VMS is not the evil empire

[JSOTTILE%LOYVAX.BITNET at cunyvm.cuny.edu]

Root Boy Jim (rbj at icst-cmr.arpa) writes:

>>       Is VMS as horrible as I suspect or am I alone an thinking this?
>
>You are not alone.
>>
>>   Please help shed the light for us!  Please tell us what you think would be
>>   reasons why you wouldn't buy VMS! (or why you would).  We need the help
>>   of all you wizards out there.  Any examples you can think of will help!
>>
>Tell him to spend some time recruiting CS students. Tell him that if
>they run VMS, no one will come to your school. Tell him about the lack
>of *real* vendor support, regardless of what they promise. There will
>be nothing for the hordes of wizards to do without source code. And
>finally, mention the lack of real, modern, compatible networking.

I am somewhat miffed here.  As you can see from my address, I use VMS.  I
hear all of you out there complaining and I just want to clear the air.
VMS is not as bad as you folks are making it seem.  I use both UNIX and VMS
and each has their advantages.

VMS is nice for an academic atmosphere or a site where most of your users
don't want to know the details about how something works or how to do
something.  As far as support, our site has had *no* problems with getting
help from DEC.  In fact, I can call in at 1pm (usually the "busiest" times)
and if the department that I have my question for is unavailable, i can
expect a call from them within a hour or two.  The folks of DEC are very
helpful and they know what to tell you to do and they DO explain as they
go.  In fact, I was having problems calling some system services and I
bothered a guy from DEC about it and he spent about an hour on it (I mailed
my program to him).  He called me back and told me what the problem was and
why it was acting that way.  The fault was all mine and not DEC's.
Sometimes, RTFM doesn't quite go far enough.

The operating system itself is sound and is somewhat secure depending on
how far you really want to go.  The hardware gives us little problems (we
have 2 clustered 11/785's with an HSC50 and 4 RA81s and various other
carry-overs form the old PDP 11 we had).

As far as application programming or any programming, for that matter,
there are a WHOLE lot of products and, here on bitnet, a lot of very sound
public domain code.

As a programmer, UNIX intrigues me because I have more control over devices
(as a normal user).  A few students share my interest but a lot feel that
UNIX is confusing and VMS is a little more straightforward.  There are a
lot of pluses on the VMS side and a lot of UNIX folks like to throw sharp
objects at it, but most bounce off of VMS.

>
>Of course, after you go thru all this, then you'll have to convince
>him to run BSD over System V.
>
>At the very least, have him stage a test, in which some VMS and some
>UNIX systems are supported. See which one is preferred. At least you'll
>be able to salvage the hardware.
>

I won't take that as in insult to VMS, but it all depends on your
application.  If you need a system for programmers and "tech-ies" then UNIX
would probably be your best bet.  But, if you have a lot of users who don't
care about the nitty-gritties then a good systems manager and a few systems
programmers will work out rather nicely.

>>       Thanks for your cooperation and knowledge.  Is VMS that bad??
>
>Not if you enjoy banging your head against the wall.

I still have a round-ish head, no flat spots here.

>
>    National Bureau of Standards
>    Flamer's Hotline: (301) 975-5688
>FOOLED you!  Absorb EGO SHATTERING impulse rays, polyester poltroon!!


- John Sottile
(jsottile at loyvax.bitnet)
Student Systems Manager
Student Systems Programmer
Loyola College in Maryland

Constuctive Criticism Welcomed.