A dedicated band of 3000 community members enjoyed a long lunch together in the Bay Area in lieu of the cancelled HP World conference

They came from across the highway, across the country, across the ocean. HP 3000 users have been travelling to summer conferences for more than 25 years. The community has a habit of gathering in person, so not even the sudden cancellation of HP World could prevent a dedicated group of partners and customers from finding each other in Burlingame for a five-hour lunch. Kuleto's Trattoria, a half-hour south of San Francisco and north of Silicon Valley, was the setting for what may become an annual event. Hosted by a trio of HP 3000 vendors, the lunch offered what some hoped would not be the last chance to commune in person. Laughter rose in a charming wine cellar all afternoon, glasses lifted along with the spririts of community.

Thanks to the pluck and resource of Screenjet, Marxmeier Software and QSS, the community that came to San Franciso anyway had a few hours to share stories, exchange new rumors, and reach out to one another. These were old friends, met once again, and new acquaintances added to a network. In the wake of the collapse of Interex, which had prompted so many meetings in the past, we were proving that the essential element in "users group" was users, rather than group.