[Info-vax] Attn VSI employees: Viable full system Itanium emulator for VMS ?

[Arne Vajhøj]

On 2/17/2022 3:05 PM, Dan Cross wrote:
> In article <j77mqcFl71aU2 at mid.individual.net>,
> Bill Gunshannon  <bill.gunshannon at gmail.com> wrote:
>> On 2/17/22 14:32, Arne Vajhøj wrote:
>>> We know that VAX emulation is used by some VMS users.
>>
>> VMS users have a reason to stay where they are.  As we have
>> discussed here ad infinitum in some cases there is little or
>> no option to migrate.  That is never the case with HP-UX
>> which is just another flavor of Unix.
> 
> I really don't understand the point of an HP-UX port
> to x86_64.  What would be available that wouldn't also
> be available under, say, Linux?  HP-UX was never a
> very good or friendly version of Unix.

Maybe not. But if all the code, procedures and
people skills are for HP-UX then ...

> For that matter, I'm not sure I understand the point of
> a VMS port to x86_64 as a long-term commercial product.
> I could have seen it with the first Opertons, but not
> now.  In particular, what market is VSI hoping for except
> legacy customers who are tied to VMS for specific
> vertical applications?  Why would someone make the
> decision to base a new product entry on OpenVMS in 2022?
> 
> Don't get me wrong, I *like* VMS, but let's be realistic.
> I doubt if they'll get much uptake beyond moving legacy
> applications to modern hardware, and even then, I think
> their user base will asymptotically shrink to zero as
> those applications migrate to other systems.

Noone said that it would be easy.

But VMS does not have a chance if there is no HW
available to run it on.

If it can run on standard servers (especially in
virtualized environments) then it has a chance.

Arne