[Info-vax] Building for Customers, Revenue

[David Froble]

Jan-Erik Soderholm wrote:
> Phillip Helbig---undress to reply wrote 2014-09-13 16:31:
>> In article <lv1jr9$ecd$1 at dont-email.me>, Stephen Hoffman
>> <seaohveh at hoffmanlabs.invalid> writes:
>>
>>> Best case and assuming a massive budget for development, that's most of
>>> a decade of very intensive work to bring the server features forward to
>>> what will then be current, and probably twice that effort would need to
>>> be invested to create a viable desktop and probably a desktop that
>>> too few folks would want.
>>
>> How would the effort compare to the effort of porting to x86?
>>
> 
> The difference is that a port to x86 is actualy asked for.
> That is, there is a *market*. There isn't for "desktop VMS".
> Never will be.

Well, I would not say "never" ..

If something I liked became available, I'd give it a test run ..

>> I don't think that VSI should compete against "regular" desktops, but
>> rather offer enough desktop support so that VMS folks don't have to run
>> something else just for desktop stuff.
> 
> There will *never* be a VMS desktop that even comes close
> to a current Windows/Apple PC/laptop. Heck, even Linux have
> a hard time competeting even with the wast amount of effort
> put into it.

Careful, you just might get Phillip to get energetic ..

> This is not where I'd want *my* licens money to go.

Now, YOU GOT THAT RIGHT !!!

>>> There just aren't enough Phillip-like customers in the world.
>>
>> I don't know.  Just a few weeks ago, anyone who thought that there would
>> be a viable port of VMS to x86, or even Poulson support, in the
>> foreseeable future would have been deemed delusional.  :-)
> 
> Just a few weeks ago people was actualy asking for a Poulson
> port (x86 was just unthinkable at that time).
> 
> Browser (and other "desktop" stuff) has been out of the
> picture for decades.
> 
>>> Pretty much everybody already has a non-VMS desktop environment, 
>>> Phillip.
>>
>> But even if they do, it is a pain to constantly transfer files between
>> it and VMS.
> 
> Then don't do that! :-)
> 
> Besides, it is no major problem, I simply mail files from
> VMS that I need on my Windows laptop, and also mail files
> back to VMS. You can also setup a web server that serves
> one or a few directories and you can simply download
> directly from your desktop browser into your desktop.
> 
>>
>> I do have some experience with other systems, desktop and otherwise, but
>> at home do almost all desktop stuff from VMS.  It would be nice to be
>> able to do it all.
>>
> 
> Of course it depends on what *all* means, but for general, modern
> desktop (Office-type) work, that will simply never happen.
> 
> 

You seem to like that word "never" ...  dangerous habit ...

Remember, "they" were saying VMS was dead ...  would never survive ..