[Info-vax] Current VMS Usage Survey

[Subcommandante XDelta]

Michael Kraemer:
> Subcommandante XDelta schrieb:
> 
>> Mr Mezel, in a recent conversation thread, estimated, IIRC (senior
>> moments notwithstanding), that the remaining VMS end-user population
>> might be circa 100,000 shops.
> 
> that's - maybe - the number of *systems* still standing around somewhere.
> The number of *customers* was estimated by HP to be 2000 round-about,
> Iirc this figure was quoted here a couple of months ago.
> Paying customers, that is, and these are the only important ones,
> from HP's point of view.
> The latter figure also is in better agreement
> with the estimated $30M of revenue VMS creates.
> $15000/a per customer on average seems
> more likely than just $300/a (or are support contracts
> that cheap these days?)

Going with those figures - 100,000 VMS shops; but only 2000 paying
customers, for the sake of argument.

Presumably those 2000 paying customers continue to pay, in the folorn
hope that by doing so, they might have some sway on the formal execution
date of VMS and the quality of the support provided.

The other 98,000 with their immortal License PAKS have told HP to bugger
off.

Rubbery figure time, based on questionable numbers, but assuming that
there were 100,000 VMS shops when HP merged with CPQ, and that number
remained stable, secondly assuming that HP had actually properly
supported and developed VMS and retained those 100,000 customers good
faith on maintenance contracts, and assuming a stable $15,000 a year for
said contracts.

Then the annual income from the VMS asset would be $1,500,000,000 -one
and half billion dollars annually.

So over the last decade that would have been 15 billion dollars gross
income.

What on earth could have possibly motivated HP to idle and run down and
degrade such a significant income generation engine?

Anyway that was just a dodgy "what if" based on rubbery figures, as a
conversation starter.

If the "100,000" is not the best estimate of remaining operating VMS
shops in the VMS ECOlogy, what is?

Would someone care to construct a better model for the income forgone by
HP over the last decade?

I have no doubt this has all been discussed in one form or another over
the last decade or more, but it is worth raking the coals over again, to
regain clarity on the potential of a rebooted VMS ECOlogy.