Re: SGI files for chapter 11


Malcolm Dunnett wrote:
In article <1147108136.879764.277650@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
"Andrew" <andrew_harrison@xxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:

Sun/IBM/The tooth Fairy are not going to buy OpenVMS and port it to
anything.

HP are highly unlikely to port it to x86.


How do you know that?


I don't but all the indications are that HP are unlikely to port to
x86. Enough people have asked them for a port in the past and been
rebuffed to justify my comment.

Presumably they still believe (rightly or wrongly) that IA64 is
a better choice, but one has to believe that with each port to a different
processor the subsequent port becomes easier.


The ease or otherwise of the port isn't really the issue. HP would need
to create a whole new ecosystem (OpenVMS on x86) this would require a
much, much more significant effort and expenditure than the port
itself.

If there are sufficient customers who let HP know that VMS is the
only reason they are HP customers and if IA64 proves to not be viable
then porting VMS to x86 would be a good business decision. I have every
confidence the good folks in VMS engineering would have no great
difficulty doing this port if asked.


Of course HP would be foolish to ignore the wishes of a their customers
if these customers could be guaranteed to vote with their feet and
desert HP if they droped OpenVMS and if the loss of these customers had
a significant impact on HP's bottom line.

Sadly I doubt that OpenVMS would satisfy any of these criteria. Very
few customers would drop HP entirely if they ditched OpenVMS,
particularlry if the demise of OpenVMS was caused by Intel axing IA-64.
Even if they did its doubtfull that there are enough major OpenVMS
customers left to seriously impact HP's bottom line.


The only thing that matters is that OpenVMS needs IA-64 to suceed and
make HP and Intel very happy.


No, what OpenVMS needs is customers who see value in it that they
can't get elsewhere. The processor it runs on is just a technical detail.


Hardly, its a bit more practical than that. Without a platform OpenVMS
is as usefull as a chocolate teapot. The choice of processor also
materially effects the cost of the whole platform which in turn effects
peoples buying choices.

Of course that does suggest that if they're going to pull the plug
on IA64 then the sooner the better.

Sort of but removing the uncertainty about IA-64's future would
introduce another certainty the demise of OpenVMS and I am not sure you
want that.

Regards
Andrew

.

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