raw rumour: VAX 8600 & Ultrix

[kaiser%jaws.dec-marlboro.arpa at BRL-AOS.ARPA]

>Fred Avolio, DEC -- U{LTR,N}IX Support:
>
>>   Rumour of unknown quality:  DEC won't have Ultrix running on the VAX
>> 8600 for at least 1 year.  Can anyone comment on this?  What about the
>> supposedly standard VAX architechture?
>
>My understanding -- not speaking officially, you understand -- is 6 months
>to availability.  (The architecture is standard and Ultrix-32 will run on
>it.)

You may be interested in some broad details about what happens in Digital in
getting a product into the field.  This is relevant to the question of when
ULTRIX-32 will be shipped to customers for the VAX 8600.

Suppose a new model VAX is built.  Before it can be released to be sold as a
supported product -- "supported" is a key term -- the creators must satisfy
a substantial list of requirements in testing it.  These requirements occupy
large documents, and if anything, they're very conservative.  For instance,
a new VAX processor must successfully execute a known test suite consisting
partly of an extremely large number of test passes of every instruction.
There must be diagnostics that can be demonstrated to diagnose properly.  The
physical machinery in its final packaging must pass tests for the emission of
noise and radiation, operation in a given temperature range, and even (for
example) how far it may be tilted before it falls over.  I mention all this
in the context of hardware because it seems to me simpler to visualize with
respect to hardware.

However, software also must pass such tests, in its universe, in order to be
supported -- i.e., releasable to customers at large.  The coding and documen-
tation must meet certain standards.  There must be test procedures which
demonstrably exercise the software properly.  It must be shown to be main-
tainable at certain levels of effort.  It must be appropriately packaged in
terms of physical distribution, installability, and consistency.  Responsible
persons must sign their names to the effect that requirements are met, and this
is not just pro forma.  And finally the developers must submit their baby to
an independent certifying body, which always, so far as I know, takes at least
a month (for the smallest products) to check that all requirements have been
met.

I dare say none of this is unusual for a major manufacturer of software.  Is
it?

In more immediate terms, it means that the question "when will ULTRIX-32 run
on the VAX 8600" may not be what you want to know.  You probably want to know
when it will be available for sale; i.e., when it will be a supported product.
It may already run.

---Pete
kaiser%jaws.dec at decwrl.arpa, kaiser%belker.dec at decwrl.arpa
{allegra|decvax|ihnp4|ucbvax}!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-jaws!kaiser