[Info-vax] IS everyone waiting?

[David Froble]

Phillip Helbig (undress to reply) wrote:
> In article <nug0cj$ttm$1 at dont-email.me>, David Froble
> <davef at tsoft-inc.com> writes: 
> 
>> This is excellent news.  Those on Alpha have basically an unlimited (in
>> time) support path.  VSI will have a recurring revenue model.  If there
>> is any issues, it should be much easier to "fix" a static thing instead
>> of a moving target. 
> 
> Sounds sensible.  I'm of course curious about hobbyist licenses, at 
> least for the future.  And, of course, prices are interesting.  One 
> could get new customers by offering a low-price license (perhaps with 
> less support) for companies with annual profit of less than X.
> 
>>> We're trying to sort it out, but it's likely that for V9 (IA64 and 
>>> X86_64), we'll move to a similar licensing and support mechanism.
> 
> Sounds good.
> 
>> Level the playing field with Linux.  Should be an answer for those who
>> say VMS cannot compete on price. 
> 
> Support prices, perhaps.  But anyone can run linux itself for free.  VMS 
> can't compete here.  With linux, everyone knows that one can run it for 
> free with no support, so support companies can compete on price.  With 
> VMS, this is not possible; support and licenses are bundled, at least in 
> some sense.  (Well, there could be a no-support option, but that doesn't 
> seem like a path VSI will take.)

DOn't forget, this concept is rather new, and revolutionary, to the folks at 
VSI.  Most have lived with the old methods for years.  Give them some time to 
get used to the new methods.

I won't get too worried about the hobbyist thing.  The very people involved are 
those who have supported a hobbyist program in the past.  I doubt they will 
change their minds on that issue.  They have already announced a plan for 
developers.

Nor do I worry about free unsupported usage.  Businesses just won't do that. 
They want guarantees.  Every Codis customer has support, which I'm trying to get 
changed to VSI.  Some issues since it's both HW and SW support.  Not that any of 
them would ever contact HP for SW support, that's the job of their SW vendor. 
But, every one has that contract.

>>> There are no plans for a V9 Alpha release.
>> Nor should there be.  Get Alpha VMS to a supportable point, and leave it
>> there, a bit similar to VAX VMS V7.3.  The future is x86, for now. 
> 
> Sounds sensible.
>