[Info-vax] x86-64-based Superdomes on the way (says HP)

[Michael Kraemer]

JF Mezei schrieb:
> Michael Kraemer wrote:
> 
> 
>>Not quite.
>>To fall asleep, one needs some boring, repetitive stuff,
>>like this "DoD will rescue VMS, for sure" urban legend.
>>Just counting sheep.
> 
> 
> 
> Nobody is stating that DoD will rescue VMS.

Quite a few people do.
Just the other day I read someone claiming
that HP for sure would port VMS to x86
"because of those long term contracts for DoD".
And this although HP has clearly stated in that SD2
announcement that it aint going to happen.
Urban legends are hard to kill it seems.

> But if they still have some legacy stuff running on VMS, they would want
> some sort of assurance that there will be support until they can migrate
> away from it.

Well, if it ran last year, it would also run next year,
even if HP stopped selling it.
The real critical point is ISV support going away.

> It seems clear that the amount of VMS at the USA military has gone way
> down. But there *may* be some misssion critical stuff left.

This may well be, but associated support contracts just preserve the
past and have little meaning for VMS' future. A support contract
is not a "development contract".
Even if special contracts with DoD existed, they would mean
zilch for the viability of VMS as a general purpose OS for
the rest of the world.