September 2005

Blog steps up to replace some print editions

Mailed issues go quarterly, while our blog updates daily

The 3000 NewsWire enters its second decade of service to the 3000 community with a change to its printed publication schedule, shifting from monthly to quarterly mailed issues that will highlight our new every-business-day blog reports.

The next printed issue of the NewsWire will be delivered in November. Our printed issues will follow in February, May, August and November of 2006. These issues will bring the best of the NewsWire’s online reports from its blog to community members who are searching for a dynamic news and technical resource.

Paid subscribers will receive all of these printed editions to serve the rest of their purchased commitment. Paid readers who have more than four remaining issues can request a refund at subs@3000newswire.com, or take a copy of the Robelle 3000 Evolution book in exchange for three additional issues.

NewsWire sponsors have stepped up to begin support of our online information outlet, 3000newswire.com/blog, to keep the information flowing freely to a community that needs it more than ever while making migration and homesteading decisions. We now provide our focused, seasoned information source free to the full HP 3000 community online, including archives of the past 10 years of technical content and analysis at 3000newswire.com/subscribers, available for full public access.

Making our information stream a primary electronic resource links the community better. All of the HP 3000’s customers and developers have access to the Internet. Search engines lead browsers to the NewsWire’s Web sites, connectivity that simply cannot be duplicated in print.

We have been writing and publishing original material and analysis every business day since June. But the wealth of the Internet’s research in our decade of service is just a click away, too. Our blog pages also point the way to the excellent Web sites, founded by the leading technical lights of the community, which serve the 3000 market.

We estimate the HP 3000 market runs in excess of 20,000 individuals. Frankly, 20,000 of us are better informed than any one of us. The 3000 NewsWire now captures that intelligence in a way that only an online service delivers.

The current Web site will continue to exist and be updated. More than nine years of archived articles are already available at the NewsWire’s current site, 3000newswire.com/subscribers. The full HP 3000 community will now be able to access the scope of the NewsWire’s first decade of reporting.

Better by blog

Blogs provide the richest experience when their entries contain many links. The NewsWire’s blog references our Web site’s reports through links. The 3000 community still needs the MPE/iX skills chronicled on the NewsWire’s site.

The blog also serves as an interactive forum and focal point for the 3000 community, both for those customers staying on the platform as well as those implementing a migration. Blog editors will help stock our blog with entries, each of which becomes a potential talking point for the 3000 community. Comments from customers and developers are already online. Each article offers a quick method to respond and see your opinions and information alongside our reports.

The most current developments will appear on the NewsWire’s blog first. As we assemble the quarterly issues for print, news stories and technical reports will appear on the 3000newswire.com main site as well.

Regular features of the NewsWire will continue. Our regular Q&A newsmaker interviews, HiddenValue tech tips and other established features are already appearing on the NewsWire’s blog. These articles and reports can now run with deeper details, enjoying the freedom of space a Web-based resource provides.

The blog is an interactive dialog place, a meeting place for conversation. Blogs are just an evolution of what the NewsWire has offered to its subscribers since 1995 — a Web-based news resource. Blogs add an easy method to interact with writers and community members. In blog format a Web site posts new entries on a regular basis.

An online product also enjoys reach that printed publications cannot deliver. In our mobile society, work happens in many locations, nearly all of which can be linked to the Internet. A blog thrives on regular updates, reasons to read while you’re away from the mailbox at your office or house. The odd hour when you check your e-mail can also include a peek at what’s new on our blog, another chance to connect with the community and its customers. The blog and Web pages also expand our message to international readers, using Google’s translation services.

There’s plenty left to learn. There’s no more dramatic, dynamic and interesting time for a computer platform than when the vendor steps out of the market. That’s especially true for the HP 3000, a computer whose profile is almost always mission-critical service. Many companies are still making decisions about how they will make their transition away from HP-supported 3000 service. There’s a lot of stories to tell, technical advice to carry forward, and opportunities to chronicle.