[Info-vax] Final Orace release on VMS.

[Richard Maher]

On 13/11/2020 12:46 am, Marc Van Dyck wrote:
> Jan-Erik Söderholm brought next idea :
>> Den 2020-11-12 kl. 17:05, skrev Arne Vajhøj:
>>> On 10/28/2020 9:59 AM, Phillip Helbig (undress to reply) wrote:
>>>> In article <rnbs20$on2$1 at panix2.panix.com>, kludge at panix.com
>>>> (Scott Dorsey) writes:
>>>>> Phillip Helbig (undress to reply)
>>>>> <helbig at asclothestro.multivax.de> wrote:
>>>>>> What fraction of paying VMS customers use Oracle "classic"
>>>>>> (which is what the announcement is about)?  What fraction
>>>>>> use Rdb?  What fraction use some other database?  What
>>>>>> fraction use no database (not counting RMS)?
>>>>> 
>>>>> Probably not many use Oracle Classic.  However, if there is
>>>>> any chance of expanding the customer base at all and get new
>>>>> people to use VMS, having support for Oracle is a big, big
>>>>> deal.  There are a lot of people using Oracle on their back
>>>>> end systems.
>>>> 
>>>> Big users of Oracle Classic probably have an application very
>>>> tied to the database.  There isn't a huge advantage for them
>>>> moving to VMS.  My guess is that, among paying customers, more
>>>> than half use Rdb and less than 1% Oracle Classic.
>>> 
>>> Rdb is undoubtedly the most important among those using VMS
>>> today.
>>> 
>>> But VMS should hopefully grow beyond who are using VMS today.
>>> 
>>> For a certain market segment then Oracle DB (Oracle classic) is 
>>> very important.
>>> 
>>> But: 1) Oracle may be difficult to persuade to change strategy
>>> (they are a huge company and VSI is a small company). 2) There
>>> are other market segments than those willing to pay a 5 digit
>>> dollar amount per core for database licenses.
>>> 
>>> Available relational databases on VMS include: * Rdb *
>>> MySQL/MariaDB * SQlite * Mimer * HSQLDB * H2 * Derby
>>> 
>>> Arne
>>> 
>> 
>> Seems as the response from Oracle is to run your applications as 
>> usual using the client kit, but have the server on another
>> platform.
> 
> With support for the client until end 2022 only, and for the server 
> end of 2027. And on Itanium only, as there will not be any port to 
> X86 at all, even not the client.
> 

This is the key point or coup de grâce :-(

Can someone from anywhere confirm this?

> In other words, start migrating today. WHat's the proportion of VSI 
> customers who need access to an Oracle database ? If all those
> cannot migrate to X86, is the viability of VSI still guaranteed ?
> Who's going to bet the farm on that, with one year subscription
> licenses ?
>