Dear friends of VMS,

we want to thank all those who managed to attend the last webinar
“Rendez-vous around VMS” organized by the French VMSgenerations user
group on October 17th.

We had product update sessions from Kevin Duffy (Oracle), Adam
Hoff-Nielsen (VSI) and Camiel Vanderhoeven (VSI).

Before the webinar we collected questions for Oracle and VSI who gave
detailed answers in their presentations.

The session report (French and English), presentations & questions are
available on
www.vmsgenerations.fr/rendez-vous-autour-de-vms-du-17-octobre/ .

The VMSgenerations board

For any question or comment you can reach us at contact@vmsgenerations.fr

--
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On 12/21/2023 8:55 AM, VMSgenerations working group wrote:
> we want to thank all those who managed to attend the last webinar
> “Rendez-vous around VMS” organized by the French VMSgenerations user
> group on October 17th.
>
> We had product update sessions from Kevin Duffy (Oracle), Adam
> Hoff-Nielsen (VSI) and Camiel Vanderhoeven (VSI).
>
> Before the webinar we collected questions for Oracle and VSI who gave
> detailed answers in their presentations.
>
> The session report (French and English), presentations & questions are
> available on
> www.vmsgenerations.fr/rendez-vous-autour-de-vms-du-17-octobre/ .

Very interesting. And thanks to the french for arranging and
posting.

I hope it is OK that I provide a few quotes or what I think are
the most interesting.

Oracle Classic:

<quote>
For Oracle classic, version 11gR2 (11.2.0.4) is the
terminal release for OpenVMS, which reached the end of extended
support in December 2020. The latest patches date back to 2021.
Since then, the version has been in "Indefinite Sustaining
Support", with no official end date.
</quote>

<quote>
On the client-server side, 11g is the latest version of the
VMS client available and can interoperate with database servers
running versions 11.2, 12.1 and up to 19c. Both versions 11g
and 19c have Sustaining Support and Long Term Support.
</quote>

My comment: I don't think this new.

Rdb:

<quote>
V7.4 is the current version with Premier support until at least December
2025 but this may last longer.
</quote>

<quote>
For new developments, priority is given to Rdb and DBMS kits
for x86. The development environment is moving from VMS on Oracle
VirtualBox (easier for development & tests) to VMS on Oracle
Linux KVM (OLVM, selected for production) and cross-compilers
will soon be replaced by native VMS compilers. Progress is
illustrated by figures on testing and the arrival of native
compilers enables tests to be extended. The main dev compiler
(Bliss) has just arrived in native version.
</quote>

<quote>
Rdb in the Oracle cloud: The transition to Oracle KVM as a
hypervisor will make it possible to run VMS & Rdb in the
Oracle cloud.
</quote>

<quote>
The licensing principle for Rdb on x86 will be the same
already known for Oracle Enterprise Edition, with a core-factor
of 0.5: according to the formula "nb licenses = nb cores x
core-factor". For Itanium and Alpha, core-factor = 1.
</quote>

<quote>
There are currently no plans for a "Free" version of Rdb for
personal & free use (as exists for Oracle 23c, with limitations).
</quote>

<quote>
Roadmap : a beta kit of Rdb on x86 could arrive in the
first part of 2024 if porting problems are resolved.
</quote>

My comment: looks like strong commitment but a slight delay.

VSI:

<quote>
VSI aims to address the needs of over 1,000 VMS customers with
more than 6,000 servers.
</quote>

<quote>
Indications of revenue, R&D expenditure and profit are given
for Teracloud with 310 employees and over 1,000 customers. VSI
represents the bulk of Teracloud's teams. A significant
proportion of VSI revenues (>40%) are reinvested in OpenVMS
development. The first 5 years were profitless, but since 2019 the
profit exists and is growing. Development of the OS and
associated products is mainly carried out in the USA,
with some roles and new developments based in Denmark and
Armenia. Compilers are split between the USA and Armenia, with plans
to expand the team in Armenia to support most compilers.
Current opensource products remain in Armenia, Denmark and New Zealand.
New opensource developments will come from Greece. VSI has
140 employees, including ~100 engineers.
</quote>

<quote>
VSI employs 140 people at several sites around the world. VSI is part of
the Teracloud group. 60% of Teracloud's revenue comes from VSI. VSI's
revenue in 2023 will be around €45M, of which around €20M will be
reinvested in R&D. Revenue generated: 45% in North America, 55% in the
rest of the world.
</quote>

My comment: sounds like VSI is in good shape. I don't understand why
VSI is doing development in Denmark - that can't be cost efficient.

Arne

On 12/21/2023 9:30 AM, Arne Vajhøj wrote:

> My comment: sounds like VSI is in good shape. I don't understand why
> VSI is doing development in Denmark - that can't be cost efficient.

Teracloud's worldwide headquarters are in Copenhagen.

Another office is in Malmo, Sweden (a short train ride from Copenhagen).

