Even if HP prevails in Superior Court in California, it's too late for a change of course, said Huckell. "I think that ship has left."

One Oracle/Itanium user at the conference, who didn't want to be identified in any way, said that all Oracle's decision has done is to create "havoc."

HP didn't draw attention to the court fight, at least in the public sessions at this week's conference. But there were specific, closed-to-the-press sessions relating to Oracle and Itanium.

Users are clearly trying to sort out the issues. The real impact of Oracle's decisions on Intel's support for Itanium probably won't be known until after the court decides this case. But if Oracle's decision prompts Intel and HP to put Itanium on an end-of-life path, it will also impact NonStop users who rely on the chip.

NonStop is a faul-tolerant system that uses redundant processors and drives, and is designed to support financial services and other services that can't crash.