Conference movies::dollar_info

    re .0
    
    Spiralog *instead of* RMS? Someone (possibly including me) is confused...

    >>>Spiralog *instead of* RMS? Someone (possibly including me) is
    >>>confused...
    re .1 
    I meant 
    "instead of Files 11"
    
    
    Sorry. Soumetty.

Hi Soumetty,

I'll have a shot at this since noone else has ! ;-)

Spiralog has not been, and is not currently, recommended for production use
by customers. As such, all Spiralog kits (including V1.2 released for OpenVMS
V7.1 recently) are to be treated as "better than normal quality" FT kits. If a
customer wishes to use Spiralog on their systems, then they should understand
the message on production use, and the potential implications on how quickly
they might get support for any problems they encounter. Given your customer is
talking about "highly available applications", they should be careful to think
around the pros and cons of using Spiralog. That said, we do know of some sites
that use Spiralog in non-FT environments, but the formal position remains the
same.

The customer should also bear in mind the future direction of Spiralog
technology. Spiralog V2 will be based on a different on-disk structure than
Spiralog V1.n, and so anyone considering using Spiralog now should also
consider the need to migrate that data to V2 in the future.

It would be useful to know *why* the customer would like to use Spiralog.
i.e. which features of Spiralog do they see most value from. Is it online
backup, write-behind caching (and generally improved caching), improved write
performance, or something else ? There are various new features delivering some
of these capabilites for Files-11 that are scheduled for delivery with OpenVMS
in around a years time. On-line backup, a new highly scalable cache (with
write-behind) are two of those. Perhaps the customer could live with the
Files-11 solution until then... In addition, some things are also being
improved in Files-11 itself. The same future OpenVMS version will also include
improved handling of very large directories, due to a rewrite of the directory
shuffle code.

Hope this helps...

Julian

    Hello Julian!
    
    
    According to .3 it helps a lot.
    But,for me,there are a few points left,maybe there's help once more :-)
    
    >>> It would be useful to know *why* the customer would like to use
    >>> Spiralog.i.e. which features of Spiralog do they see most value from. 
    
    Where to put this information into ?
    
    What happened to the Internet Page 
    (www.openvms.digital.com/openvms/products/spiralog/index.html) ?
    
    Are we allowed to give all the Information (especially Files-11 Info)
    to the customer?
    
    							regards,
    							raimund

re: .4

>> >>> It would be useful to know *why* the customer would like to use
>> >>> Spiralog.i.e. which features of Spiralog do they see most value from.
>>
>>    Where to put this information into ?

Well, you can put this information in this conference, or if you are not happy
about that I'd be more than interested in hearing it so you could send it
directly to me and/or Steve Flynn (Spiralog V2 Product Mgr).

Mike
(Spiralog V1.2 Project Ldr)


ps. I've forwarded you questions on the web page and Files-11 on to the relevant
    folk.

    Hello Raimund,
    
    You are 100% correct.  The OpenVMS File System pages on the Internet 
    need updating.  And we do have lots of new, updated information that is 
    waiting to be put out there.  The problem is that it has to be 
    converted from text to HTML and that takes time.  More time than you
    can imagine.  Once this is accomplished our internal process requires
    the new material go to a staging area behind the firewall and finally 
    be copied to the publicly consumable area.  
     
    I promise you I am working on getting this done.  I don't promise that
    it's my first priority.  I would love it to be; then I could focus and
    get the new info out there.  But we have too many daily, customer
    fires to put out and getting the web pages edited always seems to take
    a back seat.  Because I recognize the value these pages will have, I 
    persevere.
    
    My goal is to have the updated product information on the web by the
    end of April.  But I am embarrassed to admit that last month my goal
    was to have the info posted by the end of March :-( 
    
    We just can't afford to have a full time Product Manager concentrating
    on learning HTML and writing web pages.  Therefore I am doing this work
    as a personal 'side job' when my management is not looking.
    
    Janis 

re .6
Hi Janis,

just coming back from DECUS germany i'd like to tell you that after my 'OpenVMS
New File Systems Directions' talk it seemed that i've opened pandora's box :-).
I'm VERY sure that our customers really need more info on our current
philosophies, ongoing development trends and new products. So there's definitely
the need for publicly available information like those beforementioned web
pages, so this might be usefule for you to get some more time from management
for your 'side job'. Providing product info in an early stage might seem to be
nice-to-have at first, but be sure those development trends are being watched
closely by our customers. And, as this discussion had been raised almost in
every talk, the OpenVMS perspective is a very critical issue these days, and
every little piece of information regarding ongoing product development for this
platform might help Digital in re-positioning the greatest OS in the world!

hth, 

-- Thilo