VMS...WNTI don't use VMS anymore ( I do UNIX and LINUX nowadays ). But I cannot help but feel nostalgic for this venerable Operating System which is reliable, easy to use and program, highly scalable, and virtually unhackable ( and which apparently, is not dead yet ).
I agree. I coded under VMS for six years, and I loved all the system services and library routines. Very powerful.
They forgot to include 'planned obsolesence' in their feature list.
There is plenty of 'old' tech that gets phased out because someone wants to sell you the 'new' thing. But some of the old stuff is still the best.
VMS! now that brings back fond memories. they even had a help feature that was actually understandable.
who can forget sysgen, autogen, authorize, ncp, etc.?
"ran its system for 17 years without a single reboot. Try to accomplish that on today’s systems.
I dunno about that. We ran a Solaris machine for five or six years without rebooting. Then the hardware wore out.
My college (James Madison University) had a VAXcluster when I was a student there 1984-87. Started off with an 11/785, 11/780, and 11/750; by the time I graduated they'd moved up to an 8650, 8600, and the 11/785. As a student operator and Computer Information Systems major, I LOVED those things. Super-easy to work with, far easier than IBM's stuff. Manning the help desk was never easy, but it was a lot easier trying to get the psych majors who were taking a computer stats class up and running on VAX/VMS instead of on, say, MVS.
Later on I worked briefly with a company that was trying to hook an early Windows PC network (circa 1992) running Gupta SQLWindows up with a MicroVAX II as a file server. The Wintel network wasn't capable of doing what they wanted it to do, but that little VAX was absolutely bulletproof.
I've got a soft spot in my heart for those things. :)
}:-)4
A lot of the reason VMS is still around is that there isn't really that easy of a migration path away from it.
When Windows came out, you could still (and can still) run most DOS programs on it.
Same story here. What a great old warhorse! I still think VMS clustering is the best of class and it's been around for a very, very long time now.
I was a Data General (and look alike) geek using IRIS O/S. One of the first true multi user systems. File and screen handling was a little obtuse but you could develop a lot of programs in a hurry.
We still use it, running OpenVMS Alpha 7.3-2 on an AlphaServer ES40 with 2 EV67 500Mhz CPUs, 5 Gb of memory. Bulletproof. The system is used to run an Oracle data server.
The lack of support for end-user reporting tools on VMS may cause us to move to Linux at some point (~3-5 years), but the systems (hardwaree and software) are well built and run well.
This doesn't sound right.
As I recall, IBM was building 32-bit machines for decades before the VAXen.
Perhaps the article meant "...first commercially available 32-bit minicomputer..."
There are still PDP-11's working somewhere..........
Regards,Br> GtG
Memories, I wrote apps using Fortran. Started on an IBM 1130. Remember those ?
Thank God I no longer have to use it.
VMS...WNTI learned Ultrix (unix) on a DEC system. Later I learned VMS. I loved DEC systems. I thought they were great. though my real expertise is on the IBM AS/400.
Was a VAX operator for a bit in the late 80's. It was not as "operator friendly" as the IBM mainframe systems, but it was a viable (i.e. relatively inexpensive) alternative for writing and testing applications (we used it mostly for bond and currency modelling applications).
On the other hand, getting any kind of support for hardware problems was a bitch. We'd very often lose half a day of operating time waiting for a tech to come out to fix a tape drive, for example. Perhaps that was simply a matter of geography (Staten Island, NY may be part of NYC, but it's rather difficult to get to).
Then again, it wasn't as bad as the Hitatchi system we used for international e-mail and fax. That had to be serviced by techs flown in from Japan (at that time there were no Hitatchi techs in the US, and besides, everything was in Japanese).
Eventualy, the VAX found itself replaced by an IBM AS/400. It was all a matter of service: we had dedicated on-site IBM techs, and it made no sense to wait for Digital techs to make their way from Princeton or Manhattan.
Still, they were perfectly good systems.
Rumor has it they made me code PL1 (and/or COBOL) in College, I think it was on a VAX. Good thing I was drunk all the time, or I would probably still have nightmares to this day! :)