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by nickpsecurity 3865 days ago
Not just another that knows of VMS and the prior innovations but one whose site taught me many things about those days. Glad to get a chance to say (tips hat) thanks for the info. :)

Wish modern systems were designed and implemented with even half the skill that VMS, etc were. I've never gotten to experience an OS reliable enough that I temporarily forgot reboot command. Desktop Linux will have to do. ;)
1 comments
Hoff 3865 days ago
Thanks.

re: "those days" — FWIW, those days are still ongoing. The latest OpenVMS release shipped out in June 2015, and the native port to x86-64 is underway.

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nickpsecurity 3865 days ago
I knew HP would kill it after acquisition due to rule of no competing product lines (i.e. VMS vs NonStop). I was relieved that they spun it off to another company that began a Xeon port. Two quick questions that you might know already if you've contacted them:

1. Has the company been more clear privately than the website on how long it will be before a Xeon port materializes?

2. Have they significantly reduced the OpenVMS licensing costs that kept many off it?

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Hoff 3864 days ago
In no particular order...

OpenVMS and NonStop (NSK) do not compete. Entirely different products and markets.

VMS Software Inc (VSI) have licensed OpenVMS from HPE. They've not acquired the product.

The company was newly formed, not a spin-off of HP.

VSI have been circumspect on their x86-64 release schedule.

The team includes many of the same development folks that ported OpenVMS from Alpha to Itanium.

OpenVMS I64 Itanium software list prices are unchanged from those of HPE. Whether and how much the VSI sales reps might be discounting, you'd have to ask them.

Related: http://labs.hoffmanlabs.com/node/1917 http://www.vmssoftware.com/pdfs/VSI_DrawerSt_v2.pdf

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nickpsecurity 3864 days ago
Thanks for the info. Question about...

"OpenVMS and NonStop (NSK) do not compete. Entirely different products and markets."

Outside legacy market, I thought they both advertised as being for business-critical systems that can't afford downtime. I remembered plenty of HP advertisements on that for OpenVMS & its clustering. NonStop obviously does that stuff with even better availability due to FT HW/SW. What makes you say they don't compete?

Note: I'm not talking about the five 9's, HW-supported stuff that OpenVMS probably can't touch.

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