[Info-vax] HP / VSI OpenVMS breakfast event - held on 5 May 2015 - loose recap

[IanD]

My loose remembering's of the HP / VSI OpenVMS breakfast event on the 5 May 2015

For those looking for extra information about what is coming or any special privileged information, click on your browser back button now, the breakfast didn't disclose anything of that nature, in fact, 99% of what has been coming out via the VSI website and/or Facebook pretty well sums it up anyhow

The breakfast outline was published as:

Agenda:
7.30am - Arrive & Registration
8:00am - Plate Breakfast Served
8.30am - The Future of OpenVMS
10.30am - Concludes

Presenting were John Egolf, OpenVMS Integrity Migration Manager, HP OpenVMS organisation and Duane Harris, CEO of VMS Software (there were others, one from New Zealand whose name escapes me (sorry!!!) and Jeremy Begg of vsm software services acting as the representative of the OpenVMS community (sorry Jeremy I cannot remember your title)

I'll try and list the things I can remember that were different from the announcements we already know (and I guess if you've heard all this before then it's the stuff that I didn't know)

Delaware are the backers (one of the backers?) of VSI (I know, this is on their website)

In the future, there 'may be' (read may be!) the possibility of a subscription style of licencing. Many ideas are being considered, NONE beyond what has already been officially announced are available. The takeaway here is that VSI will be as flexible as they can be, where they can be

The company expects to be cash positive by 2016. I don't know if this means before 2016 or if it's the 2016 financial year, I just jotted down cash positive by 2016

When due diligence showed that the top 10 companies running OpenVMS in the world were still wanting to stay with OpenVMS. A figure of 218 million was I believe shown. I do not know if this was the OpenVMS spend by these companies combined or if it was the IT spend of these companies combined or even if it was the listed profit of these companies combined so take this information as you wish, I wish I could remember more but companies names were stripped from the presentation and the listing was by industry sector. Sorry, this information in itself doesn't really represent much and therefore PLEASE do not let it be the source of grandiose rumours and speculation!
The take-away I believe was meant to show that VSI believe there is still good money to be made from OpenVMS and a customer base out there that wants to stay on OpenVMS

A new file system is being looked at. Works started on something in 2009. Those works will be revisited. The file system was not based on anything else out there

VSI are looking intently at opening up a development program

Some discussion in the audience occurred around the education market. VSI reps made comments about a return to the education market

A question was asked about the Hobbyist program. HP and VSI both stated that the Hobbyist program would continue as it is today

Open source is a high priority going forward and getting Java 1.8 was very high on the priority list

A new TCP/IP stack was mentioned. A member of the audience asked if the TCP/IP stack was Progress software's stack. VSI declined to comment based on confidentiality / NDA etc. There was NO, I repeat NO, NONE, NOTHING to indicate that the new TCP/IP stack was a licensed stack from Progress as many are speculating

The most interesting thing I found was just how much HP have been helping VSI with this whole venture (which is totally different to what I thought).
The amount of work gathering source code (all the way back to and including the Vax I believe) was sourced from all over the place and off servers that had been shut down etc so as to hand over to VSI the most complete works for OpenVMS possible. 
The amount of effort HP must have gone through was incredible, it has totally changed by biased opinion towards HP having abandoned OpenVMS to one where it appears that HP want VSI to be as successful as possible with their OpenVMS venture. 
The view I had was one of HP ditching OpenVMS and getting a few bucks as OpenVMS is licensed out to now one of seeing HP as wanting VSI to be successful and they seriously have done so much work in handing over OpenVMS in the best form possible. 
John Egolf and the team of people at HP frankly left me rather gob-smacked as to the effort they put in to the transformation to VSI. It really is more of a partnership than a handover as I first thought

I cannot remember the figure but someone asked how many employee's VSI have. A figure of around 61 ???? (I cannot remember) was spoken of and that number was expected to be increased to I think 89 (again I cannot remember the figure exactly) either end of this year or end of next year. The take-away here was that growth was expected and planned for

Sorry that so many of these points are inconclusive or lofty in hard details but I'm trying to remember from 3 days ago and my memory isn't what it used to be

Little point asking me more, all I can remember or think I remembered is as above

The same session was held in Melbourne Australia on the 6th also (which I did not attend) 

If anything is wrong PLEASE make a post correcting the points OR add extra information as I am sure I didn't remember everything