Wirt wrote:

>The difference is that the ecosystem really did erode for the Betamax.
>Indeed, you haven't been able to buy commercially produced tapes for the
>machines for years now. In this environment, I was first astounded to hear
>that Sony was still manufacturing the devices and pleased to hear of Sony's
>announcement. I consider Sony's commitment to their product line to be
>everything they said it would be.

>But none of this was true for the HP3000. In contrast, it still has (or
>had) a very active and very loyal customer base who was very satisfied with
>its offerings... [snip]

Ah... the world according to Wirt :-)

As if comparing products in such different markets has any value. Besides,
I have some Sony products that were obsoleted within 1 year of their initial
sales as well as other hp (non hpe3k) products that have suffered a
similar fate.

This is YOUR opinion and not necessarily fact. More factual would be that
numerous ISVs have left the platform over the years and others still on the
box had let hp know they were leaving. But, then this is also my opinion :-)
And please don't speak for ALL HP e3000 customers. Not everyone believes
this box is worth the extra $$ hp attempts to wrangle out of the customer
for each purchase. hp didn't get to be 'higher priced' for nothing. And that
isn't a recent commentary :-)

If you want a difference then here it is:

Betamax was a superior technology to other offerings, but lost out anyway.

The HP e3000 was never a superior technology and lost out because other
choices exist (existed) that can be purchased that provide greater value
for less money.

Feel free to cast blame where you wish, but don't forget to give hp some
credit for the run this system has had. Few other computing platforms can
boast the same longevity.

And if an emulator can in fact be developed then many can continue running
their mpe applications well into the future. I'm sure this possibility is
very comforting to all those who are either afraid or unable to learn a
'different than mpe' computing environment.

duane 'gone porting' percox

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