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VAX Users See the Writing on the Wall
Snot Locker writes "An informative piece at ComputerWorld talks about how VAX users are anticipating the costly migration to more modern systems. Several noteworthy tidbits, including hints of the port of OpenVMS to Itanium and the tale of VAX systems that have not had a reboot in 6 years!"
I didn't see THAT coming!
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
...a computer that has literally run from since before Windows 98 existed until now without being rebooted.
Hell, with the critical-update-du-jour lately, it's probably hard for Windows users to imagine a computer that's been running since the previous week without being rebooted.
No reboot in 6 years?
Hahaha....i have a computer that has not had a reboot in almost 10 years.
In fact it's still somewhere in the closet.
I should plug it in sometime....
Slashdot Sig. version 0.1alpha. Use at your own risk.
Fact: *BSD is dying
Lizzie Borden took an axe,
And plunged it deep into the VAX;
Don't you envy people who
Do all the things YOU want to do?
[Unknown]
the_VAX_writing_is_on_wall.txt;252
Possibly, but that money went into a CEO's golden parachute.
http://www.rootstrikers.org/
My current employer had a VAX that had some monstrous uptime as well. But in the end the bootdisk failed, and the system couldn't be brought up at all. It proved an easy way to migrate users off of the system - a migration that had been in the works for the past 5 years. Now I hear the same thing is planned for our Alpha GS/140. I mean, to migrate off of it, not to have the bootdisk fail...
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.
The fact that some VAX systems haven't had a reboot in 6 years reminds me of a story my HP/Compaq representative told me about the reliability of their Proliant servers. There was a server in a data center that handled user logons to the Novell client. One year the data center was remodeled but none of the servers could be moved because users still needed to be able to log on. So they finished remodelling the room and accidentally walled in the server. 3 years later someone finally decided that it was time to upgrade that server. When they went to look for it, it was nowhere to be found. It was still running after 3 years and hundreds of thousands of logons later. (They finally contacted the remodeling company and figured it out.)
Right.
Show me RMS's heavier and less-well-groomed brother in Birkenstocks, a T-shirt, and suspenders and I'd be a little more likely to believe it.
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
Uptime of 6 years ?
Pah. My abacus (which has been handed down through 3 generations) has had an uptime of nearly 100 years. And apart from missing a few of the counters (I was a curious child) it still works great.
Them thar 'puters are just new fangled junk.
Sky subscribers are morons. They pay to be advertised at !
Holy crap! Did the phrase "Y2K" mean nothing to these people?!?
What happened to /. today ?
It looks like troll's fest day!
First backup tapes, then Microsoft, now VAX.. what's next BSD, Apple and Sun ?
Oh.. and has Netcraft confirmed it yet?
It's runs an enitre depratement and we love it.
Most people's problem with the vax is caused by
their reckless disregard for safety.
Always rember to bend at the knee's when you
bang your head against the wall. If you bend at your
waist you'll throw out your back.
You must reboot for the change to take effect."
[ OK ] [ Cancel ]
C:\WINDOWS\Desktop>uname -sr
Bad command or file name
hmmm...
do not read this line twice.
What they didn't say was, yes, it was 6 Years without a reboot, but 7 years without a user. /me ducks for cover
-- @rjamestaylor on Ello
Don't worry, even if someone erases the writing on the wall, VMS users will be able to see it, along with the 20 previous versions.
This is an old story but it seems fitting here.
)9TSS
You can't have more than one person using a computer at the same time! They'd fight over the mouse!
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
o/~ Join us now and share the software
I'm still partial to the humor that the programmers added to the system. Like variables that are expressed in microfortnights, or an error message that reads, "Shut 'er down Clancy, she's pumpin' mud."
"The damn things have be set on fire to get them to stop working."
Is it just me, or does it sound like there's a good story behind this statement?
The strange thing is that Windows XP is an indirect descendant of the OS that probably is running on those VAX systems with those giant swinging uptimes. The story goes that back in the day, the Windows NT team had a large number of VMS vetrans on board, and that there was more than a little bit of code in common between VMS and Windows NT. The story is actually kinda interesting; you can read about it here.
The urban legend is that Windows NT is so called because if you "add" one letter to each of VMS, you get WNT (like with HAL and IBM). And then if you're feeling snarky, you say something like "see, you had to know that the NT couldn't stand for new technology." But you probably shouldn't expect anyone to laugh.
I remember working for DEC as a student worker. We had one VAX that supported our entire group (VT-XXX terminals using LSE). Today my laptop is more powerful than that VAX.
I also remember when we got an upgrade to the "new" VAX line. The old ones used to be these big washing machine types of machines, we had them in the 3rd floor, and remember waiting up there to see how they get the new washing machines up there.
I was waiting for a while with a colleague, when suddenly a technician came in, carrying a little box under his arm. He put the box on the old washing machine, reconnected some cables and left... Leaving me a my friend open-mouthed.
It's a VAX. They're older than commercial electricity. Obviously he had his own gas-fired generator running it :)
my old sig used to be funny, but then slashcode ate it and now it's not funny anymore
My understanding is that the hamsters are just about dead after 6 years of continuous running.
The only reason we have the rights we have is that people just like us died to gain those rights. -- Cheerio Boy
ah, forget it.
Yes, all the reliablility of a modern PC, with the syntax of VMS. Someone must really be into S&M.
Dean G.
Alas, poor VMS. I knew him, Slashdot. He hath borne me on his back a thousand times...
Careful with that VAX, Eugene!
Now I hear the same thing is planned for our Alpha GS/140. I mean, to migrate off of it, not to have the bootdisk fail...
:-)
The disk has its own plans
Not that this wasn't entirely predictable.
CHAOS, INSANITY, DESPERATION and GATEWAY.
Maybe your gateway should be called WINDOWS. Given what it leads to and all.
Because HP and Compaq and DEC as individual companies and as combined companies went straight into the toilet after it made deals with the two heads of the dragon from the lake of fire - Intel and MS
NT on Alpha? (the, by far, most powerful processor of its time) please... Let run NT on Alpha, so we can create the most powerful virus distribution system the world has ever known!
12:013 And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the Engineering Groups which brought forth VAX, VMS and Alpha.
12:017 And the dragon was wroth with the Engineering Groups, and went to make war with the remnant of their seed, which keep the commandments of VMS, and have the testimony of VAX and Alpha.