Is a crossroad coming? You tell me.

Last new year's eve, my folks came over for dinner with my family. There were plenty for everyone but I unfortunately ran out of champagne glasses. Being the HP-UX groupie I am, I simply took out a promo HP-UX 25th glass I had in the cupboard and used it for the first time.

It sure looks nice, doesn't it?

But as we are starting 2010, it is also time for me to think about what HP-UX's future will become, and thus what my future career will consist of.

I'm a blogger; I'm no industry analyst. I might be making wild guesses, but the post where I raised concerns on HP's long time commitment toward HP-UX and the Integrity platform sure didn't close 2009 well for me. I've invested lots of time over the years on the HP 9000, then on Integrity, and all this started paying off only after years of dedication.

I don't have any sources inside Hewlett-Packard but on the surface, as a average customer, I've seen many things which have changed within the company in the last 5 years. But the debate must remain strictly technical: Is HP-UX still able to to the job, at a resonable TCO? The answer for me is still yes. For how long? Probably a while, but I'm still nervous anyway.

Over the years, HP-UX has never let me down, both as an enterprise-class operating system and as a career path. But nevertheless, there are times when we reach a crossroad, and in these times we must either continue on the same path, hoping for another crossroad further down the road, or simply switch our direction right away.

I think I'll be standing in a crossroad soon.

O.