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

[Allen, Daniel P.]

-----Original Message-----
From: info-vax-bounces at rbnsn.com [mailto:info-vax-bounces at rbnsn.com] On Behalf Of Bob Koehler
Sent: Monday, November 09, 2009 4:01 PM
To: info-vax at rbnsn.com
Subject: Re: [Info-vax] Dave Cutler, Prism, DEC, Microsoft, etc.

In article <rqrgf5l0duc5n8247ofodn728nd2gbbld4 at 4ax.com>, jls <notvalid at yahoo.com> writes:
>
> My recollection from that time period is reading a few articles
> written in mags from erstwhile VMS Internals experts that NT had VMS
> written all over it.
>
> It may not be so true today, but the earlier versions, IIRC, were so
> VMS-ish internally that even some of the code was copied verbatim
> (i.e., including comments with the initials of VMS engineers).

   I recall statments from Culter that VMS -> WNT naming similar to
   IBM -> HAL was intentional.  But then I also recall statements that
   Culter only worked on the I/O subsystem of each, and being familiar
   with device drivers in both I can see familiarity, not code, not even
   the same API.  I'm under the impression that Culter offered to do a
   VMS-like well compartmented design to Bill Gates and was turned down.

   People who know the Windows kernel much better than I care to have
   said the similarity is soley within Culter's I/O subsystem.

I believe the NT kernel uses the same object paradigm that Cutler's team used for MICA at DECwest although I'm not sure the core objects (UJPT) are the same. That paradigm was distinctly different than the VMS design. His involvement in NT was far greater than the I/O subsystem which does indeed bear a very clear resemblance to the VMS I/O subsystem. So much so that anyone familiar with the VMS architecture will immediately recognize it. How much if any of the actual NT kernel code he wrote????? - he had a very talented team to manage....

Dan

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