At the e3000 Management Roundtable, HP 3000 customers asked what they could do to get HP to release the product and software to third parties. “It’s bad enough that HP has consigned the 3000 to the scrap heap, but it’s unconscionable that we’re being asked to pay to haul it away,” said John Burke, chairman of SIG MPE. One way to avoid the hauling bill is not to move, a position that some customers in the room said would look more attractive sooner if HP didn’t insist on keeping its hand in MPE and the 3000. John Wolff, CIO of LAACO, Ltd., said that people who haven’t yet chosen to migrate may move to a homesteading position “if people can see that there really is another alternative. For those that are planning on homesteading, it’s probably true that their commitment to the 3000 is probably higher than their commitment to Hewlett-Packard. They’d be interested in seeing the platform continue regardless of who’s behind it.”

Dave Wilde, who’s in charge of the e3000 business, said that HP wants to build loyalty and ensure long-term revenue for HP by maintaining a say over licensing issues beyond HP’s end

Dave Wilde explains why HP wants to play a continuing role in MPE

of sales 12 months from now. Wilde said helping out homesteaders — customers who want to keep improving their HP 3000 environments with new MPE features and performance increases for the IMAGE database, rather than jump off the computer — “isn’t our top priority, but it’s an increased priority, and something that we’re taking seriously.” Wolff said he was encouraged by what HP announced it intends to do, “but I’d like to see it continue and get more publicity.” Customers also noted that the crucial issues about MPE licensing for a HP 3000 hardware emulator don’t have a deadline for HP’s decisions. Nobody wants to wait until next summer’s HP World for updates, but that was the hard deadline set down by HP’s Kriss Rant at the prior day’s OpenMPE session.

Meanwhile, HP’s Loretta Li-Sevilla reminded customers at the roundtable they “need to remember why we made the decision [to discontinue] in the first place,” citing its familiar position about a declining ecosystem. She then took a raise-your-hands poll to see how many in the room would use an emulator, and noted the vast majority would use such a product — one that HP is not building, but leaving to third parties to create and market. Wilde said that “I hope we’ve said some things at this conference that give people confidence that we’re open to these things.” HP wants to make sure that its software and channel partners “are set up for success.”

Jim Calton, the Solution Manager running the HP Migration Center, said “we’re not trying to keep control. We’re doing our best to help you in any way that we can.” Wilde added he hoped HP’s homesteading announcements speak to “what’s been a fair amount of frustration up to now.” HP still sees 3000 revenue, even after hardware. Mike Berkowitz of Guess, Inc. asked what HP 3000 group was going to do for revenue after next October. Wilde replied that a business review just before HP World shows that HP is looking just as much at support revenues as hardware sales when studying how much business is still in the 3000.