Re: VAX ?
Virtualization science is approaching the point that -- soon native instruction sets will not matter much. Heck in 20 years you will probably be able to 3D print your own designed CPUs at home. Then with a little generic Virtual Mapping and kernel-hypervisor building assisted by COTS software on another computer...you can then run VMs on your own unique instruction set CPU.
Mind you for 7-10 years those VMs will probably still be running mostly x86 software. But eventually Computer Scientists and hobbyists will get their dream of running software based on whatever arbitrary symbolic operations language is currently in vogue or that they want to invent (Forth Reborn etc)...and X86, ARM and all those hardware vendor instruction sets will be dead.
But in the mean time going rogue to avoid 90% of current software invention needs more specific needs than "I hate big groups and companies" and "I want a smaller pond so I look like a bigger fish". So low cost low power embedded or supercomputing still tend to be the more common refuges from x86.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
