[Info-vax] A possible platform for VMS?

[Stephen Hoffman]

On 2015-03-01 18:43:06 +0000, Kerry Main said:

> 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).  
> 
> ....
> 
> 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?

That'd be interesting.   Not a small effort, though.  Different 
licensing model, too; the return of the old Files and Applications 
licensing and/or the old no-logins server licensing.

Android, ChromeOS, iPad, the embedded Linux distros, Windows Thin PC 
and Windows Embedded are all already in this market, among other 
competitors.  Services including Office365 and Google Documents running 
at public servers, and private configurations with HP with Helion and 
OpenStack, or OwnCloud, or other providers, etc.  Potentially with VMS 
servers, if the cloud services were ported over.

As for x86-64 platform, if you want cheaper hardware, that's usually a 
system based on an ARM SoC, and not the extra cost of an Intel 
processor.  (Not unless Intel is underwriting part of the costs and the 
the effort, as was discussed within the last day or so, that is.)  That 
means an ARM port, or your hardware prices can end up higher.

Unless you're targeting boxes tethered to a power socket, creating a 
thin client also involves some non-trivial work in the OS and 
application APIs to optimize battery like and and power management.  
Then there's getting the core applications updated and services 
working, ROM-based or download-based operations and updates, secure 
device provisioning, and getting the GUI working and cleaned up on 
whatever graphics processor is present in your target box.  Whether 
you're going to implement touch support too, and which isn't a trivial 
effort.

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