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

[Simon Clubley]

On 2022-11-07, Dave Froble <davef at tsoft-inc.com> wrote:
> On 11/7/2022 8:41 AM, Simon Clubley wrote:
>> On 2022-11-06, Dave Froble <davef at tsoft-inc.com> wrote:
>>> On 11/2/2022 9:23 AM, Simon Clubley wrote:
>>>> You correctly talk about only small numbers being required to try VMS
>>>> compared to the industry as a whole.
>>>>
>>>> You have not yet talked about _why_ even those small numbers would be
>>>> persuaded to try VMS. IOW, you have not yet answered the question I asked
>>>> at the start of this thread.
>>>
>>> VMS is not new.  It's capabilities are well known and documented.  If a person
>>> is competent, and VMS best fits the needs, then choose VMS.  If VMS is the best
>>> fit, and not chosen, that again goes back to "competent", right?
>>>
>>
>> And now we are back to what is essentially my original question: In what
>> situation would VMS be considered "the best fit" for a new installation
>> these days ?
>>
>
> I don't know any answer to that question, and not just for VMS.  What would be 
> the situation for any platform, OS, language, and such?  Any such answer would 
> belong to specific requirements for a task.
>
> Do you have any answers for any specific OS?
>

You can argue for Linux for many server-based applications and that includes
some of the same reasons that used to hold true for VMS at one time:

1) Massive installation base. This isn't something you have to worry
about going away in 5 years.

2) Huge trained professional base. This isn't something you have to
worry about finding trained people for in 5 years.

3) An actively probed and maintained OS, which means security issues
are found and fixed and related issues also found and fixed. This ends
up making the OS much more robust, especially as new functionality is
also added to the OS to counter emerging security weaknesses.

For example, Linux now has MAC security whereas VMS is still in the DAC world.

4) A huge ecosystem of software, especially for server applications, with
all the advantages that brings. This is the same position DEC used to be
in decades ago. This includes a large range of programming languages and
development environments, as well as full major application packages.

5) You can have a contract support level that matches your business
requirements and _you_ are in control of how much support you need
(or don't need).

When you combine all of the above, then Linux (for a combination of
technical and business reasons) can easily be argued to be the best
fit for many applications.

You might find something that's more technically advanced in some areas
than Linux, but until you match all the non-technical advantages above
that Linux has, then Linux is still the best fit in the real world for
those applications, even if some alternatives have some more advanced
features technically.

You want VMS to be used instead of Linux in a new environment ?
The above is a subset of the issues you need to address before that can
even become a possibility.

Simon.

-- 
Simon Clubley, clubley at remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP
Walking destinations on a map are further away than they appear.