[Info-vax] For sale: VAXstation 4000/90 128MB Fully Working and Tested

[Dave Froble]

On 6/30/2022 12:27 PM, Bill Gunshannon wrote:
> On 6/30/22 11:06, Jan-Erik Söderholm wrote:
>> Den 2022-06-30 kl. 15:02, skrev Bill Gunshannon:
>>> On 6/29/22 22:01, Dave Froble wrote:
>>>> On 6/29/2022 3:36 PM, Arne Vajhøj wrote:
>>>>> On 6/29/2022 3:28 PM, Dave Froble wrote:
>>>>>>                                   My days working with VMS, and computers in
>>>>>> general, seem to be coming to an end.
>>>>>
>>>>> What??
>>>>>
>>>>> We expect you to stick around for a few more decades!
>>>>>
>>>>> Arne
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Erik (the boss) is 80, I'm 76, Bill in early 70s, and Niel is late 60s, and
>>>> really want to retire.
>>>>
>>>> We made a pitch to the customers.  Buy the software package, and we will
>>>> give you a year or whatever we can to train new people.  They said they
>>>> didn't want to be in the software business.  (Almost every business for the
>>>> last 30-40 years has been in the software business, in some way.)
>>>>
>>>> Largest customer, now being run by original owner's children, had their
>>>> auditors come in, and were told:
>>>>
>>>> You can't use that ancient OS (VMS) ...
>>>> You can't continue with that ancient language (Basic) ...
>>>> You need a relational database ...
>>>> And a few more ridiculous claims ...
>>>> Above all, "you can't count on these old geezers" ...
>>>>
>>>> They refused to give them a successful audit ...
>>>>
>>>> Can't purchase business insurance without successful audit ...
>>>>
>>>> Then they pointed out a company with a cloud based solution for the customer
>>>> to talk to.  Too bad they didn't mention that the company was a wholely
>>>> owned subsidiary of the auditing firm.
>>>>
>>>> :-)
>>>>
>>>> The app uses a single connection to the cloud.  There is inadequate
>>>> throughput. It is slow.  Every time the customer asks for a feature in
>>>> Codis, they are told that cannot be done.  After several postponements, the
>>>> customer went live on the cloud solution.  They are missing many features
>>>> they counted on.  The system is inadequate.  For example, (Bill likes to
>>>> gather statistics), max orders from Amazon have hit 100 per minute.  The new
>>>> system is lucky to handle 5 Amazon orders per minute. Most people aware of
>>>> this are predicting that they're going to crater. There is also the
>>>> penalties from Amazon if a vendor does not perform as agreed.
>>>>
>>>> This customer might have spent a million over the last 30 years on Codis.
>>>> Already they have spent over 5 million trying to get the new cloud based
>>>> working, and it isn't doing so well.
>>>>
>>>> We have continually offered to help.  Other customers are looking at the
>>>> clusterfuck, and are re-thinking about being in the software business. Codis
>>>> does all they need to run their companies.  The main problem is the age of
>>>> the people involved.  We'd really like to do something about that, but if we
>>>> could, we'd be rich and in the medical field, not software.
>>>>
>>>> Erik has told the customers, the company is shutting down at the end of
>>>> 2023. We'd like to continue, but we can't make any promises.  We will do
>>>> what we can. But if the beer truck gets us ...
>>>>
>>>> We have told the customers:
>>>>
>>>> VSI is currently supporting VMS, and porting it to x86 ...
>>>> VSI is currently (I hope John) supporting Basic ...
>>>> The auditing firm is a bunch of crooks ...
>>>>
>>>> The names were changed to protect the guilty ...
>>>>
>>>
>>> Should have used COBOL.  Then they could move to z/OS and DB2.
>>> DB2 meet the relational database requirement.  And z/OS, well,
>>> nobody ever got fired for going with IBM.   :-)
>>>
>>> bill
>>>
>>> (Still time to do the conversion.   :-)
>>>
>>
>> I think that Davids application runs as a distributed system.
>> z/OS are usually very centralized systems.
>>
>>
>
> I guess my comment was too tongue-in-cheek.  The same auditors who are
> trying to push VMS and BASIC out the door would apply equal pressure
> on z/OS and COBOL today.
>
> Oh, and Dave, I thought you were the boss?
> :-)
>
> bill
>

For Codis, I'm the R&D guy.  For all else, I am the boss.

Did you ever spell boss backwards?

-- 
David Froble                       Tel: 724-529-0450
Dave Froble Enterprises, Inc.      E-Mail: davef at tsoft-inc.com
DFE Ultralights, Inc.
170 Grimplin Road
Vanderbilt, PA  15486