This is one of the most difficult letters I have ever had to compose.  It's
also rather long, for which I apologize in advance.

This will be my last posting to comp.sys.hp.mpe aka 3000-L.  I am leaving
(have already left) CSY and MPE development to work on backporting HP-UX
fixes and patches to earlier HP-UX releases, as part of OSSD's Customer
Satisfaction program.  The details come later.  First some history.

I have spent almost the last 20 years (two months short) developing and
supporting pieces of the MPE operating system.  Before that, I was a user,
writing a personal cataloging program in that new-fangled SPL language
for my music collection.

I watched the original designers put together the first HP3000.  I was there
on November 1, 1972, the "November is a happening" day, the day HP shipped
the first HP3000.  I was there the following March 20, when Dave Packard sent
his famous memo.  I still have a last-generation copy of that memo:
   I have looked over some of the Model 3000 literature.  I hope you will
   impress upon all hands that we are not to publish any literature in the
   future until and unless we have actually demonstrated that we can do
   what we say we can do.

For the last fifteen years, I have supported the MPE spooler and (to a
lesser extent) non-sharable device management.  I took over the MPE4 spooler
as we were putting the finishing touches on CIPER printer support.  I super-
vised its 8-bit to 16-bit transition for MPE V/E, as well as that for several
device management table and code modules.  I like to think I was the driving
force that eventually resulted in the development of the Native Mode spooler
on MPE/XL, although that would never have come to pass without the contribu-
tion of many other engineers, often far more talented than I.

Three years ago we began the investigation for what would be my last major
MPE spooling enhancement, the network printing spooler.  I was privileged
to work with Steve Bitondo, Mike Belshe, and later on, Eero Laurila, three
of the sharpest (and friendliest) engineers I have ever met.  I'm grateful
to them for putting up with my networking naivete and for teaching me a lot
about the networking environment.  The result of our efforts was shipped
with Release 5.5 of MPE.

While all of this was happening, ongoing spooler support was transferring
to our CSY lab partners in Bangalore, India, as were other areas of MPE.
CSY as a division was looking at other projects for the Cupertino engineers
freed up by these transfers.

One of these was a partnership with one of the OSSD (HP-UX) projects to
port HP-UX fixes and patches from releases that had them to releases that
did not yet have them.  It was funded by OSSD but staffed and managed in CSY,
and I found myself in that partnership starting about a year ago.

Earlier this year, Harry Sterling and his staff decided that the business
of CSY was the HP3000 and MPE (a good decision, IMHO).  So he decided to shed
the partnership project (as well as several other non-MPE projects that had
also sprung up in CSY) and focus the resources of the division on the HP3000.
As a result, my project (and I with it) are now officially a part of OSSD.
BTW, Pam Bennett, my former project manager, continues with CSY; only the
project staff has moved to OSSD.

The physical move is small (from 47 upper to 47 lower), but the emotional
change is enormous.  It's very difficult to turn one's back on a 20-year
relationship, especially one as intellectually stimulating and satisfying as
this one.  But times change, and I feel I personally cannot move forward in
the new environment with one foot in the past.  That is why I will no longer
post to comp.sys.hp.mpe/3000-L nor lurk on it.  Once I get used to the new
environment, look for me on comp.sys.hp.hpux.

I will miss you all, whether on this list, at IPROF, or at HPWORLD.  But I
know I have left the MPE/iX spooling environment in good hands at CSY
Bangalore.  The engineers lurk on this list, and I hope they will eventually
be comfortable enough to participate in the discussions that take place here.
For now, they have asked that I not identify them, and I will honor that
request.  Please give them your help and your support.

Some wise philosopher said that for every door that closes behind you, a new
one opens ahead.  I know that was how it was in 1977 when I came to General
Systems Division (CSY's name at the time).  With all the changes in the world
and at HP over the last 20 years, I am hoping that it still holds.

To finish the subject line:  "Here's hoping we meet now and then."

Best wishes to everyone.

-Larry "MPE/iX Spoolers 'R' Them" Byler-
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