[Info-vax] Whither VMS?

[Bill Gunshannon]

In article <CzBBRcR308Gv at eisner.encompasserve.org>,
	koehler at eisner.nospam.encompasserve.org (Bob Koehler) writes:
> In article <7h7bcqF2s72n0U14 at mid.individual.net>, Bob Eager <rde42 at spamcop.net> writes:
>> 
>> You fall into the trap of thinking that all 'UNIX' is UNIX. Which 
>> particular UNIX were you thinking of?
> 
>    "UNIX is the portable operating system that's different on
>    every platform."  I'm sure someone will claim to know who said
>    that first.

I have always prefered:
  "Those who do not understand Unix are condemned to reinvent it, poorly"
                                                    Henry Spencer

As has been adequately demonstrated by Linux.

> 
>    However, 16 bit and 32 bit UNIX are two mode OS with the habit of
>    forking all over the place.  These are just two examples of kernel
>    design that haven't changed since the late 60s, when such were popular
>    in timesharing OS design.
> 
>> Lots has changed - more than VMS has. I would dispute the kernel and file 
>> system statements, for a start.
> 
>    UNIX file system internals have been re-implemented for a large number 
>    of reasons that the end user can't see.  Externals remain the same, as
>    does the on-size-fits-all file-as-a-stream-of-bytes.
> 
>    VMS, on the other hand, has changed file name sizes from 9.3 to just
>    about any length, from uppercase storing case insensitive to case
>    preserving with a choice between case sensitive and case insensitive,

Interesting how the first two improvements to VMS you chose to present 
have been standard on Unix all along.  :-)

bill

-- 
Bill Gunshannon          |  de-moc-ra-cy (di mok' ra see) n.  Three wolves
billg999 at cs.scranton.edu |  and a sheep voting on what's for dinner.
University of Scranton   |
Scranton, Pennsylvania   |         #include <std.disclaimer.h>