[Info-vax] OT: IBM Offering $9-10 Per Share for Sun

[JF Mezei]

Arne Vajhøj wrote:

> You can not port a full OS without it being an approved and funded
> project - it is too big.


Correct. but you could have a midnight hack by devloted employees that
get VMS to boot on an 8086 to just beyond VMB.EXE or some other low
level as a proof of concept, and then gosub management and show them
that it is possible to do it and that the tools to port are already
there. Management could then decide to fund the rest of the project.

The advantage of a skunk works is that there is no real deadline as long
as those employees are still there. (This is different from the
Alpha->IA64 port where there was a lot of pressure to deliver ASAP
because it had been announced to customers before staff)

Alpha-IA64 required a large injection of cash to get project moving
fast. A skunk works could just find it minimally and stretch it over a
couple of years and only once you are almost ready to deliver do you
announce it and then formally inject a small wad of cash to productize
the port.