[Info-vax] Whither VMS?

[Richard B. Gilbert]

JF Mezei wrote:
> Neil Rieck wrote:
> 
>> I'm not sure who pays for the infrastructure costs at:
>> http://www.openvmshobbyist.org
> 
> 
> David Cathay from Montagar is the one that operates the hobbyist
> programme and we should all be grateful for all that he has done.
> 
> I don't think he gets anything from HP. And with the change in staffing,
> I am not even sure the folks in India know about it.
> 
>> because HP in in for some trouble when all us OpenVMS types retire.
>> Why? Because the younger generation coming up behind us has never
>> heard of OpenVMS which means that more of HP's market will wither on
>> the vine. 
> 
> Why would that be a problem for HP ? In case you haven't yet accepted
> it, HP has essentially already written off VMS. HP clearly doesn't see a
> future for VMS and some VPs have already alluded to the fact that it is
> an old operating system (now that it is more than 30 years old).
> 

Hmmm!!  How old is Unix???????  I think it's a few years older than VMS.

I can't see that the age of an O/S is, by itself, significant.  The 
significant points are:
a. What platform(s) does it run on?
b. What can it do?
c. What can it NOT do?
d. Will your applications build and run on it?
e. What is the cost of licenses, media, administration, and the hardware 
you want to run it on?
f. What level of support is available?
g. What is the cost of the support you need?
h. Is it, in some sense, "better" than the other choices?