Help us defend against VMS!

[George Robbins]

In article <2134 at ukecc.engr.uky.edu> lynn at engr.uky.edu (H. Lynn Tilley) writes:
> In article <4583 at garfield.UUCP> dave at garfield.UUCP (David Janes) writes:
> >In article <695 at unm-la.UUCP> jay at unm-la.UUCP (Jay Plett) writes:
> >|    100%-|-
> >|         |                   -  VMS
> >|         |                    + Ultrix
> >|      0%-|+________________________________________________________
> >|                                                          1988
> >
> >This is obviously a plot by DEC.
> >
> Actually not,   Last year Digital spent more on Ultrix development than
> they did on VMS.  They really no longer have a choice, UNIX is pushing
> VMS out of the market place and Digital sees the light at the end of tunnel.

	Yeah, sure.  A piece of sales literature showed up here the other
	day, extolling the virtues of replacing 7xx's with 88xx's.

	"All VAX systems, including the VAXBI systems use VMS as the
	operating system of choice.  There is minimal user and operator
	retraining-Investment protection again. Remember, too, VMS will
	also increase the ease of transporting third party software or
	customer developed applications.  Digital is a full-service
	company providing software consulting servie and training in
	all VAX systems to simplify all migrations."

	Nowhere in the brochure did the the words Unix or Ultrix appear.

	Why be simplistic?  DEC is investing in the Unix area because a
	significant portion of DEC systems are being sold to customers
	that are demanding/requiring Unix.  DEC isn't willing to give up
	that market share so they are making a reasonable effort to
	meet customer desires.

	This doesn't mean that they are giving up on VMS, or trying to make
	Ultrix look enough like VMS to trick their customers.  For an
	interesting parallel,  look at the evolution and persistance of
	the RSTS-11 operating system.

> Despite what the VMS defenders like to say, RISC is here and VMS is not
> projected to be compatible across this architecture.  If this is true 
> (I have heard this from a couple of different source, none at DEC though)

	This is a farily common story, however just because porting VMS
	to some particular RISC architeture may have been a problem, doesn't
	mean that the VMS software architecure, services and user interface
	can't be implemented on a machine that isn't VAX object code
	compatible.

-- 
George Robbins - now working for,	uucp: {uunet|ihnp4|rutgers}!cbmvax!grr
but no way officially representing	arpa: cbmvax!grr at uunet.uu.net
Commodore, Engineering Department	fone: 215-431-9255 (only by moonlite)