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

[Simon Clubley]

On 2012-03-06, David Froble <davef at tsoft-inc.com> wrote:
> 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.
>> 
>
> 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.

Well, if HP want to give us commodity level quality, it would be nice if
they charged us commodity level prices. :-)

Seriously however, I understand what you are saying, but the basic problem
here is that the new team have now had 2 to 3 years at this and the same
basic type issues still keep cropping up time and again. I would have
expected the new team to be up to speed by now.

I wonder if HP are having a problem retaining staff and keep having to
train newcomers to work on a operating system they have probably never
used before ? That would certainly be one explanation for the ongoing
quality issues.

Simon.

-- 
Simon Clubley, clubley at remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP
Microsoft: Bringing you 1980s technology to a 21st century world