[Info-vax] Internationalization

[Bill Gunshannon]

On 1/1/19 11:20 PM, Dave Froble wrote:
> On 1/1/2019 6:09 PM, Bill Gunshannon wrote:
> 
>> Like so many companies, Pr1me shot themselves in the foot.
>> It might interest you to know there are still people running
>> Pr1me 50 Series today, decades after the company disappeared.
> 
> Ok, you just stuck your foot in your mouth.
> 
> You've made many posts about time to move off VMS, for multiple reasons, 

I am not suggesting anyone move off of VMS.  I am merely trying to
find out what made VMS so popular at a time when there were what
appeared to be better options.  History has shown that for non-
technical reasons they weren't, but that's another matter entirely.

> usually about the lack of current supported HW and SW.  

I have never said there was no SW support.  We all know there is.
Hardware is another matter.  Two of the platforms that VMS runs
on and that many people claim their business relies on are dead
ends.  That, to me, is a serious risk to a business.  The fact
that people are also saying they see no reason to move to X86-64
VMS is unsettling to me and I would have thought to others who
would like to see VSI succeed and VMS continue to survive.

>                                                         I've got to ask, 
> why do you think people should move off VMS, 

I don't think people should move off of VMS.  Not as long as it does
the job and they take the necessary actions needed to not paint them-
selves into a corner, like refusing to move to X86-64 VMS.  I have
said many time lately that I would love to find places that need
programmer support to keep those legacy applications running so I
could work with them.  I also believe "If it ain't broke don't
fix it".  But that has an additional codicil that you should prevent
it from breaking if at all possible.

>                                               while you proudly make such 
> references to people still running on a totally dead environment?

How is it any more dead than VMS?  Beyond the lack of hardware
availability that is.  Software is still supported and the OS is
still fully supported.  The hardware will run out before software
and OS support does.

> 
> At least VMS has  VSI ...

And PRIMOS has the same thing. A non-related to the original company
provider of full support, minus any attempt to move to newer hardware.
Although, there is at least one emulator of the Pr1me 50 series out
there.

> 
> And soon x86 ...

And I hope everyone moves to it. But a lot of people here have
said lately that they see no reason to.  Am I the only one who
finds that scary?

bill