Earning a select place on a best-of list
October 7, 2008
The 3000 NewsWire was born only because of a heavy-lifting partner. Even though our readers hear from me all the time, the spark of birth for our news service arrived from Abby Lentz, my partner in business and life. Thirteen years ago this month she nudged out oiur first paper issue, a venture some said would never survive. She believed even before I did. Today she earned a place in a best-of list of health providers. Her new career, along with the continuting advice from a publisher's chair, is teaching yoga to the overweight and obese. HeavyWeight Yoga, she calls it, a practice that Fitness magazine honored today in its first list of Fit 50 for 2008. She's even got a DVD to spread her practice.
Abby has been working toward her goal since HP announced its 3000 exit strategy. Stubborn and steady folks that we are, neither of us have abandoned this community, even when it looked to experts like it was a dubious decision to remain. Instead, we both got to work in leveraging what the 3000 and publishing had taught us, creating new acts for the long-running show of 3000 support and communication with community.
What we're doing here is adding rather than turning to something new, the same strategy which IBM has followed for its midrange, SMB solution the Series i (AS/400). Many of the contacts we encounter in your community have added to their skill sets and business since 2001, but remain devoted to the HP 3000. Just this week we talked with John Stephens, whose Take Care of IT is a one-man support company serving HP 3000 sites in manufacturing and healthcare. Stephens does MCSE Windows consulting, too, but it succeeds because of experience from more than 25 years of 3000 IT work.
Health choices which support special communities can be noble work, or feel isolated, or as steady as the Maytag repairman (who rarely had a crisis to solve, so reliable was his product). Whether it's supporting MPE/iX when nobody else in your metro area can do so, or putting the benefits of yoga out to a populace that doesn't look like human pretzels, specializing can be rewarding. 3000 support companies tell us that's so, especially with HP leaving the customer base this year.
I'm proud of what Abby has accomplished over more than four years of study and work, getting her message out there in much the same way we both have assured your community that the 3000's end is only as near as you desire. When you take up what seems like foolish case-work, only to learn that your community is hungry for something they can't find anyplace else, the effect is like finding lost money while cleaning the house.
The HP 3000 is just as unique as HeavyWeight Yoga or the infinite future of IBM's SMB offerings. It's not for everyone, but for a customer of a certain size, this system delivers the benefits of business in a way nothing else quite can: though integration, value retention and a mature, stable environment and community.
Be proud of yourself for stretching your investment of the 3000 across a mat that many say you can't reach with this elegant architecture. Abby says Awareness, Acceptance and Affection form the core of HeavyWeight Yoga. Being aware of how to sustain a system, accept that nothing lasts forever, and express the affection for lasting value, can be the credo to carry you into the next decade.