Duane Percox after Jeff Kell:
 
>I like the lengthy J.K. posts. They are very lucid
>and enlightening. Good stuff.
 
Me too....
 
>I think HP should take some of the money they
>are saving from unplugging their mainframes and
>pay Gavin to do a Java port to the 3000.
 
I'll definitely vote for that.....  Gavin, why don't you
send HP an unsolicited proposal;  then at HP
World we can ask HP if they have accepted it yet.
;-)
 
>I have other wishes as well, but I don't feel like
>beating those dead horses today.
 
So do I;  actually I would like to flog that horse a bit;
but I don't have time for too many strokes right now.
 
>>Enough rambling.  At HPWorld we need to make
>>a loud but constructive noise.
 
>Amen.
 
Yea, verily, say the faithful....
 
>I predict the following. HP is strategically phasing
>out the 3000 in favor of Unix on the high end and NT
>on the low-midrange. With overlap of course in the
>middle area. There is no other strategy to justify
>their decision making with regard to the 3000. This
>is one prediction I hope is dead wrong.
 
I share your hope.  And I don't think what you suggest
is a forgone conclusion.  But HP senior management
(i.e.:  above CSY) should take some positive action
soon if they want to resolve the uncertainty.  At just the
perception level a few words might go a long way;
for example:
 
When senior HP executives are talking and writing to
people outside the 3000 installed base and the press
about all the great computer products HP has, they
should at least be willing to say something like this
on a regular basis:
 
"With HP-UX and MPE/iX, HP has two best-in-class
operating systems for the next century, that run on a
common scaleable architecture and meet open
systems interconnectivity standards".
 
If they want to say something about NT on HP
NetServers, that's fine.  But HP as a corporation
needs to be willing to be seen and heard saying
the word "MPE/iX" in public, not just to us.
 
With respect to the future of UNIX, I would refer all
readers to what I thought was an *very* interesting
factoid in the 13 May 96 issue of ComputerWorld on
page 12, under the title  "WindowsNT invades Unix
space".  Quoting Sentry Market Research's 15th
software market survey:
 
"49 percent of the Fortune 500 said UNIX would play
a major role in their future strategy, down from 74
percent last year.  ..... undecided about Unix's place
in their company jumped from virtually nothing to 32
percent last year."
 
If those numbers are correct, that is a striking change
in just one year:  One-third of the Fortune 500 changed
their mind about UNIX;  or at least started to seriously
question the future of UNIX within their organization.
 
If that trend were to continue at the same rate for just
one more year, the Fortune 500 would be down to just
~33 percent saying UNIX would play a major role.  I
would think HP would be interested in being able to
address the needs of the other 67 percent.  We know
IBM will be there pushing the AS/400.....
 
Also in the same ComputerWorld article, quoting the
man leading the on-going effort to bring NASA's
40,000 computers into the NT environment:
 
"What real reason is there to stick with Unix other
than you've got a legacy system and you don't have
the money to replace it ?".
 
.......  Deja vu, all over again.....
 
Ken Sletten