Well Brian, as you can see, the hardware is the smallest part of the cost, and 
the OS is the brunt, so it is not the hardware vendors that are setting the 
market price, it's HP and Client Systems. Please shoot the right bad guy. 

20K for a 750x4, plus the cost of an RTU, is actually cheaper than what Client 
Systems is asking for the same config system. So with apples to apples, why 
does it matter whom you buy the system from? We can still supply the 
product - can HP? There were only so many of these e3000s built, systems 
are constantly falling off the radar, and yet a demand still exists. 

Also, when it comes time to resell your e3000 system, whom do you think is 
going to give you your best ROI, when Client Systems is offering between 1- 
3K on N class e3000s? Third party typically gives a much better return, since 
we have the channels to move products such as this. 

...and let me say this one more time: 

UNLICENSED SYSTEMS ARE NOT ILLEGAL TO USE JUST BECAUSE HP SAYS SO 

IBM tried this crap in the mid '80s and got smacked down by the US Supreme 
Court.  HP just hasn't had to go there... yet (re: Sherman Antitrust Act). 

Lastly, if you can run your business on a 917LX, why would you even consider 
upgrading to an N4000/e3000? Why would you go from tail end to leading edge 
and all the while complain about the cost? I'll bet you probably paid more than 
10K for your original 917LX. 

There are clients out there that would easily loose more than 10K per hour if 
their systems went down - and I have a few. For the clients that are still 
running large ventures on their 3000s, this is just the cost of doing business - 
always has been, always will be. 

Once again - we don't set the market value - we compete with it. HP and 
Client Systems set the market value - we just happen to have all the 
hardware, and they have all the RTUs.  Do you really think HP would have 
created the whole RTU system if there weren’t an e3000 hardware glut? 

So don't blame third party for the lost licenses and the increased costs. 

Blame SLT's shoddy business practices regarding non disclosure of SLT license 
information already kept on file, and HP's ever changing rules regarding these 
licensing issues. I think they have figured out that it's hard for us to find the 
baselines when the "officials" keep them moving. 

Can you imagine what this market would be like if we weren't here to get HP 
and Client Systems to toe the line?  Why do you think HP is talking about 
lowering the cost of RTUs? It sure isn't because of Client Systems - why 
would they - they have absolutely no motivation to lower e3000 pricing. 

So really - who is screwing whom? 



> Exactly -- that is why I have been wondering for the longest time now why 
> these third party vendors selling HP3000's are asking such ludicrous amounts 
> of money for them. 
> 
> Why would I give them 10K+ for a system when I especially don't even get 
> the license to go with it? 
>
> I'll keep my little worthless 917LX for a while to come........ 

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