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

[Arne Vajhøj]

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

If the various owners of VMS had believed in the market for
VMS/x86-64, then I don't think getting Bliss and Macro-32 for
x86-64 would have been the showstopper. My guess is that it
would have been a small part of the overall project. Porting
an OS to a new platform is more than just building the
source code.

Arne