Precious little has been posted or said about HP's new Right To Use (RTU) for HP 3000 upgrades. The policy isn't retroactive — unless you're upgrading, the new license has nothing to do with a customer's 3000 ownership.

But judging by the reaction to an e-mail blast we sent out a few weeks back, not many of the 3000 customers have paid much attention to HP's reach into the 3000's tomorrow. Few of HP's 3000 policies have been based so clearly around the system's future. The RTU means nothing unless a customer upgrades a 3000 today — and this upgrading is still taking place in an era when HP has been advising customers to leave the platform for more than five years.

If the customer base continues to purchase 3000s, in spite of HP's advice, well, wouldn't those customers prickle at HP's involvement, or praise the vendor's pluck in staying connected to revenues for the server?

Yes, and yes. But the surprising lack of response might mean

1. 3000 customers are disconnected with the vendor after 2001's disappointment
2. So few upgrades are happening that the policy has little impact
3. Upgrade purchases flow through a part of a customer's firm where 3000 policy is a minor point. In other words, parts is parts. If we buy them, we own them.

All three might be true, so long as anyone was listening to us or to the vendor. At least a couple of observers had a comment for us, though.