[Info-vax] HP admits it will kill VMS if merger suceeds

[JF Mezei]

On 13-10-20 19:09, Alan Greig wrote:

>> if they complete the merger. The document also makes clear that
>> Himalaya (mentioned by name) is safe. VMS gets no mention in the
>> document at all except presumably as part of the "multiple O/S" they
>> intend to get rid of. 

HP was quite clear about killing alpha. La Carly stroked Curly's ....
ego and in june 25 2001  he killed it for her. And on Sept 7 when the
transaction was made public, HP had no problem killing DEC-Unix. But it
stayed mum on VMS.

Recall that Curly, in murdering Alpha also committed to port both
DEC-Unix and VMS to that IA64 thing. (port of DEC-Unix has begun under
Palmer under the deal with Intel).

It is quite possible that Curly's commitments to port were not complete
and no deal signed sealed and delivered between Compaq and Intel, and HP
had to restart negotiations since DEC-Unix was no longer being ported.

It is also possible that La Carly had intended to kill both on Sept 7,
but at last minute, someone reminded her of the importance, unique
features and revenue generation of VMS, so they cut out any mention of
killing VMS from the announcements until a review was done and
negotiations with Intel adjusted.

What is clear is that HP had not decided to keep VMS on Sept 7th 2001
when the transaction was announced and many details on vairous product
lines were revealed.