In <[log in to unmask]> [log in to unmask] writes:

> If HP has abandoned BASIC, it would be an extraordinary gift to the MPE
> user community to make it and SPL legal freeware. It would probably have
> to be on the terms that "you find your own manuals and don't call us",
> but in today's environment where information can be so easily and so
> cheaply distributed, that should not be much of a problem.

Now *there's* an excellent suggestion. It certainly doesn't hurt anything
at this point to make it freeware, and fits in well with the wealth of other
freeware (samba/bind/java/apache/etc) that are becoming available on the
platform (almost all without "official" support or significant official/$
investments from HP).

I started out in Basic and SPL on the 3000 and still find both useful. Most
of our product code began life in SPL in fact (though it's all SPLash!ed
now). Even on RISC machines, SPL and BASIC both can be very useful.

Wouldn't that be a nice headline announcement for HP to make at Chicago???
Something that HP alone can take credit for. :-)

And it adds just a little fuel to 3000 platform's viability.

  How about it HP???

       -Chris Bartram
        3k Associates, Inc.