August 2005
New blog tracks HP world’s shifting schedules daily
Updates each business day show attendees still headed for SF area
If the 3000 NewsWire were only a printed publication, we’d never have been able to keep up with all the changes in this month’s Bay Area HP meeting agendas. But our new blog was in place to track these stories, reports that show a small cadre of customers still dedicated to networking in person this month.
The NewsWire’s blog at 3000newswire.com/blog was the first publication to report on the cancellation of the HP World show, a shutdown less than a month before the conference was to convene. The cancellation and subsequent closure was so sudden that customers and vendors got caught with non-refundable tickets and prepaid hotel rooms. Some are determined to come to the Bay Area anyway.
But in the weeks that followed, a series of reports posted on our blog outlined alternatives. OpenMPE, the only remaining user group dedicated to HP 3000 issues, forged ahead with a plan for a meeting on Aug. 18. The blog reported on a location and a time for the update about HP 3000 post-2006 concerns.
Listen through iTunes
We’ve even put together a series of podcasts on these stories, available through the blog as well as from Apple’s iTunes Music Store for free. We’ve educated the Music Store to know where the NewsWire’s podcasts live. (iTunes, which runs on Windows as well as Macs, is a wonderful way to subscribe to and discover podcasts.) Just go to the iTunes "Advanced" menu and select "Subscribe to Podcast" and then type in our Weblog's podcast address:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/3000Newswire
iTunes will call us up, complete with our new logo, and give you a chance to automatically subscribe to our podcasts as we post them.
Updated daily
NewsWire reports on that meeting with HP appeared first on the blog, posted overnight. A live Webcast of that meeting filled in HP 3000 customers around the world who couldn’t make the trip to Cupertino, Calif. But the meeting had an in-person audience, too.
“You only need to be a member of the MPE community in order to attend this meeting,” said OpenMPE board member Donna Garverick in her invitation to the 3000 newsgroup. “At this meeting, we will be updating everyone regarding the board’s activities. Additionally, we are planning on having a Q&A session.”
But on the same weekend as OpenMPE members decided to have an in-person meeting, another group of 3000 devotees decided to hold an Aug. 15 HP 3000 luncheon as a reunion point. The location and time of the event rolled out on the NewsWire’s blog after we put this issue to press.
Refreshments and the lunch were complimentary, sponsored by HP 3000 software providers Screenjet, Marxmeier Software and QSS. Screenjet’s Alan Yeo, who organized last year’s HP 3000 Community Networking booth at HP World, announced the lunch through the NewsWire’s e-mail list, with more details on our blog, to help attract prospective diners.
“Send us a fast food response,” said Yeo. “We’re not buying lunch for the 2,500 Unix junkies that happen to be hanging around the Bay Area. This is definitely a 3000-only lunch.”
Reports from the lunch are appearing on the NewsWire’s blog, too. Color photos, Web pages translated using the Google translate features, audio podcast reports — all are available online through the blog, in a format that can outstrip print for its immediacy and scope of media.
