[Info-vax] A possible platform for VMS?

[Kerry Main]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Info-vax [mailto:info-vax-bounces at info-vax.com] On Behalf Of
> Stephen Hoffman
> Sent: 01-Mar-15 1:11 PM
> To: info-vax at info-vax.com
> Subject: Re: [New Info-vax] A possible platform for VMS?
> 
> On 2015-03-01 17:41:52 +0000, johnwallace4 at yahoo.co.uk said:
> 
> > Windows may well be acceptable for lots of outfits. VMS was in that
> > position once, but times changed.
> 
> Windows solves the problems — bugs and all — that a whole lot of folks
> have.
> 
> Most folks buy computer systems to do work, and security is secondary
> to that, after all.
> 
> > The same could happen to MS. Much
> 
> And already has, if you include mobile and tablet devices in the
> population of client devices in use.
> 
> > as it happened to Apple (and then a miracle occured).
> 
> A whole lot of focus, a whole lot of work on products, and a whole lot of
> "no".
> 
> <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jh_9Wwx43r4>.
> 
> More than a little of what's been discussed here in comp.os.vms will be
> getting a "no" from VSI, too.
> 
> > At the risk of getting repetitive again, one size does not necessarily
> > fit all (not in a sensible world anyway).
> 
> At the risk of being entirely too repetitive myself, please provide a
> better alternative.
> 

A flash from the past - time to back to basics.

Windows is a thick client model. In the days of expensive and unreliable 
networks, that model worked well. It is well known the huge Mgmt
costs, complexity and security challenges this thick client distributed
model has.

Imho, with 10MB+ Inet connectivity becoming common place to homes, 
And 1GbE to work desks, a better model is a secure thin client accessing 
files on a private (internal shared services) or external cloud (not 
necessarily public).  

With this model -
- patches applied to the thin client whenever the user connects (can
be optional or mandatory)
- back end uses clustering so that patches can be applied with zero 
service availability impact.

Even gamers are starting to look at this model as the fat clients are
constantly being hacked and the games are becoming much less fun
for many users.

Google is already getting quite a few converts to their hosted docs
and email offerings - including many universities.

Imho, with the exception of some heavy duty design / graphics use
cases, the thick client days are numbered.

Perhaps OpenVMS based thin client on cheap x86 is a future option?

:-)

Regards,

Kerry Main
Back to the Future IT Inc.
 .. Learning from the past to plan the future

Kerry dot main at backtothefutureit dot com