After spending half-an-hour composing a message about yesterday for the 3000-L,
I was just telling about Jeff Kell and Stan Sieler's election when I got the
infamous "NO CARRIER", so I gave up and went to bed.  This is a quick try at
getting a little of that information out now--I'll try to get more out later.
First, though, thanks to Ron for the kind words and for his excellent
reporting.

One thing which I had intended to mention regarding Harry Sterling's talk was
that he was wearing one of the famous "MPE Forever" pins :-).  Yesterday, when
he sat down next to me at the 3000-L lunch <*gulp*> he was wearing one as well,
and in the conversation, he mentioned that CSY had produced duplicates for this
year's conference.  He denied, however, any knowledge of the creation of the
originals, which is, at least to the folks with whom I have spoken, still a
mystery.

In other news, yesterday was SIGSYSMAN and SIGMPE.  SIG SYSMAN has changed
leadership, with Donna Garverick capably taking the reins.  The majority of
the session was spent discussing HP's new training offerings for MPE.  They
have created all-new classes:
  New Features and Functions of MPE/iX 6.0
  MPE Fundementals
  MPE Network Administration
  MPE System Management
  IMAGE Databases I:  TurboIMAGE and IMAGE/SQL
  IMAGE Databases II: Client-server Access to IMAGE/SQL

These are available at the HP training centers.  SIGSYSMAN (and later SIGMPE)
sent fairly clear word back that these were excellent as far as they went
(Thank you HP!) but that the needs were greater yet.  The major overall
needs are:
  1) New shops which have just aquired their first 3000(s) and need entry-
     level training
  2) Shops which have experienced folks who need to broaden or deepen their
     knowledge.

It was also fairly clear that while the training in the training centers was
fine for some situations, there was need for
  a) On-site training (or at least locally via the RUGs)
  b) Instructor-led web-based training
  c) Self-paced (CBT) web-based training
  d) Computer-based training via CDROM
  e) Video tapes

There was also some discussion of certification programs for various levels
(operator, programmer, manager, etc.)

Anywho.  I'm off to learn about Data Warehousing and will report more later.

Ted
--
Ted Ashton ([log in to unmask]), Info Serv, Southern Adventist University
          ==========================================================
Nature uses as little as possible of anything.
                        -- Kepler, Johannes (1571-1630)