[Info-vax] rx2800i2 sales/support window changes

[Shael Richmond]

On Thursday, February 13, 2014 4:47:02 AM UTC-6, johnso... at gmail.com wrote:
> On Wednesday, February 12, 2014 5:40:06 PM UTC-5, Shael Richmond wrote:
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> 
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> >  He was pretty sure the end of sales date would be moved from 2015 to 2020, but he needed
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> > to confirm that.  We also asked for that in writing as well.
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> >  
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> > This makes a big difference for us - we have a lot of sites running rx2660's
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> 
> 
> Returning to your original question, I think there are a few things to keep in mind.
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> Intel has already declared May 23rd to be the last order date for tukwila. The details are here.
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> http://www.cpu-world.com//news_2013/2013110601_Intel_Itanium_9300_and_Cedar_View_Atom_CPUs_discontinuedhtml
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> 
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> To be fair, a large purchase could be made, and then those chips could be delivered in batches
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> until well into 2016 so clearly there is wiggle room for how HP implements its last i2 sale date.
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> So it's less of a crisis when you look at it through that lens. But still, it's clearly another step
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> towards the grave.
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> 
> Even leaving that aside, let me play some snarky word games here.
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> What really is the meaning of the word new? Let's say HP sticks to its guns and refuses to sell you
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> "new" boxes after Dec 31, 2015, but continues to sell boxes that are "like new" through its HP Renew
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> program, would that be good enough? You would understandably worry about part failure, but HP
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> tells you they have that covered and they show you a picture of a warehouse full of parts - is that
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> good enough? Isn't that all you really care about at this point?
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> 
> 
> How about - if HP sells you an i2 where everything is brand new BUT the CPUs? Does that count
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> as new? So it's new RAM, new power supply, and a motherboard that's been through a 50 point
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> inspection process - how about that? Is that new enough?
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> It's not like a car where there's an odometer and you can tell that it's been used. Apart from
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> plastic that yellows and some banged up casing, I think it would be hard to tell what's used.
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> And I'm not suggesting that HP will lie, but clearly there's wiggle room here over the exact
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> meaning of the word new. When a "new" sits on the lot for 2 years and is never driven, is it 
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> still new? Yes, but still... kind of not the same, is it?
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> I'm not saying - just accept the Dec 31, 2015 date. If you don't like it, and you pay good money,
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> then by all means, push back and turn that rumor into reality. But at the same time, accept the
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> fact that the date can move because you can play games with what the word "new" means. And
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> if you need to hear a different meaning of the word, they'll give it to you. But don't expect the 
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> underlying facts to meaningfully change.
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> 
> 
> EJ

Like new would be fine.  We actually did the same thing with the Alphaserver DS25's.  They were past end of sales but were sold like new with full warranty.

As it turns out there was communications failure between HP and us.  When the BCS guy sent us the letter it was nothing more than the roadmap change for VMS and nothing to do with hardware.  He said he didn't think he had said anything about hardware.