My wife who did part of her PhD research on landfills would
probably disagree :)

I agree that the term "open systems" is vastly over-used and
can be defined 10 different ways by 10 different people.  The
whole thing boils down to using a system (hardware and software)
that does what you need it to do, when you need it to, at a price
that allows your business to be competitive.  Given those "parameters"
the HP3000 can easily compete against other systems if the
software is there for it.  The way I see it, nothing has really changed
in its 25 years.  If you have a good piece of software that runs on the
HP3000 that can be of benefit to a business, then you'll be able to sell
the HP3000.  If you have the same package that runs on NT for 1/4th
the price, then your customer has to decide if the premium price is
worth the premium hardware and OS.  In some cases the answer will
be no, others yes.  A good salesrep should be able to help them make
the appropriate decision for their business.

Regards,
Michael L Gueterman
Easy Does It Technologies
email: [log in to unmask]
http://www.editcorp.com
voice: (888) 858-EDIT -or- (509) 943-5108
fax:   (509) 946-1170
--
----------
From:  Melvin R Rees[SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
Sent:  Sunday, January 04, 1998 5:58 PM
To:  [log in to unmask]
Subject:  Re: [HP3000-L] The HP3000 and the New Year

<snip>

>systems" is an oxy-moron.  The only true "open system" is the town
>dump.  Now, there is a process that can accept any input, store it for
>an indefinite amount of time and gives complete access to all levels
>of society.  Everything else is just a platform on which to build

<snip>