[Info-vax] VMS survivability (was: Re: Rendez-vous autour de VMS" of January 31 2023 report)

[Dan Cross]

In article <memo.20230218104100.11588B at jgd.cix.co.uk>,
John Dallman <jgd at cix.co.uk> wrote:
>In article <tsq2vo$3utev$1 at dont-email.me>, jan-erik.soderholm at telia.com
>(Jan-Erik Söderholm) wrote:
>
>> English version of the meeting notes:
>
>The license news is good. [snip]

Meh.

I'll be blunt: the only reasonable path for VMS to survive
is to open source it under an OSI-approved license.  VSI
should dedicated itself to finishing the x86_64 port and
doing the necessary legal work to make that happen, and
then pivot to consulting and services (honestly: this is
what DEC should have done, and it's largely what IBM did
in order to survive in the 00's).

Trying to push VMS as a _product_ at any price point will
undoubtedly lead to an ever-dwindling user base and an
eventual fade into obscure irrelevancy.

	- Dan C.