25 Nov
2008
25 Nov
'08
5:27 p.m.
On Tue, Nov 25, 2008 at 5:16 PM, William Donzelli <wdonzelli at gmail.com> wrote:
I subscribe to the 3000 mailing list, and there seems to be one other
complaint... licensing the OS. I am no expert on the matter, but I've
gotten the impression that HP can be a real bear to deal with when it
comes to licensing the OS for users. It simply can get too expensive
for a hobbyist to run MPE...
Trust me, I'd love to have a small 3000 at home and if one ever shows
up, I'll snap it up if I can. They just seem to be pretty rare on the
used market.
Mark
Between
1986 and 1988, I worked on a whole slew of HP3000s, from the
Series III to the Series 70. They were popular in the business environment,
especially in COBOL shops. Where did they end up? You can find loads of
DEC equipment on Ebay, even IBM System 34, 36 and AS/400s, the occasional
HP1000, but the only HP3000 I recall seeing in recent years was a single
Model 37.
You answered your own question.
DEC made loads of minis (PDP and VAX).
IBM made loads of minis (S/34 and S/36).
IBM made extra sized loads of AS/400 minis (more than any other minicomputer).
HP did not make loads of 3000s.
I think it is a simple population thing.
--
Will