UNIX vs. VMS Internet connectivity

[mf12605 at msi-s9.msi.umn.edu]

I'm posting this for somebody without USENET access. Please reply
to the address given in article below.
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I'm not sure if this is the right forum for such questions,
but here goes: our university is finally planning to hook up
to Internet, most likely via U. of Ill. at Urbana-Champaign.
Our computer center, as far as I know, has only an IBM mainframe,
and a VAX under VMS (Unix is still considered a bizarre religion
around here). I've only had experience with Unix machines (Suns,
Unix VAXen, etc.) in this context. I would like to hear your
biased or unbiased opinions re. relative advantages. Please forgive
my naivete which will show in most questions.
 
Definition: "useful (Internet) software" means anything which
would permit file transfers a la ftp, access to news, rlogins,
equivalent of "talk", as well as other "connectivity" stuff
found in an average Unix system.
 
- can an IBM mainframe run "useful software" without much pain? or
do we need to get connected to a Vax or something similar?
 
- is VMS handicapped, as far as "useful software" goes, compared
to Unix? If so, in what way?
 
- is there any favorite networking method to be used locally?
everywhere I've been before, Ethernet was the standard; here, a
"mafia" of sorts is pushing a token ring LAN; any concrete arguments
against it?
 
Thanks in advance for your time and effort.     Eric
If possible, please reply to NBEHR at ECNCDC.BITNET
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| Marek Behr                          | mf12605 at uc.msc.umn.edu     (internet) |
| University of Minnesota             | AE01005 at UMNACVX              (BITNET) |