-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Phillips <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Monday, August 04, 1997 9:38 PM
Subject: Re: One Wonders Why This Keeps Happening

>The short answer/question: What can we do about HP?  We have talked and
>screamed and cajoled and cried and tried everything short of an LBO and
>what have we got to show for it?  Some trifles thrown our way to keep
>the children quiet.  No great commitment to MPE.  No great commitment
>to Image.  HP seems bent on working hand-in-hand with The Great Satan
>(AKA Bill Gates) and I predict that we will see the demise of the
>HP3000 soon (like within 5 years).  Well, at the very least, HP will
>cease selling new HP3000's and will be selling conversion services to
>move all the HP3000 people to NT boxes.  Not a pretty picture.
>Fortunately for those of us who make their living on HP3000's, the
>secondary market will remain strong for some time; but let's face
>facts here:  HP has a superior product and refuses to market it.  And
>nothing will kill a product quicker than bad marketing unless it's
>no marketing.  HP would rather "go with the flow" and whatever the
>Latest Thing is.  It's probably a lot easier for their marketing folks:
>Just see what MicroSoft is doing today and mimic that.

It's funny, that I just read a story in Information Week about how the AS400
was not marketed well...and that the machine is now being "made over" to
serve the E-Commerce market (read:  web-enabled applications which can carry
on financial transactions in a secure environment)

Well - guess what the 3000 can do?  All it needs is a SECURE web server (the
AS400 will have Domino bundled in as part of the OS).  In talking to some
friends who work in higher levels for this rival company, the AS400 will be
marketed to the internet market, to perform E-Commerce in financial markets
such as banking and securities, as well as mail order and other areas where
financial transactions take place...

...and to quote these good friends:  "We're taking no prisoners"

Looks like there's going to be a lot to talk about in Chicago...

The 3000 can do it (hell, I've done it, already).  It can be done today with
NT, SSL and ODBC, but there are many people who don't want NT...so I guess
there's really going to be a lot to talk about in Chicago.

(And if you want your US$0.02 put in, there's SIGWeb for the Web
technologies, as well as SIGImage - for databases, SIGJava for Java-related
discussion, and of course, the Management Roundtable, where we heard about
that "advertising budget" last year).

'Nuf Said.  'Nuf Talk.

See ya all in Chicago...

Joe
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Joe Geiser - CSI Business Solutions, LLC
140 Bristol-Oxford Valley Road, Suite 102
Langhorne, PA  19047-3083, USA
Phone: (215) 945-8100     Fax: (215) 943-8408
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