[Info-vax] VMS port to x86

[Keith Parris]

On 5/31/2012 4:51 AM, JKB wrote:
> 	If you want to keep VMS alive, you must have a VMS port to amd64.

I agree. x86-64. And ARM might not be a bad 2nd target.

> 	I'm not sure that HP would start this kind of development.

We know from http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/features/7-1623010.pdf 
that as of the end of 2008 Martin Fink said the VMS business was less 
than $100M (although one could argue he probably wasn't including 
Services, Storage, Networking, etc.). We know from 
http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/features/10-1623014.pdf that HP-UX 
was estimated to cost more than $100M to port beyond first boot on x86. 
Perhaps because of the work already done during the Itanium port to make 
OpenVMS more portable and because it's already Little-Endian, OpenVMS 
might be significantly less expensive than HP-UX to port. Still, can the 
OpenVMS organization realistically afford to spend some number that's 
probably on the order of at least one year's total revenues to do an x86 
port? There's also fear that in another architecture migration, even 
more ISVs (and thus customers) would be lost. If an x86 port did happen, 
I'm guessing it would have to be based on HP's goodwill and commitment 
to its OpenVMS customers, not because of its financial attractiveness.

>       Thus, conclusion is very simple, we have to start to write a VMS clone

VMS is viewed by the marketplace in general as legacy, out of date, 
old-fashioned, or at least irrelevant. Even if the existing code is 
open-sourced, or HP ports OpenVMS to x86, it will still have the same 
perception in the marketplace. (We here know that OpenVMS has valuable 
attributes such as 4-ring security and high availability with shadowing 
and clustering and scalability with clustering that are ideal for 
current marketplace needs, but most everyone else can't see past the 
"Out-Of-Fashion" label that's been stamped on it. So it's been harder 
lately to pick up new customers and new ISVs.)

To be fair, most proprietary UNIX flavors are also seen in much the same 
light. Linux, on the other hand (although we all know it is just UNIX, 
warmed over) is seen as new and exciting.

An open source VMS clone would likewise be seen as something new and 
exciting and interesting, although we here know it would most likely 
simply deliver the same types of value and capabilities provided by the 
existing proprietary OpenVMS product in an open source (thus free in 
purchase price) and open (in terms of vendor independence and 
development freedom) distribution model.

An open source VMS clone would fit well with HP's direction with Project 
Odyssey, which aims to provide as much as possible of the value of 
HP-UX, NonStop, and OpenVMS on x86 server hardware.