Ken Sletten <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>Denys after Alfredo after Ron:
>
>>I agree with you that the HP 3000 is super-stable,
>>unfortunately it does not have a GUI-based office suite
>>that people can use.  So they use a Windows based PC.
>
>and:
>
>>In the current issue of ENT magazine, the cover story talks
>>about IBM adding a PC on a card inside the AS/400 which
>>will run Windows NT and will have access to all the devices
>>on the AS/400.
>
>>Interesting.
>
>>OK folks, on with the snide remarks.

Why snide remarks?  This is a wonderful idea.


>No snide remarks from me.  People are never going to be
>able to run the Microsoft Office suite directly under MPE;
>NOR IN MOST CASES WOULD WE WANT THEM TO,
>EVEN IF IT WERE POSSIBLE.  But a huge number of
>end users will indeed want and need to run Office & etc.
>What we need is max MPE & NT / Win95 interoperability.

Absolutely.  I have in my hands a paper I wrote in 1992 (wow, FIVE years
ago, when NT was known as "Not There"...  How things change in five years,
given enough work, will power, and commitment on the part of Microsoft).
Let me quote myself from page 3 of that paper, entitled "Object-oriented
methodology: The Adager instance",

        There are two camps in the standards battlefield.
        Some people want to standardize COMPONENTS while
        other people, more realistically, want to standardize
        INTERFACES.

        Sometimes, "the best component" -- according to a
        given set of someone else's criteria -- is not
        necessarily the most APPROPRIATE under a given set
        of circumstances for you.

        In any case, you want to be able to communicate with
        ANY component by means of a suitable collection of
        STANDARD-INTERFACE messages.


><blue-sky alert on>
>
>Be able to run one or more processors running MPE and
>one or more IA-64 processors running NT Server in the
>same 9X9 or follow-on box.  I'm assuming it's a given that
>MPE and HP-UX are going to continue to share a ~ 90+ %
>common core hardware base.  Since HP-UX is going to run
>on IA-64, IA-64 processor cards will be running in HP mini
>boxes....  So it shouldn't be too much of a stretch to get
>NT running on IA-64 in HP mini boxes....         ;-)
>
>Anyway, if we could eventually do the above and share
>MPE and NT resources with Samba/iX & etc., then MPE
>and NT could communicate internally on the high-speed
>system buss, instead of having to go through an external
>10-Mbit LAN.  Even with a 100-Mbit LAN, having both MPE
>and NT Server inside the same box but on separate CPU's
>would seem to offer several technical and operational
>advantages...  Of course in that scenario MPE and NT
>would also have to avoid stepping on each other....
>
>/<blue sky>

Right on, Ken.  This would be the ultimate in terms of having "the best
possible component" for a given task.

- For instance, an HP3000 being the reliable database server of
  choice, communicating with the best possible components for
  another task:

- For instance, one of the machines that Denys proposes, with
  "a GUI-based office suite that people can use.  So they use a
  Windows based PC."

By having them separated, the Windows-based PCs (or NT-based desktops) can
crash all they want, hopefully without affecting the HP3000 server.

This is not only blue sky, Ken.  It is something that MUST be done.


>Theory:  Regardless of how un-ready for multi-user mission-
>critical prime time NT Server might be right now, Microsoft
>will keep making it better.  It will "catch" UNIX before it
>"catches" MPE (or at least it will get close enough to UNIX
>that the technical difference won't be a deciding factor);

This is a safe bet.  Microsoft WILL work as hard as humanly possible to
improve their products.  They will NEVER just sit on their butts waiting
for something "to happen".  They MAKE things happen.


>PROVIDING of course that HP continues to put enough
>R&D resources into MPE... Which will have to be a subject
>for another day....

I am very encouraged by HP's proactive attitude nowadays.

 _______________
|               |
|               |
|            r  |  Alfredo                     [log in to unmask]
|          e    |                           http://www.adager.com
|        g      |  F. Alfredo Rego               Tel 208 726-9100
|      a        |  Manager, R & D Labs           Fax 208 726-2822
|    d          |  Adager Corporation
|  A            |  Sun Valley, Idaho 83353-3000            U.S.A.
|               |
|_______________|


                                                                .