[Info-vax] Building for Customers, Revenue

[johnwallace4 at yahoo.co.uk]

On Sunday, 14 September 2014 08:53:36 UTC+1, David Froble  wrote:
> JF Mezei wrote:
> 
> > On 14-09-13 13:52, Stephen Hoffman wrote:
> 
> > 
> 
> >> Um, call me back when VMS is close(r) to OS X or Windows in terms of 
> 
> >> applications and features and system hardware support, when the costs 
> 
> >> are known?   Then we'll chat.
> 
> > 
> 
> > Consider business applications, manufacturing plants and other
> 
> > specialised situations where you want a "personal computer" but not a
> 
> > desktop software.
> 
> 
> 
> You're talking about a specific tool, not a PC.
> 
> 
> 
> > For instance, aircraft assembly. Worker scans part serial number,
> 
> > installs it on aircraft and then confirms that part has been installed.
> 
> > (very important process so that an aircraft's pedigree is fully known).
> 
> > 
> 
> > You need a "desktop" but not desktop applications or standard file formats.
> 
> 
> 
> Something more like a tablet, that runs apps that communicate with a server.
> 
> 
> 
> Been there, done that.

There's a school of thought that says there's no need for an
actual 'desktop' (or even a 'PDA' or a tablet) to read barcodes
etc in some of these setups, maybe just host connectivity for
the scanner and maybe a simple screen.

For these situations, the shop floor tool may benefit from
being as dumb as possible, to minimise the risk of failures, data
loss, tampering, etc. 

The central database box should be as robust as possible (same
reasons).

As I'm sure you know, this kind of stuff used to be home ground
for VMS, and still is home ground for many of the software houses
that made these systems for VMS, but who have moved to shinier 
homes in the meantime.

Not everyone wants this apparently 'low tech' kind of setup, but
some do, perhaps alongside other tools (maybe PC based) for e.g.
viewing work instructions etc on some 'desktop' thing which might
well be PC-derived (where PC might include 'tablet').

As per my post late yesterday in response to Hoff in response to
JF, some of the software houses doing this kind of stuff, and some
of their smarter customers, *might* appreciate the opportunity to
upgrade to something more robust than a Windows setup, IF the price
was right and the offering was significantly more credible than
VMS has been for the last few years.

Have a lot of fun.