[Info-vax] The real problem that needs solving to grow VMS

[Bill Gunshannon]

On 12/14/22 09:32, Dave Froble wrote:
> On 12/14/2022 8:59 AM, Dan Cross wrote:
>> In article <tk9jug$12ar$1 at gioia.aioe.org>,
>> Arne Vajhøj  <arne at vajhoej.dk> wrote:
>>> On 11/2/2022 9:30 AM, Simon Clubley wrote:
>>> [snip]
>>>>                            could you also answer why people would be
>>>> willing to put the future of their company at risk by buying a product
>>>> from a small vendor (VSI) that will stop working if that vendor goes 
>>>> bust ?
>>>
>>> If VSI goes bust - which there is no indication that it will - and
>>> if there is noone picking up VMS - which seems unlikely if there
>>> are companies willing to pay - and it falls unlucky at the
>>> end of a license period and if the server is critical and if
>>> they did not negotiate and got a forever license from VSI, then
>>> it would be a problem.
>>>
>>> But that is a lot of if's.
>>
>> That _is_ a lot of if's, but still "what if?"s that need to be
>> addressed, and none of them are relevant to Linux.  A small
>> likelihood of catastrophic failure is still non-zero; why chance
>> it when one need not?
> 
> Many can play the ""what if" game ...
> 
> Would we ever have left the caves, if some were willing to try something 
> new, or in the case of VMS, something old?
> 
> You seem to think Linux is a better choice.  Fine.  But that doesn't 
> make you right, or wrong.  Just different.
> 
> Bottom line, some of us like VMS.  The question is, why do you attempt 
> to talk us out of it?
> 
> I might ask, "why chance Linux if one need not?"

Because the risk of any of the above if's is much less with
Linux than VMS.

But, as you said, it doesn't make either right or wrong, only
different.  Personally, I would love to see VMS back in the
Desktop-to-Datacenter market.  I think it would be a great
option for DOD where security is much more important than
most businesses.  (Yes, I have heard the constant mantra about
VMS's security shortcomings but with the right backing and
financing it has the potential to be much more secure than
Linux or Windows both of which are widely used throughout
the DOD!)

We can always dream, I guess.

bill