License means HP never cares to say goodbye
March 8, 2007
Many members of the HP 3000 community assume that HP won't have much to say about their computer's use, sale or transfer once HP exits the market.
But those members would be wrong. HP considers its intellectual property — the MPE/iX software that's is as essential as an engine in an auto — to have license terms which extend in perpetuity. That's forever, until HP says otherwise.
HP's Jennie Hou — an HP 3000 R&D project manager with focus on the customers, partners, and business — confirmed the tenure of HP's ties to 3000 customers in a brief e-mail. Hou explained the new Right To Use 3000 license (RTU) recently in our February print issue, as well as on the pages of this newsblog.
Earlier this week, Hou told us
All HP Intellectual Property licensing requirements must be observed beyond End-Of-Life. As part of the HP e3000 post-2008 planning, we are evaluating how to provide RTU licensing continuity beyond 2008.
The impact of HP's interpretation of your MPE/iX license? Like Diana Ross sang, the vendor "never cares to say goodbye." One way to ensure a never-ending relationship? Put a third party in charge of those licenses. Enter OpenMPE, perhaps? 3000 customers will have wait, but not too much longer, to learn how HP's ties will bind, and who might do the binding.