Re: Wang COBOL alive and well as Wang VS makes a comeback

In article <d90dc8df-54b1-4196-945b-33ba1b8c57d2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
<tjunker@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Apr 14, 7:39?am, docdw...@xxxxxxxxx () wrote:
In article <bd6e07da-cfb5-4a98-8815-2ed360057...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,

?<tjun...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I am happy to report thatWangCOBOL is alive and well at numerous
sites around the world. ?Although the population of legacyWangVS
sites is now very small, the new generation ofWangVS, running mostly
on Dell PowerEdge servers under Linux, is growing, with at least 70
sold to date in 11 countries.

With all appropriate respect due to the stunning growth quoted here, Mr
Junker - seventy sold in eleven countries! - I must say that I,
personally, find myself to be moderately underwhelmed.

With all due respect to your jaded cynicism, I don't care that you
find yourself moderately underwhelmed.

Mr Junker, if you see calling attention to the fact that seventy systems
sold in eleven countries constitutes an apparently neglibible number of
the total number of systems of similar or greater power sold in even
double the number of countries then I would suggest a course or two in
statistics and market-share.

If you don't care about a posting then dealing with it is a rather simple
matter... try using the Anciente Tactic of Not Replying and we all may be
the richer.

[snip]

That was considered to be Quite Something... in 1987. ?Sadly, it seemed
that scarcely a nickel's worth of R&D was invested since then;

I used to think that things at Wang started downhill in the late 1980s
but was surprised to read that their internal difficulties actually
began in the early 1980s, notably marked by the disaster of Fred
Wang's tenure before he was removed. I think you're right that R&D
fell off drastically by the late 1980s, although crucial things like
the development of several VS12000 models and CPU upgrades of VS16000
and VS18000 occurred through the 1990s. The VS couldn't have
continued as it did had the majority of the software infrastructure
not been created by very capable people in the early 1980s. Major
features such as WSN and RSF date to the early 1980s, with PACE
probably being the last major feature, PACE 2 dating to the last half
of the 1980s.

It is now a few months away from the early '10s, Mr Junker. Two decades,
no R&D.


your
posting mentioned a list of third-party developers of some 900 pages that
was printed in 1989.
That was two decades ago.

And your point is?

Slibhtly beyond your grasp, it seems... but I'll repeat it just in case
SMTP jumbled the bits.


My point was to show how pervasive the VS was, not
is, and the strength of applications it had, not has. It's true that
almost all the verticals have disappeared, although we are trying to
find those that may still exist on someone's shelf. In DP, some
applications never really go out of date.

My point was that in the last two decades quite a few improvements have
been made in computers due to the investment of Research and Development.
WANG has made nearly no investment in R&D in those twenty years and, as
such, does not show the improvements. In *any* disciplines there are some
applications that never really go out of date... this does not mean that
newer, faster, more reliable and more efficient developments should be
neglected. 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it... but don't stop attempts to
improve, either.'


I wish you the best of luck in your venture.

Thank you. Really. We're having fun and we're helping quite a few
substantial organizations that didn't jump ship in the 1990s.

You are welcome, really. As I have said before the WANG is a 'coder's
machine' and I had a Grande Olde Tyme working with them... two decades
back.

DD

.

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