[Info-vax] Happy new Year !

[Phillip Helbig---undress to reply]

In article <hies91$j1n$01$1 at news.t-online.com>, Michael Kraemer
<M.Kraemer at gsi.de> writes: 

> > There are still paying customers who have a large investment in VMS with 
> > code which would be very difficult to port.  (And it is the PAYING 
> > customers who decide what will happen.)  I see four possibilities:
> > 
> > 1) Oracle will buy VMS to keep Rdb customers.  Most Rdb customers, if 
> > forced to move off VMS, would probably move off Rdb as well. 
> 
> To Oracle, most probably. So discontinuing VMS would be
> a win for Oracle. Only one DB to maintain and develop.

Sorry, I meant to say "Most Rdb customers, if forced to move off VMS, 
would probably move off Rdb as well".  If the bean counters give me a 
toy OS, a real DB is overkill.  :-)

> > This might 
> > not be as absurd as it might sound at first.  Remember Porsche wanted to 
> > buy Volkswagen, but what came out in the end is the Volkswagen bought 
> > Porsche.  Compaq paid $ 9 billion for DEC.  Say VMS is worth 1 or 2 
> > billion.  Shouldn't be a problem for Larry.
> 
> A bit unrealistic, I'd say. Those $9Bn represented roughly
> DEC's annual revenue back then.
> What's the annual revenue VMS generates these days?

9 billion was for all of DEC, not just VMS.

> 5) HP just discontinues VMS and (almost) nobody cares.
> So better keep your legacy VAXen and Alphas in good shape,
> they might turn out to be the only native VMS boxes in the future.

You should see my cellar!  I have enough spare parts to keep me going 
until I die.