[Info-vax] Whither VMS?

[Mary Pedersen]

On Sep 11, 4:25 pm, Bob Eager <rd... at spamcop.net> wrote:
> On Fri, 11 Sep 2009 15:57:31 -0400, John Reagan wrote:
> > "Bob Eager" <rd... at spamcop.net> wrote in message
> >news:7gvj6hF2ricj3U4 at mid.individual.net...
> >> On Fri, 11 Sep 2009 17:46:35 +0200, Michael Kraemer wrote:
>
> >>> Paul Anderson schrieb:
>
> >>>> Unix is older than VMS but don't confuse me with the facts.  ;-)
>
> >>> At worst the difference is a few years only (and don't confuse Multics
> >>> with Unix), which is insignificant in hindsight of 30* years.
>
> >> Anyway, 32 bit UNIX didn't arrive until *after* VMS. One would have to
> >> compare early UNIX (even on the PDP-11) with 16 bit VMS (or RSX-11, as
> >> we know it)! :-)
>
> > The Perkin-Elmer 8/32 (a 32-bit computer) ran a flavor of UNIX and was
> > in the field before the first VAXen.  My former employer had one.  It
> > was the first non-PDP-11 computer to run UNIX.
>
> <pedant>
> UNIX first appeared on the PDP-7, in around 1970. OK, it was written in
> assembler...!
> </pedant>
>
> Anyway...I'd be interested in dates. UNIX didn't go (semi-) public until
> about 1976 (I started using it in July 1976). Not sure about first VMS
> dates but I thought it was about then. Presumably the PE 8/32 (that was
> the Interdata later, wasn't it?) post-dates the PDP-11 version going
> public as v6?
>
> Perhaps VMS was later than I thought, but 1976 sticks in my mind.
>
> --
> Use the BIG mirror service in the UK:
>  http://www.mirrorservice.org

Actually, October 1977, San Diego DECUS convention was the official
public viewing of VAX-11/VMS.  First customer ship was in February
1978 (as I recall).

Bill.