There's still work going on for more CSY R&D funding
One question that got asked in several places at HP World was how CSY will
increase funding for its R&D projects while the division stays within its
budget for such
work. It's clear that a new source of revenue is needed to get more things
accomplished off the to-do lists from the Interex Special Interest Groups,
the advocates
like those from Tony Furnivall's SIGMPE or the collective wisdom of the
SIGIMAGE
Executive Committee.
We heard after HP World that the R&D questions got asked in several roundtables -- both at the Support Roundtable and from the floor of the Management Roundtable. That's because any plan to draw R&D funds through support contracts has got to be approved by Mark Solle, the general manager of the support division. Although CSY General Manager Harry Sterling seems to prefer the idea of letting customers fund projects without getting support contracts involved, he's open to more than one means to kick up funding for R&D activity.
There's quiet work going on behind the scenes to make this happen. The two proposals on the table now are to let the SIGs coordinate customer investments in CSY projects, and to let customers check a box for increased support costs that will go directly to R&D inside CSY. The investments through SIGs still need an organizational structure, but once the participants were willing HP could proceed. The support cost increases -- which would be strictly voluntary, like all investments -- are important for those customers who can get higher support costs approved but can't get approval for new products for their 3000s. That's a significant part of the installed base, in places where the 3000's ultra low profile is its best asset -- it's the system that doesn't need a lot of outside software.
Bradmark offers all products free for 918DX
We continue to be impressed at the generosity of longtime HP 3000 software vendors when stocking the new 918DX MPE Developer's Workstation. Some of the suppliers knew a long time in advance they simply had to be a part of the program. Bradmark knew early enough it was participating that it actually issued a press release about its contributions at HP World. All of Bradmark's products are being offered for free, but only to MPE application developers. That's DBGENERAL for IMAGE and DBGENERAL for Allbase, as well as the Superdex indexing utility for IMAGE database. You can contact Jerry Fochtman at Bradmark (jfochtma@mail.bradmark.com) for details on how to qualify.
New offers continue to emerge for 918DX
Companies continued to climb on board that 918DX bandwagon with special pricing for their software when MPE application developers buy the HP bundle. Remember, this is software than costs above the HP $7,000 charge (or $200 a month lease) for the system, HP software and support. New entries for the bundle, as of late September, are:
-- Genesee's MailEmpower for data routing via e-mail (free, contact Gordon Croston at gordon@genesee.com);
-- Lund Software's System Manager's Toolbox (reviewed in a NewsWire Test Drive -- use the search engine on the Web site to find the story) and Developer's Toolbox ($400 for both, $250 for Developer's Toolbox or $25 for just the Manager's Toolbox, contact Jonathan Randall at JohnR@lund.com);
-- Quest Software's NBSPOOL spoolfile manager, Quark+ file archiver with compression and NFS/iX Server (all free with e-mail support only, contact John Saylor at jcsaylor@quests.com);
-- SolutionSoft's Time Machine date/time simulator (see our TestDrive in the September issue) for $400 and Compression Storage Manager (TestDrive in on the FreeNews Web site, www.3000news.wire.com/newswire) for $400. (contact Paul Wang at paulwang@solution-soft.com); and
-- QWEBS Web Server and QSDK NetIPC library ($295 for both, contact Duane Percox at duane@qss.com).
Robelle has also added a few more of its products to its offer -- its new SmartDate date math, editing and conversion library is free (Check the TestDrive on SmartDate from this summer's August issue).
In all, 14 third-party companies are offering 30 products either free or at rock bottom discounts to application developers buying the 918DX. HP has also added the RPG compiler to its list, completely rounding out the list of available language tools that will arrive already loaded on the system. Gavin Scott of Denkart quipped that HP "is going to need to equip the system with a bigger disk drive" to handle all the software that's available. Send e-mail to HP's Steven Little (steven_little@hp.com) to get qualified for your MPE/iX application development station.
What's behind the delay in Express 3
HP's running a little behind in getting out all the bounty of the
Express 3 release
for MPE/iX 5.5, and some of the problem lies in how much they're attempting
on an
Express release. It's reasonable to expect that the one-month delay will
have to come
out of subsequent (Express 4 and 6.0) releases, but that may not turn out
to be the
case. It's true, some of the same engineers are working on all of the
releases. But
we're learning that HP is working out the kinks in its manufacturing
process for system
software -- and the learning ground turns out to be Express 3.
There's lots of patches around for 5.5 by now, some marked bad and superseded, and all of them need to be able to notify the Patch/iX tool what to do during an update. Jon Cohen, the CSY engineer who's involved in release plan adjustments, said "our software is checking out fine, but we have a glitch or two in our manufacturing process." Nobody wants Express 3 to go out in any shape but rock solid, to match the 3000's reputation.
Given the recent delay of Express 3, about which HP's Kriss Rant said "all this new functionality on an Express release has created some unique challenges for us," it seems likely that 6.0 doesn't stand any chance of shipping during the FRONT half of 1998's first half. HP still says that Express 4 will be ready by year's end, and I'd believe it considering the focus CSY has on the Year 2000 fixes in Express 4.
You may find less that's brand-new in that 6.0 release than in prior releases numbered dot-zero. Sure, there's going to be multiple independent job queues, for certain, and Samba/iX will be on it, supported. But HP is starting to use its Express releases as the first draft of its newest MPE/iX technology, then consolidating the work from Expresses in the next Platform Release.