[Info-vax] Whither VMS?

[Neil Rieck]

On Sep 11, 5:47 am, JF Mezei <jfmezei.spam... at vaxination.ca> 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).
>
> With Sun gone, HP has high hopes that it can retain a large percentage
> of the remaining VMS customers when they realise there is no future for
> VMS.  For most, the signs have been there and quire evident for some
> time, but HP will need to ratchet up the font size to make the message
> clearer for those few who still believe that HP has great plans for VMS.

I get your point but don't fully agree with it. HP hasn't written off
OpenVMS, they just ignore it because they don't know what it is (sort
of like the young people at my employer's company; at one time or
another they all used Windows while a smaller number used UNIX/Linux.)
I'm sure HP execs are thankful for any OpenVMS-related income but they
know it happens with little effort on HP's part (aka customer
inertia). The problem with inertia related motion is that it always
runs down on the surface of the Earth.

NSR