From: thompson@pan.ssec.honeywell.com (John Thompson)
Newsgroups: fj.mail-lists.apollo
Subject: re: HP OSF plans and *preserving* my investment
Date: 14 Apr 92 23:16:13 GMT
Distribution: fj
Organization: Electrotechnical Laboratory, Tsukuba Science City
Return-Path: <apollo-list-errors@srvr1.engin.umich.edu>


> I would like to add something regarding "flames" I've seen
> 'cause of an answer I wrote...
I hope I wasn't seen as too flaming.  I do notice some comments about using
comp.sys.apollo as a psychological release valve, which I did comment on....
It is <rarely> my sole intent to flame purely for the sake of flaming.  When
we wrote Usenet-I, and when we wrote Usenet-II, _MOST_ of us were trying to
get HP to make _changes_ which we felt would make things better.  I'm sure that
I don't speak for everyone on this, however, so don't take it as an (un)official
word of the Usenet group.  ;-)

> 3) I think it's time to be positive,...I mean accept some
>    storical situations (some HP decisions are no more
>    reversible...), and take advantage of the fact that now
>    HP is on the right tune.
Well, HP is the tune, anyway....   :-)
Whether we should be positive or not depends on whether we feel the changes
occurring are positive or not.  Without flaming about any particular product
or direction, I can't say too much.  There have been some very NICE items
recently -- Dmx; HP-VUE in 10.4; promises of OSF/DCE hooks soon on Domain/OS.
However, we've seen some very negative (from a Domain/OS bigot) items as 
well, as hardware and software get phased out rapidly.  I think what we 
need to do is try and work _toward_ a positive outcome, instead of blasting
away at all the negative things and to try and preserve 'now' forever.

> This is the message I'd like to pass, ..pls. stop to use
> this group (internet) as a psycological relief of our bad
> mood, and start to ask and reply to concrete and feasible
> things...
> HP is still open for a lot of possibilities, but not to
> rethink the "DN10k" or "Domain/Os" decisions...
> We can try to help you solve the problem created by those
> decisions....
I don't think that people have (lately) asked for the DN10000 to be
preserved.  I still feel that that was a wrong decision, and that
it was handled poorly, but....  <Sorry -- I didn't want to flame>
I _DO_ know that the DN10000 is still the fastest machine in our
building, and that it will be even AFTER the 9000/750 is installed.
We have 4 CPUs, and often run more than 4 jobs in parallel.  A 750
is 'only' about a DN10030.  And note, this is a 3.5 year old machine!
 
> It's possible that our help is not going to solve completly
> your problems, but, believe me, we are trying to do our best.
I believe that a lot more after seeing Karl&company and Jack&company
at Interworks.

> Mik.
> (...Mik is my login, because my Italian name is pretty difficult
>  and sometimes my name is taken as a "female" name,..and it's not..)
Ahhh.  I was wondering.  After I sent a response to a response out, I 
noticed the 'from' fullname, and wondered if I'd made an invalid 
assumption about your gender.


-- jt --
John Thompson
Design Services Engineer / Sys-Admin
Honeywell, SSEC
Plymouth, MN  55441
thompson@pan.ssec.honeywell.com

Speak softly and carry a big .disclaimer