On Monday, April 12, 1999 10:18, Cynthia Fowler [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
wrote,

> Well put, Glenn! I think we need to toot our own horns, not
> just on this
> list, but out in the real world. I just hope some of the
> major software vendors
> that lurk here get the message that the HP3000 is a platform
> with a future...
> I'm really tired of hearing about the ones that abandon it.
> It's one of the main
> reasons why I left my last employer....they are moving to NT
> because the
> 3rd party software vendor that provides their major
> application is abandoning
> the HP3000...rewriting their entire suite of products to make
> use of CORBA/
> ORB. Vendors need to wake up.

I'm in agreement with Cynthia and Glenn, and everyone else.  I have nothing
to add in regard to what was written as to the virtues of the HP3000 and
MPE.

I do want to add this though, and please allow me to go out on a limb here
-- how do we go about getting other third party app developers to port over?
We need to get some press about the 3000 in the mainstream press.  (Yes,
this was said).  How do we do that?

Also, how do we stop preaching to the darned choir, and get to the
mainstream?

Sounds like a variation on the Boston Tea Party -- but not "Interex '81"
style though,  very much the "grass-roots" variation.

What we need is for all of us who get the trade rags (not the 3000/NewsWire
or Interex pubs - that's preaching to the choir) - but those like InfoWorld,
ComputerWorld, Datamation, and especially Information Week, (feel free to
name a few others) -- get those LETTERS TO THE EDITOR going.  Think of this
as one big writing campaign.

Submit a manuscript -- one never knows, it could get published.  Most all of
the free publications will take unsolicited manuscripts, and do publish
those that are well-written and prove a point.

It helps if you're a subscriber too.  If you subscribe to Information Week -
write to the Editor, cc: the Publisher.  If you subscribe to InfoWorld, do
the same!  Same goes for ComputerWorld.  Show the MAINSTREAM press that
there is a definate following.  Open the floodgates :)

But... that leads back to "what apps do we have?"

Well... One of the best Health Insurance software products - RUNS ON MPE!
One of the biggest Mail Order products - RUNS ON MPE!  Several of the
premier Manufacturing Products - RUNS ON MPE!  Several Distribution products
- RUNS ON MPE!  Look at the vertical markets that HP's defined - it RUNS ON
MPE!  Airline Reservations (OpenSkies) - hell, a British Airways subsidiary
uses them!  Schools - there's several products out there for Schools - from
Administration to Recordkeeping!  The most robust database (domcumented ad
nauseum by virtually any measure that counts) with the least amount of
overhead (and best damned adminstration tools in the industry) - RUNS ON
MPE!  What you write or purchase today - WILL RUN ON MPE TODAY, AND YEARS
FROM NOW - WITHOUT CHANGE OR RECOMPILE (and has been this way since MPE/C!)

It runs APACHE, it runs SENDMAIL, it runs BIND, it runs SAMBA, it's more
POSIX COMPLIANT than most Unix boxes and other proprietary operating
systems.  It has the easiest user interface than any other operating system.
It's cost of ownership is lower than virtually any other system.  Ever have
a data center where one can hire just two operators for 7-by-24 operation?
You can with MPE!

It slices, It dices, It makes julinene  <SLAP!>  Sorry...

<whew>

I'll be looking for my next issues of Information Week and InfoWorld (gotta
get the addresses :).  I'll write my Letter to the Editor -- maybe even cc:
the list.  Let's see if we can get others to do the same.  Maybe if we all
use the subject line: EXTOLLING THE VIRTUES OF MPE, we can gather them up
under one thread and present them in a package to Harry as a present :)
There's a lot of list subscribers here on HP3000-L, and even more on
comp.sys.hp.mpe -- let's pull together and start writing - email or snail
mail - but let's start writing.  It's the only way to get the word out.

OK - the speech is over.  The call to action has been made.  Let's all stop
bellyaching (which it seems we do here, whenever someone raises this issue)
about the damned issue, and do something about it!  In otherwords, as my
momma used to say "Quitcherbitchin and do somethin' about it!"

CSY can't do any of this, because as Glenn pointed out - it would be CSY
blowing their own horn again.  It's up to the user base to do it.  (It's up
to CSY to get their advertising up to the calibre of the others, especially
Big Blue's.  "Orange was a good start" -- now watch their e-commerce ads,
their other ads, and get the ad agencies to come up with something with as
much chutzpah as the guys in Armonk seem to have.  Their boxes stink (IMHO),
but their ads are great!

Regards,
Joe

====================================================
Joe Geiser, President and Senior Partner
CSI Business Solutions, LLC
Phone: +1(215) 945.8100   Fax: +1(215) 943.8408
Toll Free (US/Canada): (877) 945.8100
====================================================