The 3000 homesteader probably misses the System Improvement Ballot, a way to petition HP for improvements to MPE. The results of these requests were often unveiled at an August user conference. It was like unwrapping a Christmas present for some customers, or finding a lump of coal in the stocking for others who sadly watched their requests bypassed.

But there’s still a way to meet desires for MPE/iX functionality. The answer lies in open source. Brian Edminster explained.

Unless a miracle occurs - we've probably seen the last of a 'Systems Improvement' survey/ballot.  That's a real shame - because there's still quite a lot of life left in the system - and there'd be more if we could teach her some new tricks.

Perhaps, though, we could find an equivalent:

Seems to me, because much open source software is of a subsystem or utility variety - perhaps it would be worthwhile to poll the community for what packages they need but can't get (i.e. not ported yet?), or need — but the existing ports aren't current enough and need updating.

If nothing else, it would provide those of us that tinker in this area with a bit more direction than just what we might currently need.

The community of 3000 customers could offer requests and help through the 3000-L mailing list, or leave a note here. Open source software was a breakthough for the 3000 in the late 90s. It's not too late to let a port change things.