[Info-vax] Happy new Year !

[JF Mezei]

H Vlems wrote:

> Option 4 is still at least 5 years in the future (provided HP keeps
> current promises).

HP deserves a lot of criticism on VMS. But I have no doubts that they
will support VMS for *at least* 5 years after the EOL announcement. And
if EOL announcement includes commitment for one last release, the timer
would start upon delivery of that last version.

Although when you look at VAX-VMS, there was a commitment of a last
version and HP never formally acknowledged that it was breaking that
commitment. But HP still supports VAX-VMS nevertheless.

The way I see it, HP has been pretty good at controling the speed of the
exodus of VMS. Compaq did much of the dirty work with the murder of
Alpha. HP slowly reduced expectations for VMS, getting rid of VMS
customers by order of loyalty.

As it reduces the customer base, it also reduces the breath of needs,
allowing it to reduce development. If your only remaining customers are
stock exchanges, then you just need to cater to their pretty stable needs.

I might be willing to bet on chocolate bar that RTR is used by stock
exchanges. It seems to figure prominently on the road map. And it is
being fully ported to Linux.