposium, the advocacy surveys and others that I
am forgetting because it's late, these are all accomplished with volunteers
and some professional staff.  I have forgotten how many hours and days I
have given freely to Interex and their users, but I can assure you that
contribution exceeds the ones from some volunteers and is dwarfed by the
contributions of other volunteers. Saying that my contributions over the
last five years have been marginal insults all volunteers.  Maybe I am
getting old and grumpy, but I resent this.

When one joins the board, the first thing one discovers and must abide by,
is the board speaks as one.  There is no showboating by board members about
their accomplishments on the board, everyone is the same and there is only
one voice.  This does not mean things are always lovey-dovey and rosy during
board meetings.  I am here to tell you, there are some interesting dilemmas
and challenges, which are resolved within board meetings or private emails.
What one board member accomplishes is never seen by the outside world.  It
is the whole board and by extension Interex, which accomplishes things. And
that is how it should be.  Board members set direction for and monitor the
performance of, the organization.  A large part of the direction is taken
from the members.  If the members do not speak up or participate only
passively, the board and by extension Interex, must then set the course to
the best of its ability.

(BTW, it is my opinion the HP Board of Directors should act the same way.
The current and coming fracas between various board members is NOT conducive
to the well being of the company.  If he thought the merger was a bad idea,
he should have spoken against it a long time ago instead of voting in favor
of it and then changing his mind, as was reported.)

So, if Interex does not do exactly what you and other pundits say it should
do, perhaps it's because you and they as members, are not making yourselves
heard.  Just remember this, Mr. Shawn Gordon, I have asked time and again
for people to make their grievances (if they must, everyone has a grievance
of some kind) or their comments and especially suggestions known.  I have
given the email address of the board where anyone can send messages, which
are read, I guarantee it.  ([log in to unmask]) There have been very, very
few messages sent to this address and none with your name on it.

For the record, we (the board and Interex) are well aware of the situation
regarding the HP e3000.  We have taken some steps and are planning some
things, which will be explained more fully next week.  FYI, there is a board
meeting this week starting on Thursday.  The issue is definitely on the
agenda and steps have already been proposed, by yours truly if that makes
you happy to know.  However, whatever comes out of the meeting will be from
the board and will be the direction for Interex.

In the meantime, if you feel that renewing or joining Interex will do
nothing to help the situation vis-à-vis the demise of the HP e3000, then you
are sadly mistaken.  Interex needs its members now more than ever, and the
MPE users need Interex now more than ever.  It's a win-win situation.

But just so there is no mistake, Interex represents all HP users, buyers.
That means the HP-UX, Net Servers and Linux folks as well as the MPE folks.

Good night,

Denys Beauchemin
Interex Board Member

-----Original Message-----
From: HP-3000 Systems Discussion [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of
Shawn Gordon
Sent: Monday, November 26, 2001 4:45 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Using HP e3000 for the NEXT 25 years.

On Monday 26 November 2001 02:33 pm, Denys Beauchemin wrote:
> An excellent question Mr. Clark.  Interex certainly can AND will play a
> part in whatever future is created for MPE.  Already the Interex web site
> has some announcements about this issue and there will be more
> announcements forthcoming, trust me on this (next week or week after.)
>
> In the meantime, let me once again urge every Interex member to renew
their
> membership when it comes due and for those of you who are not members, if
> there ever was a time to join Interex, it is now
>
Certainly not intending to downplay your significant contributions to that
organization over time, but they've been marginal over the last 5 years at
best, and I certainly don't see any reason to renew let alone join if you
aren't a member.  What is the logic?

>
> Kind regards,
>
> Denys. . .
>
> Denys Beauchemin

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