[Info-vax] Should Oracle buy OpenVMS?

[Bill Gunshannon]

In article <9a6a39a2-4583-4156-863a-00aa25f866c4 at 3g2000yqk.googlegroups.com>,
	Neil Rieck <n.rieck at sympatico.ca> writes:
> After Oracle's purchase of Sun, it seems apparant that Oracle is
> serious about getting into the enterprise business. (added bonus: many
> academic institutions only use Sun; 

Less than you think. (Spoken as one who works for an academic institution
that was Sun heavy two decades ago and now Sun's are as rare as VMS boxes.)

>                                      carefully watch the next video
> tour of JPL)

That's .gov, not .edu.  :-)

> 
> Oracle bought RDB from DEC in the 1990s but if OpenVMS is de-
> emhpasized by HP then RDB is toast. Maybe HP would let OpenVMS go for
> something lower than the often estimated value of $4 billion -IF-
> Oracle agreed to buy Itanium hardware from HP for the next 3-5 years.

Why on earth would Oracle want to agree to something like that?  Actaully
agree to be ripped off by HP who could charge whatever they wanted and
force Oracle to pay it because they bought VMS?  More important, why would
they want to buy a dying OS in the first place?  They just bought one OS.
One that has remained popular for a long time, why would they need another
that has little if any remaining public recognition?

> (hey, who thought Hpq could have been enticed to kill off Alpha?)
> 
> Now if I haven't convinced you so far then here is a quote from
> Oracle's own web site "Oracle Is the # 1 Business Software Company"
> http://www.oracle.com/features/hp/business-software-company.html
> Since OpenVMS has always been considered a business OS then having
> Oracle acquire the OpenVMS division of HP makes total sense.

Careful there.  You make it seem like Oracle said those last two lines
as well and we all know they didn't and probably wouldn't.

Amazing how people here are grasping at straws trying to find a saviour
for VMS.  If anyone in the industry cared, don't you think they would
have come forward with at least an offer by now?

bill

-- 
Bill Gunshannon          |  de-moc-ra-cy (di mok' ra see) n.  Three wolves
billg999 at cs.scranton.edu |  and a sheep voting on what's for dinner.
University of Scranton   |
Scranton, Pennsylvania   |         #include <std.disclaimer.h>