ScreenJet's Alan Yeo reports that the planned migration update meeting for HP 3000 customers in the UK gathered as hoped-for today. Several prior attempts by HP to corral 3000 managers to preach the migration mantra had failed in Europe, including at least one scheduled at a resort.

This year the European experts tackled the problem a different way. Rather than upgrade the venue, those with migration advice beefed up the speaker list with genuine experience. Acucorp hosted the meeting at an HP office in England, picking up much of the expense. Customers could report they were guests of Acucorp, makers of the most 3000-compatible COBOL for other platforms — and get in free.

The attendance shows much of the customer base in the 3000 world is still well short of migration success. (A serious share of customers have no plan to leave the platform at all, but that's a subject for another day.)

Platinum partners such as MB Foster, Speedware and other firms like Transoft, as well as the makers of their tools like Acucorp, Marxmeier and ScreenJet — they're all staying busier this year to get projects underway at many sites. Although it's already 2006, it's still early in the calendar for many HP 3000 owners who must migrate. Gathering them for a day's instruction on technique, rather than a gorgeous round of golf, seems to have worked better this summer.