>From: Alfredo Rego:
>
>Important issues for us at MPE-land:
>
>(s) Storage
>
>From my (admittedly narrow) perspective of MPE as viewed through
>database-colored glasses, I consider the "HP3000 package" (composed by the
>HP3000 hardware, the MPE operating system and the IMAGE/SQL database
>management system) as a huge repository of bits.  While these bits are in
>the HP3000's custody, they must be kept safe, private, and consistent.
>THIS is where the HP3000 excels.
 
DFS can distribute them globally.  In a global secure and manageable manner.
 
>(i) Input
>
>Bits COME IN through a variety of means (people typing away at dumb
>terminals, or PCs, or Macs, or Unix workstations; barcode readers; batch
>input from other computer platforms; and so on).
>
 
And don't come in by way of open standard protocols.  No surprise the 3k is
not known on the Internet.
 
 
>(o) Output
>
>Bits get REPORTED to people (or to other machines) so they can make
>decisions based on the states of those bits.  These reports range from
>old-fashioned reams of line-printer paper to pretty colorful PostScript
>pages, from ASCII-only dumb terminals to fancy GUIs on Macs, PCs or Unix
>workstations.  Let's not forget batch transmissions to other computer
>platforms.
>
 
Same arg as Input.
 
>(c) Connectivity
>
>These comings and goings of bits happen through serial connections, through
>Ethernet connections, through TCP/IP connections, or through a combination
>of these (and other) protocols.
>
>
 
To borrow President Clinton's 1992 campaign 3 second sound byte, "It's the
economy stupid" - replace "economy" with "protocols".
 
Alfredo simply described a generic computer system.  Just as any business
knows if you can get a solution done faster, cheaper, better than the next
guy AND CAN DELIVER IT,  you are a winner.
 
The critical part in today's computer environment is the interfaces and
delivery methods.
 
If you tell the customer that only "Bits'R'us" can deliver your "bits"
because you have this partnership with "Bits'R'us" glued with proprietary
protocol - but the customer wants to use "Bustin'my'bits" or a guy on a
bicycle with a tape, where does that leave the customer?
 
If the customer wants your service bad enough (because it is so superior to
the competition) they pay for "Bits'R'us".  But they are not happy when:
 
1) Your once superior advantage is now commonplace or behind
2) You still insist on "Bits'R'us" when they can get a better deal with
"bustin'my'bits" or "dazzle'my'bits".
 
If you want customers, you must remove entry barriers.  The ultimate
examples of removing barriers is free Internet software (netscape clients
and free Adobe PDF readers) and hag on to the things you can control - like
the servers and the Adobe editor. And standard interfaces, like VT100 Telnet
protocol clients - and now WWW.
 
NS/open is another example of barrier removal (but just a nudge).
 
This is yet still another aspect of the whole picture.  It doesn't address
the eroding advantages of owning a 3k.  I still like my VOS (Virtual
Operating System) idea, but only Mr. Hewlett  or  Mr. Packard can call that one.
 
Radical Change for sure.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Eric J. Schubert                    Senior Data Base Analyst
Office of Information Technologies  Univ of Notre Dame, IN USA
(219) 631-7306                      http://www.nd.edu/~eschuber
 
"As you watch the Internet - the Internet watches you"