[Info-vax] Dave Cutler, Prism, DEC, Microsoft, etc.

[Bob Eager]

On Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:45:24 +0000, VAXman- wrote:

> In article <iNqdnfhzKIfVi2nXnZ2dnUVZ_jSdnZ2d at giganews.com>, "Richard B.
> Gilbert" <rgilbert88 at comcast.net> writes:
>>Neil Rieck wrote:
>>> Since any idiot can put up a web page these days, you know it all
>>> can't be true. So imagine my surprise when I bumped into this:
>>> 
>>> http://radsoft.net/rants/20040831,00.shtml
>>> 
>>> <quote>Dave always wanted to rewrite VMS in C. He hated Unix but loved
>>> C. As soon as he'd finished VMS he suggested the rewrite. He was
>>> turned down flat. Several years later he found himself in Seattle and
>>> essentially was doing the rewrite in C when word came DEC were tired
>>> of him.</quote>
>>> 
>>> This article contains lots of other (possibly) questionable facts, but
>>> think about the statement above "rewrite VMS in C". If this had
>>> happened, we would have VMS or OpenVMS on any platform including
>>> x86-64
>>> 
>>> NSR
>>
>>Not ANY platform!  There are architectural requirements; things like
>>number and sizes of registers, processor modes, etc.
>>
>>Many years ago, somebody wrote PCVMS.  I bought a copy.  It had a DCL
>>like command language, and VMS-like system services.  It was NOT VMS.
> 
> Wendin Associate.  I had a copy too when I was working at Lakehurst
> NAEC.  It was considered a toy and little more.

It's wasn't a serious attempt. The real product was a small OS kernel, 
with multiple 'personalities' laid on top. There was a PC-UNIX which was 
equally unlike UNIX.

I have disks and manuals for PC-VMS somewhere...



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