[Info-vax] VSI strategy for OpenVMS

[Arne Vajhøj]

On 9/15/2021 7:07 PM, kemain.nospam at gmail.com wrote:
> Yep, one of the challenges Windows admins (and to a bit lesser extent,
> Linux) have is just the sheer volume of monthly patches (security and
> functionality).
> 
> This is not OS religion - simply reality.

True.

But I think they prefer patches over no patches.

> That is one of the hidden challenges with OS sprawl and even if the business
> does not provide the downtime approvals, it is usually the OPS teams that
> get burned if the company gets hacked because of some patch was not applied.

Whoever has responsibility for patching gets the blame if not patching
result in problems.

> One lottery company support admin told me that they had adopted a
> patch-n-pray philosophy as they just do not have the cycles to properly test
> all these monthly patches with all their Apps on a continual basis.

If the system is important then patch-and-pray seems much more
attractive than notpatch-and-pray.

If you patch and there is a problem introduced by the patch,
then it gets reported and fixed and a new patch shows up. That
can cost hundreds of thousands or millions for downtime.

If you don't patch and the system get hacked then:
- you may be extorted many millions via ransomware
- your data may be publicized resulting in loss of confidence
   by customer that will either cost many millions or close the business
- your data may end up with competitors possible residing in
   foreign countries providing few legal option seriously
   damaging the business future
- and worst case the hackers modify data and leave without
   anyone noticing - this could again cost millions or
   lives and may very likely close the business

> It will be interesting to see if OpenVMS runs into this same challenge not
> that it will soon be released on X86-64.

I don't think the change in HW platform would result in many more
patches.

If the list of available open source stuff on VMS increase
from 100s to 10000s then it will increase number of patches.

Arne