I don't know, I "grew up" on the 3000, but sometimes I wonder if it's
time to move on.  It seems there is a great uncertainty hanging over the
whole HP3000 community regarding the future of the platform; heck, I
suppose it can be debated as to whether or not HP even knows what it wants
to do with it.

  There was a time when each OS, be it UNIX, MPE, VMS, WindowsNT, RTE,
VM/MVS, OS/400, each had a well defined niche.  I don't think this is any
longer the case; everyone wants to mix and match now.  Reliability is
increasing on all fronts across the board.

  I would strongly suggest to anyone looking at a big chunk-of-change
upgrade to take a look at their other options, and not just go MPE de
facto.  I mean, hey... even MPE/iX support for CM stuff is fading.  It may
be equally difficult to upgrade to MPE/iX than to move to UNIX (and yes,
UNIX isn't THAT bad anymore.  DEC OSF for example is VERY solid, and fast,
and I'm very impressed with their AlphaServer 8400's).  Sheesh, MPE/iX
almost IS UNIX, since everything is being POSIXized!

  My point:  I would find it very hard to plop down $100+ K on a platform
with an uncertain future.

My $0.02.

Dan Kosack