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Revitalizing the Internet and VMS

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the taste-it-again-for-the-first-time dept.

Da Beave writes "Similar to the "Going Back to the Past of the Internet" /. post, these guys want to not only revitalize the Internet, but the OpenVMS Operating System (Started by Digital, then to Compaq, now to HP....). They have a cluster of VAXen (32 bit) and Alphas (64 bit) for public (non-commercial) usage.... With more compilers than you can shake a stick at, and it's considered one of the most secure OS's around....." VMS was one of the first operating systems I learned to use. This page really brings back some memories, both good and bad.

2 of 267 comments (clear)

  1. VMS was my first OS too by Baki · · Score: 2, Flamebait

    And this article brings back bad memories, nightmares. I have always hated this unelegant, bulky and heavy operating system.

    At the time I didn't know better, but had a vague idea that it must be possible to make something better. Luckily other VAX users had thought so a long time ago, and ported UNIX to VAX.

    Then after 1 year of VMS we got our first UNIX machine (a Convex minisuper) and then I saw the light. In my opinion, UNIX and VMS were two opposites in almost any aspect. Using UNIX was a joy, it was elegant, efficient and interesting.

    I have never been able to understand how (later) in a single company two such opposite culters could stay together (in DEC, the UNIX and VMS groups) and it turned out, not surprisingly, they could not.

    Everyone who likes UNIX and who knows both UNIX and VMS well cannot but hate VMS. I bet many, like me, still wake at night sometimes due to a nightmare about VMS. In that respect, WNT is a worthy VMS++ indeed.

  2. Re:VMS better than *NIX? by io333 · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Can somebody please explain to me (or tell me to RTFM/STFW and point me to the relevant resource) what makes VMS better than *NIX?

    In a nutshell, VMS is not case sensitive.