Heard on the Harbor: early news from HP World 98

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Heard on the Harbor: Early news from HP World 98

Netscape shows up

Take the Netscape Web server for the HP 3000. Or take delivery of it soon, if you will. It looks like the software will be ready soon to take off the CSY Jazz Web server in an early version, judging by what HP has brought to the show floor here. The port, while no small task, has gone well. Netscape FastTrack arrives as two servers, actually -- one to configure the server, the other to actually serve the Web pages. We waiting to see today what the official delivery date will be, but it's bound to be within this year. Not bad considering that the software wasn't written for easy portability by Netscape to begin with, unlike the Apache Web server which ported to MPE/iX in about a half-day. The non-Posix compliant design choices for FastTrack led to a lot more work than first estimated one year ago, when CSY first promised FastTrack. We've heard the development team actually included some second-generation HP 3000 talent, as well as some Unix help from within HP. All the work had to be done inside Netscape's offices, because the code never leaves the building -- something that kept CSY from signing the deal with Netscape in 1995. Of course, that was back when the Renaissance, er, rebirth, was only just beginning. With sales up, there's budget now for HP 3000 engineering talent inside Netscape.

Another Navigator

We're waiting for the announcement today, but it looks like MB Foster Associates has signed a deal to deliver its DataExpress tool across all three of HP's key platforms, adding Windows NT and Unix to its HP 3000 services. The extra connectivity arrives via INS Navigator, software that provides "Universal Data Access." It looks like it will extend that connectivity and extract capability you get from DataExpress to the worlds of NetServers and 9000s, so mission-critical data in the 3000 databases can get shared with other business servers in the enterprise. MBFA is piloting the new software with key customers this fall as part of an alliance.

Looking for 3000 allies

Everybody says the 3000 needs applications more than anything else right now, but who's doing something about it? Well, CSY's Kriss Rant, for one. He's the first person we've seen dedicated to finding and helping software companies that want to ride the ever-lengthening coat-tails of the 3000 renaissance. Rant, who's done things like database product management and software liaison for CSY for many years now, has become CSY's Alliance Development Manager, or ADM. If the other ADM is "supermarket to the world," Rant means to create a supermarket of HP 3000 applications, or at least turn on the lights in the market that's been dark for too long. Vendor reaction to Rant's mission has been enthusiastic to say the least. "How can I help?" is the phrase being offered by the vendors of longstanding who understand more players is the best thing that can happen to the 3000. After all, nobody better knows the rocks that the scores of application developers crawled under than the companies who stuck it out. We'll have a better understanding of Rant's mission later this week, with more detail in the NewsWire.

A language within QWIN

It's still taking shape, but it looks like Robelle's QEdit for Windows is getting its own language, something to help software writers shape the tool to their own tastes. There's nothing so personal as an editor to a programmer, and lots of people wanted the Windows version of QEdit to behave as flexibly as host-based QEdit. David Greer said when Robelle started getting comments about making the client-server editor meet the expectations of the host-based fans, they took close notes. The result is a language you use to customize QWIN, because productivity is a personal matter and there's lots of different ways to cut code. One popular strategy holds that software can be developed as in a bazaar, with lots of highly creative work going on with few restrictions, or as in cathedral building, highly structured work portioned off among a well organized team. "We need to support both of those models," said Greer. "That's what the language is really for."

A blizzard of shirts

Looking for signs of the 3000's health? How about a shirt count supporting the platform? We've found no fewer than five so far here at the show, in versions from pre-Renaissance to post. Today at Lew Platt's keynote we expect to see a glut of bright orange T's, a tribute to the HP "Orange" ad campaign launched last week in ComputerWorld and other IT mags. The copy on the shirt is fun. The first line carries a message from the first round of ads launched by the Unix folks at HP in the original Orange campaign of the spring. But the new shirts add a better line so it reads like this:

Unix = HP
MPE/iX= HP++

Of course, we have to put a plug in for our own t-shirt, crafted with the same pride. Ours carry a baseball and bat art photo with a message underneath:

"It isn't hard to be good from time to time in sports. What's tough is being good every day."
-- Willie Mays.

The sleeve art (we haven't seen much of that yet) says "The HP 3000 -- An Everyday All Star." 3000-L posters who wear their NewsWire Always Online caps for the 3000-L lunch photos tomorrow will get one of the shirts. It's our way of saying thanks for supporting us and the 3000.

We've also heard about (but not yet seen) Interex pro-3000 shirts, as well as the infamous "i came, i saw, iX" polo shirts that this list has had lots of exposure to. There's also a renaissance of the first 3000 shirt, the Proposition 3000 longsleeve T's. Hey, it's a re-birthday party -- of course we want to have fun duds to wear.