[Info-vax] VMS - what is the current thinking amongst the user community

[patrick jankowiak]

> (a) Is your VMS system running mainly home grown application or
> packaged

Packaged

> (b) If homegrown - are there any specific VMS API/ Subsystems - that
> make VMS irreplaceable (lock manager, clustering etc)

not applicable.

> (c) Is there any 'software' that would make life easier - I hate to
> use the DEC I14Y "Interoperability" - only because - I still miss
> DECUS / New Orleans and the TGV guys paying a for several great nights
> out.

no answer. - happy with what is currently available.

> (d) Is there still the religious fervor associated with VMS? (after
> having to duplicate the AST/QIO/Lock Manager mechanisms - I have even
> a greater appreciation of VMS internals)

I would never switch unless forced to. The system sits naked directly on 
an IP address, no firewalls, nothing, running CSWS and serving up my web 
site for many years and staying up except for occasional issues maybe 
once every 3 years due to aged storage hardware. I realize a cluster 
could eliminate that kind of outage. Just because I run hobbyist does 
not mean reliability, security, and uptime is less important to me than 
it is to a bank or the NSA. I've spent years building 60+GB of technical 
content, my free site is used as a reference by electronics and 
engineering folks, and I'm very serious about it. since I do not code, 
but rather am a scientist and hardware hacker, I would never give up the 
ease of use and the kind of peace of mind that VMS gives me. You can 
have my VMS system after you pry my guns out of my cold dead hands.

> (e) What programming languages are popular ? (no one has asked for
> BASIC or DIBOL for 2 or 3 years)

no answer. My simple needs are met with DCL.

> (f) If VMS was going to be replaced - as VMS guys - what target would
> you lean toward (AIX/HPUX/LINUX/Solaris x86)

Linux. (or maybe just for a webserver - windows 98. no one hacks at it 
any more, the 3rd party firewall, FTP server, and webserver are free, 
and it stays up if rebooted from time to time)

> 
> I appreciate anyone taking the time to read this.
> 
> Sincerely