[Info-vax] A new VMS?

[Arne Vajhøj]

On 4/30/2021 7:53 PM, Dave Froble wrote:
> On 4/30/2021 6:28 PM, Jan-Erik Söderholm wrote:
>> Den 2021-04-30 kl. 17:34, skrev Dave Froble:
>>> On 4/30/2021 8:48 AM, Jan-Erik Söderholm wrote:
>>>
>>>> We had a meeting today around a larger change project for our
>>>> envionment and I had some points on not to invest developer time
>>>> using tools that are not available on x86, but they were more
>>>> interested in how this OpenVMS "thing" could be thrown out...
>>>
>>> I'm curious Jan-Erik.  What were the reasons for wanting to "throw
>>> out" VMS?  Reasonable?  Or bigotry?
>>
>> Good question. Their VMS systems is simply "something from the past"
>> that has to be replaced sooner or later. There is nothing but issues
>> as it is right now. Old and desuported hardware. Issues to get staff
>> with OpenVMS knowledge. Not a "standard" platform.
> 
> Ok, next question.  What is a "standard platform" ?

Different definitions by different people.

But the two biggest groups are probably:
* Linux/x86-64
* Linux/x86-64 or Windows/x84-64

VMS/Alpha and VMS/I64 are not likely to be part of many's definition.

>> Those who knows
>> anything about the system (me) can quite and retire anytime, and that
>> would be a major issue to handle.
> 
> But, they won't have you train anyone, because, "it is going to be 
> replaced anyway", huh?
> 
>> But the services that this system supplies are just great from the
>> users perspective. Fast with short response times. Flexible. Fairly
>> easy to adjust and adopt the in-house software. Fast implementations
>> to new production equipment.
> 
> Oh, my, can't have that!  Where is the job security for the IT people?
> 
>> My *personal* view is that we could do a lot to keep the main/core
>> system but replace VT-based UI with more modern and flexible web
>> based UI. But no investments in that since "it is going to be
>> replaced anyway"...
> 
> Well, you do have experience with WASD ...
> 
> But, I'm going to assume that "fast with short response times" just 
> might suffer some.

VT will likely be very unusual UI in a modern enterprise setup.

browser---traditional web app
browser and HTML5 app---web service
phone/tablet app---web service
windows app---web service

will all be way more common and likely fit better into what the
PC people and the network people like to support.

Arne