I wrote here last July an Open letter to Meg Witman. I received an indirect answer with the creation of VSI, which takes over VMS development for the next decades, re-opens the Itanium market to make it a profitable end, gives a smooth transition for HP-UX customers basis, and projects to make VMS on x86 a real new challenger in dependable OSes at the horizon of 2018.

The event is of the same importance of Microsoft taking over the desk OS from IBM. Not billions uncertain acquisition, like we see with big companies, just a right economic alliance. Today Mr Bill Gates is the richer man in the world. We wish the same success for Harry, Sue and Eddie. They deserve it. Perhaps they just hope to demonstrate “doing the right thing” is a good way to success.

The train which will officially start in spring 2015 can be named upon Ken Olsen. VSI people, a majority from Boston high universities area, know a lot about Ken’s inheritance. “Doing the right thing” has been the maxim of Digital which placed users interests at the first place. And Digital has been a huge success in the history on computers companies. Science and hearing of users as a key for success. It is this type of development strategy that VSI takes giving a new future for an OS, VMS, which has been of equal importance as Unix sometimes.

This project is a win-win-win-win.

• Oracle was right thinking the “only Itanium” strategy was wrong.
• HP was right thinking declining VMS ecosystem deserved another way of investment.
• US court was right making Oracle moderate its way out of Itanium.
• The fourth win is probably even better. OSes for dependable systems became a not-so-huge market, but they serve very important sites (health systems, transportation, financials, large resellers,…) and the huge reaction from the users of VMS last year proved the vitality of these ecosystems. The VMS ecosystem needs a very-long-term engagement (VMS on x86 or VMWare), and, in the same time, a very conservative path using the existent line of products (Itanium). The one actor who was missing: just an investor. With VSI we have together a non-only Itanium VMS, but also a huge profit for all actors with the last decade for Itanium, a specific investment for a not-so-huge-today market, allied with huge companies acting in the main stream. A new train, joining glorious pasts with innovative futures, deploying specifics for dependable systems as neighbors of global hyper-scaled lesser exigent systems.

This letter is a command. One of the new friends my work for VMS opened for me, Mr Olaf Leonhardt, is worrying about a potential lateness for our train. Olaf is manager of an IT system on VMS and Oracle database for a company in Europe with more than 12000 employees. Beside our exceptionally friendship, Olaf is not so exceptional:  VMS sites use often Oracle databases, and VMS sites are often at the heart of big companies.

However, it seems Oracle is at risk of missing the “rendez-vous”. Olaf and us are waiting for official engagements for Oracle 11g, Oracle 12, Oracle rdb on the new versions of VMS supported by VSI. It seems it is not a technical issue, just some organizational delays, or perhaps the impossibility of thinking about new alliances with actors among them they are ancient “enemies”.

So Safra, Marc, just think about it. The database market is evolving, the Open Source solutions are more and more present, new actors appear and want to put away the too weighted ancestors. You have got with VMS or HP-UX a very loyal customers basis. Yes, they are yet on Itanium, and you could imagine that you help them only constrained by law. Not too sexy, isn’t it? Taking the VSI new train you have the opportunity to prove that Oracle had a very interest for its customer when it warned about Itanium, and that, because for now there is a real future after Itanium, it is time to help your loyal customers to live where they are and to think about futures with you.

And, moreover, the whole IT world needs a signal. Yes, some main stream is wealthy, and, somehow, useful. But some other IT domains must be supported, the ones who were at the foundation of the IT uses, uses on which a lot of very useful functions exists: health systems, large range resellers, transportation control, financials… IT is a serious domain, in which support for very high quality is necessary, even when immediate profit is not here. As PC line of investment has been a very good bet, VMS line of investment is a good bet. Do take the train.

Somehow it is a paradox. What Olaf and us are demanding from Oracle, as what that was decided with creation of VSI, is “at no cost”. Publishing engagements about Oracle databases is at no cost, because the technical issues are not too far from being already resolved. HP taking over VMS to VSI is a no cost solution for HP. And it seems these two no cost solutions involved a very hard decision making process, which had to be encouraged by open letters from customers. In the same time Oracle or HP could pay billions for more uncertain bets. Meg, Safra, Marc, are we too inexpensive? If you think it will be more serious to spend money, do create foundations for the resiliency of dependable systems, just reconciliate on such projects, promote VSI line of products, found universities enabling transmission of knowledge between IT founders and young geniuses, think about preserving multi-paces lines of investment… Our European think tanks miss perhaps yet some little more decisions from you, but we don’t miss innovative ideas. Do take the old-new train with us.

A very good new year for everyone, and, do remember, Safra and Marc, for our little gifts, just an agenda, please.

Best regards,

Gérard Calliet, Olaf Leonhardt

En cette fin d’année 2013 pour nous deux événements coïncident :

• pour HP-Interex France l’aboutissement d’un semestre de travail avec la publication des premiers résultats de notre enquête, centrés sur la France (Premiers résultats de l'enquête d'automne 2013),
• pour la communauté OpenVMS en général une correction de l’annonce de Juin 2013, qui affine certaines données (lettres aux clients OpenVMS indicant notamment une fin de support pour 8.4 en 2025 ; nous reviendrons plus tard en détail sur ces corrections).

Il faut bien sûr analyser dans le détail la nouvelle annonce de HP, suivant les clients visés, les réponses aux préoccupations diverses. De même il faut peser avec exactitude la nature des réactions que nous avons collectées.

Mais une vision plus générale peut être proposée.

Le public français contacté est très majoritairement extrêmement contrarié par les annonces de Juin, et sa crise de confiance envers HP est aussi très majoritaire. Les acteurs qui s’expriment sont pour la plupart membres de sociétés de grande ou très grande dimension (métallurgie, transport, énergie, finance), et s’y joignent des PME.

Pour les premiers il y a la perspective de risques industriels ou de coûts pour des domaines sensibles. Pour les seconds il y a la perspective de risque vital pour l’entreprise.

Parallèlement, la correction annoncée par HP témoigne d’une certaine prise de conscience de son côté, qui ne peut s’expliquer que par la violente réaction de clients à travers le monde. Mais ce qui frappe aussi est le côté très minime de la correction apportée.

On se demande donc comment cette dissemblance est possible. Quel rapport entre une violence assez considérable d’un côté et un « gentleman agreement » assez bénin de l’autre ?

La réponse est probablement à chercher dans la nature de l’écosystème OpenVMS lui-même.

Ce système est très bien connu des décideurs techniques, mais reste pour les directions générales un moyen important mais à certains égards subalterne et démodé. Or le public que nous pouvons interroger est plus dans le domaine technique (nous nous sommes essentiellement reposés sur les contacts pris pour les TUD), alors que l’oreille des grands décideurs HP est plutôt pour leurs homologues dans les grandes entreprises.

Il y a là selon nous les prémisses d’un risque sérieux : HP pourrait involontairement aggraver des divergences structurelles de l’écosystème OpenVMS, entre directions générales et directions informatiques, entre « grands comptes » et PME.

A retenir, au-delà des réelles difficultés : la communauté OpenVMS existe, et HP est en mesure de l’écouter. Deux mesures positives qui sont à comprendre comme des commencements encourageants.