[Info-vax] OT: IBM to buy Sun

[Michael Kraemer]

Arne Vajhøj schrieb:
> Bill Gunshannon wrote:
> 
>> In article <gpsa41$vq8$03$2 at news.t-online.com>,
>>     Michael Kraemer <M.Kraemer at gsi.de> writes:
>>
>>> David J Dachtera schrieb:
>>>
>>>> That said, It's probably time to suggest that IBM also buy VMS and
>>>> Non-stop from HP. 
>>>
>>> People suggesting IBM as a saviour for VMS seem to
>>> forget what happened to OS/2.
>>
>>  
>> Comparing OS/2 to VMS is like comparing a Yugo to a Porsche.
> 
> 
> I think the only point was that IBM do kill operating systems not
> to imply any equivalence in capabilities.
> 
> Arne

Yep. In two ways.
VMS is at a stage where OS/2 was about 10 to 15 years ago.
Just inspect the discussions in the os2.* usenet groups.
Swap the respective product and company names and most
of those postings could appear in c.o.v w/o further notice.
I.e. about IBM's non-marketing and restricting the
product to certain niches and killing the product etc etc.
The truth is, that IBM indeed tried to market OS/2 in the
early 1990s. They had smart ads, retailers on their side
and so on. They burnt a lot of money, but finally failed
because M$s stranglehold was already too strong, the
trade press were  against it and in general people
were already preoccupied with Windoze. You can't
"market" against the trend. And there were "minor"
showstoppers, OS/2 needed more resources (significant
at a time when RAM was expensive) and had much less
apps (no native "Word" when everybody asked for it etc.)

All that applies to VMS, and it might explain HP's policy.
Maybe they are smarter than most people here think,
i.e. they have learned IBM's lesson.