[Info-vax] VMS porting (again), was: Re: CPython has removed OpenVMS support

[JF Mezei]

On 14-02-01 07:09, Jan-Erik Soderholm wrote:
> Was at the startup meeting for creating a roadmap for
> replacing the OpenVMS system at my customer. This
> will be a 2-3 year project. Then I'll retire...

I could spend some time to dig up your not so distant posts about how
safe VMS was and blasting me as a naysayer.

VMS has been a series hope followed by dashed hopes with no new hope
since 2004.

Palmer comes in to rejuvinate Digital and make it compettive. Instead,
he does a slash and burn.

Pfeiffer comes in to leverage Alpha and VMS/Digital Unix and has that
famouys ad ewith the 3 gas pumps with on labeled "VMS". Unfortunatly
Pfeiffer is fired before rebirth is possible.

The curly accountant is put interim while the board takes forever to
fail to find a replacement CEO.  In 2000, he is about to kill VMS off,
but Marcello convinces him that VMS is still a required cash cow. In
return, VMS is given a "Renaissance" and shows growth. New Hope for VMS.

Then on Jun 25 2001, the Alphacide betrays all hopes.

Then, HP buys Compaq, and there is hope of competent management to make
VMS succesfull on that IA64 thing.  VMS customers had no idea how
incompetant LaCarly was.  Nevertheless, it took a few years

By the time VMS is released on that IA64 thing, we now find there is no
plan to market VMS on that new platform. Instead the writing on the wall
begins with 64 bit 8086s coming out, and Itanium scaled back to niche
high performance computing. This was roughly circa 2004.

Since then, there has been no new hope for VMS. 10 years for christ's
sake. And in 2010, when VMS engineering was decimated and roadmap scaled
to just enough to claiom VMS was still developped, some people still saw
no immediate death.

When Oracle documents on HP's plans for Itanium retirement were made
public, many refused to believe it.


So, yes, it is sad. But with no new hope for VMS since 2004, nobody
should have been surprised when HP finally fessed up to its real plans
for VMS.