[Info-vax] OT: news from the trenches (re: Solaris)

[David Froble]

seasoned_geek wrote:
> Sadly, putting VMS on x86 will ensure it a market life of minutes,
> not years. It is a special OS and needs a special kick booty chip.
> The earlier comments in this thread about Solaris running faster and
> better on SPARC T5 should provide a guiding light, but it won't. By
> all accounts Solaris should have been long gone from the market by
> now, but, a certain segment of the market cannot make do with
> Wal-mart quality chips so Solaris continues.
> 
> VMS also serves a market segment which cannot make do with Wal-mart
> quality chips. Porting VMS to Wal-mart quality chips ensures its
> demise. Porting VMS to the Wal-mart quality x86 line is like feeding
> chocolate to dogs. They beg for it, but for them it is fatal.

What other options are there?  VMS cannot support it's own custom CPUs. 
  Remember Alpha?  So, what's left?