[Info-vax] Regarding VMS on a VAX. Just curious...

[gérard Calliet]

Le 13/08/2020 à 01:40, Stephen Hoffman a écrit :
> On 2020-08-12 17:16:43 +0000, gérard Calliet said:
> 
>> That's your style. Encyclopedic.
>> ...
>> So : how can we do VAX/VMS again? Concrete willings demanded.
> 
> OpenVMS x86-64 is the future, and is build on the VAX past, as well as 
> on the present of Alpha and Itanium.
> 
> 
> 
> I'd much rather see VSI focusing on OpenVMS x86-64 and in hauling the 
> 64-bit environment and tooling forward, that work even to the relative 
> detriment of OpenVMS I64 and OpenVMS Alpha work, too. And would suggest 
> the same focus for app developers, too.
I agree. And for this reason I think it's more a foundation form, with 
people and (perhaps) sponsor companies which could promote a last build 
for OpenVMS/VAX, opening ways for hobbyist PAKs.
For legal reasons the build could be done at VSIs, but with other 
financial contributors. And no support, no evolution.
> 
> I liked VAX. It was a good product for its time. But OpenVMS VAX is 
> dead. The last new release was very nearly twenty years ago, and the VAX 
> hardware designs and limits pre-millennial.
The same. It is computer history. I know we are in a time where 
concepts' evolution, scientific history are seen as nothing because 
totally non-profit. But in the same time, (some) young engineers are 
very interested on fundational concepts, true strories... And also The 
big issue is about all the ways we are storing information have a very 
short life, and we can numerize the planet, but it is more and more 
difficult to read a 20 years old support. So on the subject we have pro 
and againts trends.
> 
> For the remaining OpenVMS VAX commercial sites around, nothing here has 
> changed. For hobbyists preferring VAX, yes. There is a transition ahead 
> through 2021, for those that received the final HPE hobbyist PAKs.
> 
> But if you'd like to see the future of VAX rekindled, by all means do go 
> find enough folks with enough money to invest in restarting OpenVMS VAX. 
> Have at. Maybe join VSI?
> 
VSI would not be a first contact here. I think about simh community, 
hobbyist community, and Stromasys and AVT ware. If something begins, it 
will be time to contact VSI (and perhaps HPE).
> 
> 
> 
> And FWIW, in the English vernacular, Robert's "we" referred to VSI. That 
> usage is akin to what is known in English as the "royal we"; of speaking 
> officially, in this case.
> 
It is about this "royal we" I was speaking. Which has a even more "nous" 
equivalent in french (and a little bit deprecated for historic reasons 
:) ). And in my opinion, everytime we use a "we", we are saying a little 
more than that we are thinking about. I don't think Robert thinks we 
(VSI) are the whole VMS ecosystem, but perhaps the royalty of his "we" 
prevents him from perceiving all the desires of the kingdom - we all do 
that -.
>