That would be downright silly, because they
haven't EOLed the
line...they've announced that the WILL EOL it, in what should be a
couple of years.
There is a lot of panic about the future EOL of the Alpha, with
a lot of people equating that to the end of OpenVMS, which is
wrong. This is just another architecture transition. I would
Yup.
have preferred that the Alpha go on, but the real
point is the
OS, not the CPU.
Well, for some folks, maybe. If someone sticks me in a project with a
crappy OS, I will find the source and fix it (unless it's Windoze, of
course, but I don't consider that an OS!)...whereas if someone sticks
me with a crappy processor, well, there's little one can do.
I meant the point is the OS (OpenVMS) and not the CPU (VAX, Alpha, IPF),
not the OS vs. the CPU in general.
I can see
people trying to stock up spares ahead of the EOL,
though. It would be better to grab them while they are
plentiful and cheap than to wait until the EOL when people
will want to stockpile some of the items that will be harder
to get later.
Good point. But the EOL is *years* away. Isn't this a little
premature, even for the "careful folk"?
Not really. For some of the odd-ball stuff, the sooner the better
(just ask anyone that has to keep a VAX going that uses the Pro3x0-
based console).
--
Eric Dittman
dittman(a)dittman.net