Everything told is retold again
February 14, 2007
This year of 2007 marks the 36th one in which HP 3000s booted up and ran. Even allowing for the 3000's false start of 1972-74, we count well over three decades of IT utility for businesses. Despite all fo that progress, there's still room for the vendor of your system to return to issues we thought were long behind us.
A good friend at a renowned third party firm commented on the Right To Use retelling of HP's MPE/iX terms. "It's interesting how topics that one believed were lost in the past become current again," he said. I could almost see the knowing smile cross his lips while saying it.
Third party companies have often shifted the fortunes of HP's 3000 business. Those independent firms will continue to add value in HP's blind spots, as well as prompt the vendor to view another version of HP's closing 3000 chapters.
HP is carpeted with red tape these days, so it would be a mistake to think the company just whipped out a new Right To Use License on a lark. For starters, somebody at the virtual CSY division had to explain to higher ups why this HP 3000 product line, which was supposed to be on the wane now, needed a new line in the HP Corporate Price List. Then there are the terms and conditions to hammer out. It took HP months to draw this one up.
The vendor is also looking toward an authorized reseller network for the first time in more than two years. In North America, that is Client Systems and its remarketed system operation, Phoenix 3000. Overseas, a raft of country-specific companies make up the HP authorized e3000 network. Until this week, they had precious little to sell.