[Info-vax] Current VMS engineering quality, was: Re: What's VMS up to these days?

[David Froble]

Simon Clubley wrote:
> On 2012-03-05, David Froble <davef at tsoft-inc.com> wrote:
>> Simon Clubley wrote:
>>
>>> PS: In case my point is too subtle: I don't subscribe to JF style
>>> theories, but instead believe in taking a evidence based approach when
>>> possible and there's now plenty of evidence with which the quality of
>>> the VMS India team can be compared to the old Nashua VMS team.
>> Not really fair, as the software development group that DEC at one time
>> had can arguably be claimed to have been the best ever, and that no other
>> group has ever come close since then.
>>
>> But, what do I know ....
> 
> Why is that not a fair comparison ?
> 
> People invested in the DEC world (from the massive sites to the small
> sites I am used to) simply because it was the best quality option
> available at the time.
> 
> If HP want to replace all the talented people with their own teams, the
> replacements _are_ going to be judged to those same standards, instead of
> the standards present in lower quality parts of the computing world.
> 
> Simon.
> 

Back in the 1970s, 1980s, and a bit into the 1990s computer hardware was not cheap.  Did 
the actual hardware really cost so much.  My take on this is that a lot of that money went 
toward significant software and support expenditures.  With significant funding, it's 
possible to have software R&D, and a good support organization.  That's what DEC had, and 
probably IBM also.  Both companies developed multiple operating systems, compilers, and 
other software.

Why did Unix become so popular?  Because the "me too" computer manufacturers didn't have 
to develop it.  If they had to develop their own software portfolio, they'd never have 
been able to afford it.

Why did Microsoft take over the software world?  Because all the PCs and such needed 
software.  The companies building the computers could never have afforded to develop their 
own software.

DEC software development listened to their customers, and delivered what was asked for, 
but standards were maintained at a high level.  Similar to their hardware.  That's why I'm 
running VMS V7.2 on a VAXstation 4000 model 90A.  Anybody still running DOS on early 1990s 
hardware?

The big mistake was DEC thinking that they could carve out a large customer base, keep it, 
and milk it for large sums of money.  Remember the BI bus?  What DEC should have done was 
license their software to anyone who wanted to use it.  If they would have done that, it 
would be in the best interest of DEC's competitors to insure DEC remained viable.  But I 
digress ....

I just don't think that any computer company will ever again be able to afford the sizable 
investment for software and support that DEC (and probably IBM) spent in the past.  And 
even if they could, they won't in this day of "only the next quarter matters" management.

Which is why I wrote that it's not a fair comparison.  There most likely will never again 
in private enterprise be the funding to hire, train, and keep such a large and excellent 
group of software and support people.