HP begins delivering on program to provide latest operating system

Almost six months after HP first announced it, a program is now underway to help many unsupported HP 3000 sites get a Y2K-safe version of the MPE/iX operating system for free.

Customers must provide a copy of a sales invoice for an HP 3000 purchased after January 1, 1995 to get the MPE/iX copy. The offer is only available to HP 3000 sites not currently on support, and it expires on April 30, 2000. Customers can call HP and ask for product number 51453B, Option 255 UGJ. HP will send a copy of MPE/iX 5.5 PowerPatch 7, the most Y2K-ready release for the HP 3000, licensed for the same number of users noted on the sales invoice.

HP said it will be sending the information about the program to customers through its Advisor mailings, and details will be placed on its Web site.

The plan was first announced in February at this year’s IPROF Programmer’s Forum, when HP replied to questions about why HP 9000 sites were getting a free copy of HP-UX to ensure Y2K compliance. Kristy Ward, marketing section manager for HP’s Software Services Division, confirmed at that time that HP would be offering free upgrades to the latest MPE/iX release for HP 3000 sites, just as it made the offer to its HP 9000 customers months earlier.

The program will keep customers who aren’t on support from having to purchase “return to support” for up to 18 months of back-support fees, in order to acquire MPE/iX 5.5 with patches or MPE/iX 6.0 — both Y2K-compliant.

HP’s initial offer was for sites which had purchased HP 3000s in the past three years, but HP has extended the group of eligible sites. Some customers had complained the initial HP offer was not as broad as the HP 9000 offer — HP placed no length of ownership restrictions on HP-UX customer base, they said.

Gilles Schipper, owner of HP 3000 system management support firm GSA Inc, noted that HP’s initial offer of a free Y2K-compliant upgrade didn’t go nearly as far for HP 3000 customers as the offer for their HP 9000 brethren.

“HP-UX users are offered unconditional free upgrades to HP-UX 10.20,” Schipper said, “while HP 3000 users are offered free Y2K OS upgrades only if they purchased their systems from HP within the past three years,” Schipper said.

“What period of time is reasonable? I’m not sure. But three years is too short. Perhaps 10 or 15 years is more reasonable — and if so, why place any arbitrary time restriction? Evidently that’s the conclusion drawn for HP 9000 customers, who were offered unconditional free upgrades to HP-UX 10.20.”

HP lets the individual system divisions set their own policy about the upgrade program, Ward explained about the differences between the programs. But HP 3000 division staffer Jennie Hou said the HP-UX and MPE/iX free Y2K offers are now the same.

“I think this is across the company,” Hou said. “HP has a Year 2000 program office which has an upgrade program, and we’re just participating in the overall program.”

The version of MPE/iX offered will still require some patches on top of it for some sites using HP subsystem products: Allbase/SQL, Business BASIC Interpreter, DCE/3000, Node Management Services and the OpenMarket Web Server all require supplemental patches on top of PowerPatch 7. The bundled software Diagnostic Tools needs patch ODIKXK3, and the MPE/iX Link Editor needs patch LNKKXQ9. VPlus requires patch VPLKXR3. HP’s Hou said these patches are available to all customers for free from the HP Response Center.

HP has superseded Y2K patches it issued for Business Basic, Dictionary V, Inform V, Predictive Support, RPG, Allbase/SQL and the Runtime System Dictionary. HP has a complete table of its Year 2000 Patch Information available on the Web at http://jazz.e xternal.hp.com/year2000/patches.html.

HP has also extended the duration of its Cure 2000 program, which lets customers purchase or lease a second HP 3000 for testing software for Y2K issues. Cure 2000 gives a customer a free Right to Copy authorization for all HP software and subsystems already on another HP 3000, but the second 3000’s software cannot be used for production purposes. Cure 2000’s Right to Copy offer ends on August 31.