Windows 7 hosts MPE/iX admin software

GUI stands for Graphical User Interface, a concept that's become so mainstream it's simply called UI. But in the days when graphical was a novel concept a software product delivered GUI to 3000 system managers and admins. The software developed by GUI innovations and Pete Vickers 15 years ago is GUI3000 and it is still selling today. The latest Windows can host this product that streamlines the management of multiple HP 3000s using the familiar Explorer Interface.

Gainsborough Software has distributed GUI3000 ever since the product was first released in 1997. Peter Griffiths of Gainsborough said the software has been updated to follow the Windows upgrade path.

"We are still selling the product and it works fine on Windows 7," Griffiths said. "It is also a great tool to have for migration of data from IMAGE, KSAM or MPE files to a range of open system formats including SQL, Excel or comma-delimited."

Back when GUI3000 was supporting Windows 95 and 98, our reviewer John Burke said the software evades a simple summary of its features. "GUI3000 is so feature-rich that no single phrase can adequately describe it. GUI3000 is not just a toolbox, but a collection of toolboxes, each with specialized tools for different tasks,  all with a common interface," he said. Other HP 3000 Windows solutions reach across to non-3000 management, too.

Windows is a standard interface for such HP 3000 management tasks. We're not talking a terminal emulator on a PC here, but a native Windows app reaching into MPE/iX administration and workflows.

Another example of a Windows interface on 3000 management comes from Hillary Software's byRequest. And while you may not think you need faxing capability, some US government agencies will accept no email. (The Social Security Administration remains email-free, to complicate businesses' reporting.) Working in a window in byRequest, report or data files, as well as business forms, can be securely selected, formatted and distributed in PDF, Word, Excel or HTML formats. That delivery can send files to PCs, wide or local area networks and network folders, server archives or emailed through the Internet.

While companies plan to hang on to the production HP 3000s for awhile longer -- considering the prospect of this year's 3000 emulator as a stop-gap -- they have the opportunity to make their server more friendly to administrators. Some of these IT pros have never managed a 3000 because they've inherited the system from a 3000-savvy admin. Windows-based tools reduce the admin learning curve and improve productivity. In the case of byRequest, the UI flexibility can be carried to nearly any business server environment once the 3000 has been migrated. Hillary sells this Windows-plus server product with an Enterprise License to supports multiple machines, operating systems or software applications such as MANMAN -- or a MANMAN successor app such as SAP.