Stan Sieler wrote:
.
> (ok, more accurately: HP hasn't appeared to be willing to consider it.).....
> My feeling is that if MPE is going to be on future 9000/8xx hardware,
> you *must* start leveraging drivers ... and this is the best opportunity
> to start doing that!
> The real roadblock that HP puts into the way of wouldbe developers is the high
cost of development tools for the MPE/iX machines, and for that matter the HP-UX
boxes.  Most serious and many not so serious developers for the HP3000 can get
their hands on reasonably priced used hardware.  It's the software licences that
kill these guys stone dead before they can start.
 
A venture capitalist that I deal with says that for every ten deals that he
finally invests in, seven go south, two pay their way and one takes off like a
rocket and makes the other nine worth the effort and expense.  Just what is HP
sacrificing by "GIVING" single user developement licences to software
developers.  Do they truly see third party software as "competition" rather than
as a marketing leverage tool?
 
HP already has spent the money of developing the tools. For God's sake they need
these tools themselves, whether they sold them or not they would have to have
them for their own products.. They don't really market them. Just what are they
proving by making it so difficult and expensive for independent developers to
get and use them.
 
I look around and I see the explosive growth of productivity products and aids
for systems like WinNT and Win95 and the ridiculiously low prices for
development tools for these platforms. Then I talk to a veteran developer for HP
platforms and listen to his stories of HP trying to get a startup to pay
$5000.00-$10000.00 for a compilier and then charging $600.00 to $1000.00 per
year for "maintenance" costs (anyone out there remember 'Business BASIC'?).  If
you want people to use your product you have to make developing for it as cheap,
and as attractive as possible.
 
To put this in perspective, I pay HP $52.00 per month to 'support' (basic line)
just COBOL/V on an MPE/iX box.  That is a little more than $600.00 per year. For
about the same price I get the Microsoft Developers Kit, with all their
operating systems, in all national languages, and all their documentation, and
all their SDK's and DDK's, and a number of other goodies including ten prepaid
support calls on anything under the sun.  VB4.0 pro set me back all of $149.00
(mainly because I was too lazy to send in the $20.00 off coupon) and I have to
admit that I haven't bothered to upgrade my VC++ package yet (another $200.00 if
I decide to do it).
 
HP has a right to do what it likes.  I don't own stock and I neither benefit nor
suffer from HP's decision not to whole heartedly support their developer base.
I do think that the attitude that third party developers are simply not
important in determining the viablity of an OS is either incredibly short
sighted or frightenly plain in its implications for MPE/iX.
 
 
--
James B. Byrne                 mailto:[log in to unmask]
Harte & Lyne Limited           http://www.harte-lyne.ca
Hamilton, Ontario              905-561-1241