[Info-vax] Comment on the future of OpenVMS

[Rich Alderson]

billg999 at cs.uofs.edu (Bill Gunshannon) writes:

> Formal announcement is not necessary for the death of a product.
> For example, when was the death of RSX-11 formally announced?
> (as of about a year ago all formal sales and maintenance were stopped.)

When Digital announced the cancellation of the Jupiter project (the KC-10
based DECSYSTEM-4050), it cost them a lot of customers, who were not
interested in the underpowered VAX that was being presented as their
alternative.

It also cost them a lot of money, because the LCGSIG was very powerful at
the time, and negotiated a continuation of software development for five
years, and of hardware support for ten, from the time of the cancellation.

So letting it drag out into the indefinite future until customers just go
away on their own may seem like a preferable strategy.

-- 
Rich Alderson                  "You get what anybody gets. You get a lifetime."
news at alderson.users.panix.com                           --Death, of the Endless