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

[David Goodwin]

On Tuesday, November 1, 2022 at 1:59:20 PM UTC+13, Arne Vajhøj wrote:
> On 10/31/2022 9:09 AM, Simon Clubley wrote: 
> > On 2022-10-30, Arne Vajhøj <ar... at vajhoej.dk> wrote: 
> >> But still I think VMS future looks better now than in the past. 
> >> 
> >> * there is a company dedicated to VMS (VSI) 
> >> * VMS runs on on standard hardware (x86-64) with a future 
> >> * VMS can run in common enterprise environments like 
> >> VMWare ESXI and AWS/Azure/GCP 
> >> 
> >> VMS now needs software! 
> > 
> > What would it take for a manager in a new-to-VMS company to risk 
> > their pension and salary by buying a VMS solution instead of what 
> > is currently an industry-standard solution based on Linux or Windows ? 
> > 
> > That's the _real_ problem you need to solve. Adding new software to 
> > VMS means nothing until you solve that problem.
> I don't think so. 
> 
> The decision process will either explicit or implicit be a 
> two phase thing: 
> 1) short list good candidates for the task 
> 2) pick one from that short list 
> 
> No support or no hardware means not making the short list. That 
> is solved now. 
> 
> Not having the software also means not making the short list. 
> And that is an outstanding problem in most cases. 
> 
> Until VMS will get on the short list then it is not an option. 
> 
> If VMS makes it to the short list then I am not so worried 
> about the picking phase. 
> 
> Sure it would be a problem if the goal was to make it 
> VMS-Linux 50%-50%. Convincing 50% of the decision makes 
> to pick VMS would not be easy. 
> 
> But if the goal is the more realistic VMS-Linux 1%-99%, 
> then it is a lot easier. Some decision makers will be 
> willing to look at less common alternatives. Some 
> decision makers will have had a recent bad experience 
> with Linux. 

Even if the software was available on OpenVMS, why would you
choose it over Linux? Why subject your business to the high licensing
costs, yearly license renewals, and difficulty of finding skilled staff?
All to run software that was probably ported from Linux anyway? What 
is the actual selling point of OpenVMS to potential customers?

And probably the reason why there is no software for OpenVMS is that
it's too obscure, almost certainly because of it's licensing situation. Until 
its cheap and easy to license like its competitors, I don't really see it
having any chance.