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

[Arne Vajhøj]

JF Mezei wrote:
> Arne Vajhøj wrote:
>> But I find it very difficult to believe that it is something
>> where the "let a handful of engineers do a little work in their
>> spare time" approach will produce anything usable.
> 
> Usable ? No. Proof of concept that is usable as basis to do a full
> fledged port, Yes.

What should be the point?

HP's management knows that it can be done.

They don't want to spend the money on it.

Doing a POC that shows it is possible is pointless.

> Remember that our real engineers know this stuff inside out because they
> are not newbies who just got 2 weeks of training. They've gone through
> the port to that IA64 thing (and know how the source come is handled to
> allow cross platform common source code, and many of them also did the
> VAX to Alpha port.

People with that level of skills are most likely already overloaded
with work.

> What the midnight hack guys need to do is to show that VMS can run on
> that platform by having solved any of the issues imposed by that
> architecture.

VMS can run on x86-64 - it is only a question about how much need
to be changed. If something is not available then that feature
will not be part of VMS on that platform.

Arne