Re: Itanium lap tops are needed now!

In article <43CC9CAE.436CC38@xxxxxxxxxxxx>, JF Mezei
<jfmezei.spamnot@xxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:

> > a graphics card", which is a workstation by any other name. It would be
> > nice to see that trend continue, but I still detect the ghost of Bob
> > Palmer.
>
> Marcello was quoted bragging about being the one bright light in HP who
> decided to announce IA64 was to be limited to the high end market niche.
>
> On the other end, by doing so, Marcello is ensuring IA64 dies more
> quickly. The only question is when/if VMS will be ported to HP's
> surviving platform. (the 8086).
>
> From a market point of view, when you look at what Linux has been able
> to do, there is 0 reason for a solid and suported system such as VMS to
> make it head to head against Linux and Windows on the 8086 platform.

I'm not so sure. This has been debated quite a bit here, of course.
However, considering that one can get VAX and ALPHA hardware FOR FREE,
why hasn't VMS taken off? Any argument about cost of the 8086 must
apply even more so for FREE hardware. OK, there is no support, but what
support is there for CHEAP 8086 hardware? It is designed to work more
or less for 2 or 3 years, since people then replace it with something
more powerful anyway (to be able to run the latest bloatware). Any true
businessman must see the much lower TCO due to the reliable hardware.
OK, it's not the fastest, but how many, say, internet-based businesses
need fast hardware? Some do, of course, but not all.

I think the main issue is not hardware cost, but license costs. IF HP
wants to make inroads here, they need an entry-level commercial license,
say 5% of your EBITA. If that's more than a commercial license, then
one is of course free to buy a commercial license, and no-one can
complain that 5% of the EBITA is too much. The main reason Linux took
off is the lack of license cost. It's certainly not due to reliable
hardware or a much better OS. Of course, once it took off, many people
became interested in it, wrote applications for it etc.

> Give VMS a chance. It won't hurt HP to port it to the 8086 since all VMS
> sales will go towards increasing HP sales.

It could only compete with Linux if total costs are comparable.
Zero-cost licenses are NOT AN OPTION unless HP want to fund VMS from the
sale of hardware (not completely absurd, but I don't see it happening,
especially since with this type of port, people wouldn't have to buy the
hardware from HP).

.

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