[Info-vax] Updated HPE/VSI OpenVMS V8.4-2L1 Marketing Brochures

[David Froble]

clairgrant71 at gmail.com wrote:
> RE: Alpha
> 
> Alpha is a very difficult issue for us. We have people coming to us looking for Alpha support
> but the only way we can provide it at this time is for the customer to upgrade to a VSI release.
> If you have been running on 7.3-2 for 10+ years do you really want to disturb that environment?

You are entirely correct.  If someone is running a static system, they do not 
need support.

> The Alpha Evaluation Kit (AEK) gave us a means to get some feedback on the OS itself, beyond
> what we do ourselves. That was good. We provided no layered products with the AEK.

Thank you for that.  I upgraded a disk that had V8.3.  Things seem to just work. 
  The Basic compiler still works, I'm going to assume that other things will 
work, I didn't do much testing.

On the other hand, trying to install HPE SSL1 didn't work, and when I asked, I 
got the "company line" about not supporting Alpha.  No problem, you got plenty 
of stuff to work on.

> Our real motivation for considering Alpha releases is to provide a better path to get to x86; get
> up to date first and it will be an easier move. However, we have always wondered if we can 
> provide the layered products needed by these older environments. Do we really want to support
> some really ancient HW?

While I cannot speak for everyone, and sometimes not even for myself, it's my 
opinion that no, you don't.  Alpha is not only dead, the last chips are 
hopelessly outdated with respect to mfg process.  While a better design, process 
trumps design, and Alpha cannot compete in performance anymore.

Note, this comes from someone who still has a VAX running.  But not in a 
production environment.  Actually, none of my systems run in a production 
environment.  I'm not what you'd consider a "customer", but more of a "partner", 
developing software for those who do run production systems.

As for your thinking about a "better path to x86", I think it may be a waste of 
effort.  Your past movements from VAX to Alpha and Alpha to itanic have been 
rather painless and straight forward, thank you very much for that.  So it's my 
thought that if a customer does have the capability to move to x86, which would 
include some technical people with a clue and source code and such, the most 
painless move would be to "just do it" when x86 is available.

> We are working with partners who have lists of thousands of Alpha systems. We are contacting
> these users to see first, if they are interested in upgrading, and if they are, what do they need 
> for SW beyond the OS and what HW platforms are they on. We have a good idea of what we
> can provide. The question is - can we provide the layered products to satisfy enough customers
> to make this a worthwhile venture for us. We can’t just be spreading good will here since every
> minute we spend on Alpha we are not  spending on x86.

Indeed!

> People seem to think that just because there are thousands of Alpha systems out there that they
> should become VSI customers and make us lots of money. It’s not that obvious.

No, it's not.  Customers that would be good for VSI have most likely already 
moved to itanic.  Alpha users (and VAX users) are likely to be happy with what 
they have.  If it ain't broke, don't fix it.  If it works, then work it.

Now, when those VAX and Alpha users are ready to upgrade their infrastructure, 
their having a good opinion of VSI would be a good thing for VSI, and a point in 
favor of once again selecting VMS.