10 Jun
2009
10 Jun
'09
10:02 a.m.
?This attitude is common even here, amongst people who
presumably should
know better.
The finger points to me?
?Just because VMS was around thirty years ago, that
means it's
a thirty-year-old OS. ?"Wow, I can't believe we're still using cars.
?They're so old! ?Since there were cars in 1908, that means ALL cars are
from 1908!"
I never said VMS is dead - if I did, please point it out and
acknowledge. I did say VMS is a "sinking ship". Not only is the market
share tiny and shrinking, but its installation base (number of
machines running VMS in production) is also shrinking. There are
pretty much no new VMS customers. VMS is speeding along to being
insignificant.
And yes, OS/400, VM, MVS (yes, keeping the old names here) are also
sinking ships for much the same reason, although they are still viable
products. Yes, they are important, and are still cutting edge, but the
truth is still that there will be a day in the future when these OSes
are in the same league as MCP or TOPS-20. Hopefully that day will be
long off.
Here is a challenge to the whole list membership. Lots of folks here
are well embedded into the industry, so I think this is a good sample.
Try to think of as many new customers (not upgrades) for the following
OSes (again, keeping the old names): AOS/VS, MCP, TOPS-10, TOPS-20,
OS/2200, VM, MVS, VSE, OS/400, Multics, PrimOS. Lets keep this to year
2009. I bet we can not even get to twenty.
--
Will