[Info-vax] HP wins Oracle Itanium case

[Richard B. Gilbert]

On 8/20/2012 5:17 PM, David Froble wrote:
> Simon Clubley wrote:
>> On 2012-08-20, David Froble <davef at tsoft-inc.com> wrote:
>>> I really don't understand this attitude that Unix is so great and
>>> inevitable. Seems mostly a self fulfilling prophecy rather than based
>>> upon merit.  I guess if you say something enough, people might start
>>> believing it.
>>>
>>
>> Well for starters, in just one market segment, there's getting on for
>> about 1 million new devices per day which contain the Linux kernel
>> (if not the traditional userland tools) been activated by users.
>>
>> In some markets, Unix is not only inevitable, it has already arrived and
>> it's not going to displaced any time soon.
>>
>> You will also find, even when the underlying OS is not really Unix, that
>> a number of OS vendors have implemented a Unix-style POSIX programming
>> environment. This appears to be very common in the RTOS world.
>>
>> Simon.
>>
>
> So, are you saying this is what happened, or are you saying that Unix
> won these jobs by merit?  What I'm asking about is merit.
>
> If DEC had positioned VMS to perform all these jobs, and I'm talking
> 1990 or perhaps even before, including proper marketing and pricing,
> would it (VMS) have been feasible, or are you saying VMS could not do
> the job?
>
> I know that DEC blew it by trying to milk every last penny in profits,
> with no vision of the future.  But what I'm saying is, I don't think
> Unix was a superior OS, and I do think that VMS could have been the de
> facto standard that Unix is today.
>
> Address the merits of Unix ..

Could have beens don't count for much.  Pure and simple, DEC blew it! 
DEC totally missed the desk top revolution!  By "desk top" I mean both 
X86 and Alpha workstations.  Yes, I know about the Rainbow.  DEC was 
asking totally outrageous prices.  Just about everyone could sell at a 
profit for far less than DEC was asking.  People bought their Desktops 
on price and DEC could not or would not compete.  Bye-bye DEC.