On 2020-11-25, Phillip Helbig (undress to reply) <
hel...@asclothestro.multivax.de> wrote:
> In article <rpjjfe$m0n$
2...@dont-email.me>, Simon Clubley
><clubley@remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP> writes:
>
>> > But what exactly do you want VSI to say?
>>
>> I want VSI to tell _everyone_ about the latest Oracle briefing on
>> Rdb for x86-64 VMS and to sell it as proof that major things are
>> finally happening in the x86-64 VMS world and that important
>> vendors are committing to x86-64 VMS and hence helping to keep the
>> platform viable for everyone, even for those who do not use the
>> vendor's products.
>
> Why should someone who is interested in other products care about Rdb?
Seriously Phillip ? You really need this explained to you ? Ok, here goes:
No manager is going to invest in a move to a platform that they think is
dead or may shortly become dead. They have their company pension and
not getting a P45/pink slip as a result of that decision to think about.
Alpha is dead.
Itanium will shortly be dead.
The port of VMS to x86-64 has been going on for 6 years and has not
yet delivered anything a customer can use in production.
Even when VMS on x86-64 becomes available, no manager is going to invest
in a move to that platform (see above about company pension/P45) unless
they think it has a viable long-term future.
As part of that decision, they will want to see that x86-64 VMS has,
or will shortly have, a critical mass of other people using the same
platform in order to make that platform viable. To that manager, it
doesn't matter what products those other people are using; it only
matters that enough people are going to be using VMS on x86-64 to make
it a relatively safe decision for that manager to also take.
By that measure, Oracle formally announcing that they are porting Rdb
to x86-64 VMS is a major sign of commitment to x86-64 VMS and a major
confidence boost that x86-64 VMS may end up with enough users to make
it a long-term viable platform.
This only helps however if those other managers know about this and if
those same managers see a stream of _public_ activity from VSI marketing
about all the other products and users coming to x86-64 VMS which helps
to increase confidence that VMS on x86-64 is a reasonable option for
that manager's organisation to be using.
In the absence of a usable VMS on x86-64, that public activity also helps
to allow the manager to make decisions that keep future options open,
including a possible move to x86-64 VMS, instead of them making a decision
_now_ to move away from VMS.
This is why it's so damned important to tell _everyone_ about Rdb on
x86-64 VMS now that Oracle have formally announced their plans.
A few people around here clearly understand this. Surely, the rest of
you can see this as well ?
> A commitment to Rdb does not imply a commitment to a web browser, for
> example. :-) And those interested in Rdb have known it for years.
>
>> Even HP/HPE was better than this in times gone past. Remember the
>> disaster-proof video from a decade ago ? How much exposure do you
>> think that one video gave to VMS for the following few years ?
>
> How many sales were the result of that video?
>
Wrong question. The correct question is how many people were able to
continue using VMS within their organisation because they and their
managers saw HP treating VMS as an actively supported product ?