--

--- Rob

On 12/21/2023 12:07 PM, Robert A. Brooks wrote:
> On 12/21/2023 9:30 AM, Arne Vajhøj wrote:
>> My comment: sounds like VSI is in good shape. I don't understand why
>> VSI is doing development in Denmark - that can't be cost efficient.
>
> Teracloud's worldwide headquarters are in Copenhagen.
>
> Another office is in Malmo, Sweden (a short train ride from Copenhagen).

I am not surprised that Johan Gedda like Copenhagen for HQ.
Nice town, centrally located in Europe, good connectivity with flights.
My concerns was for development - Copenhagen is just bloody expensive.

Arne

On 2023-12-21, Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> wrote:
> On 12/21/2023 12:07 PM, Robert A. Brooks wrote:
>> On 12/21/2023 9:30 AM, Arne Vajhøj wrote:
>>> My comment: sounds like VSI is in good shape. I don't understand why
>>> VSI is doing development in Denmark - that can't be cost efficient.

Why do you say that ? Perhaps the people who live have the experience
to make it the right choice.

>>
>> Teracloud's worldwide headquarters are in Copenhagen.
>>
>> Another office is in Malmo, Sweden (a short train ride from Copenhagen).
>
> I am not surprised that Johan Gedda like Copenhagen for HQ.
> Nice town, centrally located in Europe, good connectivity with flights.
> My concerns was for development - Copenhagen is just bloody expensive.
>

I didn't realise you are a manager Arne. :-)

You are confusing the price for something with the cost of that something. :-)

Simon.

--
Simon Clubley, clubley@remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP
Walking destinations on a map are further away than they appear.

On 12/22/2023 8:23 AM, Simon Clubley wrote:
> On 2023-12-21, Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> wrote:
>> On 12/21/2023 12:07 PM, Robert A. Brooks wrote:
>>> On 12/21/2023 9:30 AM, Arne Vajhøj wrote:
>>>> My comment: sounds like VSI is in good shape. I don't understand why
>>>> VSI is doing development in Denmark - that can't be cost efficient.
>
> Why do you say that ?

Because it is an expensive place.

High taxes + expensive housing + expensive cars + expensive food &
clothes => very high salaries => expensive place to do software
development.

> Perhaps the people who live have the experience
> to make it the right choice.

Maybe. But I am slightly skeptical.

There are very few people in Denmark that has recent work experience
with VMS.

Denmark is more Microsoft and less open source than many other
European countries.

Danish IT educations are totally fucked up. A very small number
of extremely good CS and SW engineering people and a lot of
people with a short and not very good IT education (a few of
them are good anyway but that is despite not due to the education).

>>> Teracloud's worldwide headquarters are in Copenhagen.
>>>
>>> Another office is in Malmo, Sweden (a short train ride from Copenhagen).
>>
>> I am not surprised that Johan Gedda like Copenhagen for HQ.
>> Nice town, centrally located in Europe, good connectivity with flights.
>> My concerns was for development - Copenhagen is just bloody expensive.
>
> I didn't realise you are a manager Arne. :-)

Not my fault.

> You are confusing the price for something with the cost of that something. :-)

Unless it is an asset where the accounted cost is the depreciation then
the price paid is the accounted cost.

Arne

On 2023-12-22, Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> wrote:
> On 12/22/2023 8:23 AM, Simon Clubley wrote:
>>
>> I didn't realise you are a manager Arne. :-)
>
> Not my fault.
>
>> You are confusing the price for something with the cost of that something. :-)
>
> Unless it is an asset where the accounted cost is the depreciation then
> the price paid is the accounted cost.
>

$ set response/mode=good_natured

Congratulations Arne, you are clearly an excellent manager.

However, people who live back in the real world understand that the cost
to an organisation of an employee employed purely on price can be a lot
more expensive to that organisation in terms of the damage they cause than
a more expensive employee who actually knows what they are doing. :-)

Simon.

--
Simon Clubley, clubley@remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP
Walking destinations on a map are further away than they appear.

On 1/2/2024 8:18 AM, Simon Clubley wrote:
> On 2023-12-22, Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> wrote:
>> On 12/22/2023 8:23 AM, Simon Clubley wrote:
>>> I didn't realise you are a manager Arne. :-)
>>
>> Not my fault.
>>
>>> You are confusing the price for something with the cost of that something. :-)
>>
>> Unless it is an asset where the accounted cost is the depreciation then
>> the price paid is the accounted cost.
>>
>
> $ set response/mode=good_natured
>
> Congratulations Arne, you are clearly an excellent manager.
>
> However, people who live back in the real world understand that the cost
> to an organisation of an employee employed purely on price can be a lot
> more expensive to that organisation in terms of the damage they cause than
> a more expensive employee who actually knows what they are doing. :-)

More terminology than substance.

I would label that aspect as: low price not necessarily being cost
efficient or not necessarily being best value for money.

Regarding knowing what one are doing, then as I explained
in some of what you did not quote, it is not obvious
to me what unique skills they can find there.

Arne