[Info-vax] There are none so blind :-(

[JF Mezei]

Richard Maher wrote:

> They say you get the Govt you deserve, well the VMS User-Base has certainly
> got the VMS Management it deserves. 

While Digital may have had a certain level of "customer driven" in its
DNA, we are not with Digital anymore.

HP had agreed to keep VMS alive for a while.   HP has done the VMS
community a favour by keeping alive a product it doesn't want, and in
the end, VMS will have been kept alive for at least one decade more than
if it had remained under Compaq.

What VMS engineering has done under HP, or rather, *despite* HP is
commendable considering the situation they were in.

Contrary to a democracy, we have no say on how HP handles VMS. We had no
say in DEC choosing Palmer or Palmer selling to Compaq or Carly being
convinced that buying Compaq would be as good for her image as a good
hairdresser.

Remember that HP didn't buy Digital they bought Compaq. VMS was already
politically weakened under Compaq and had even less clout under HP.

Eventually we may find out what really happened when Compaq got Digital
and what really happened when HP got Compaq with regards to VMS. Maybe
we'll find out in hindsight, if there might have been any chance of VMS
management convincing HP to give VMS a second wind.

But until this, there is no point in criticising VMS engineering/management.

At this point in time, there is no longer a point in criticising HP
and/or VMS. HP isn't listening. And HP has cut the various channels of
communications with customers about VMS.