[Info-vax] Out with Hurd, in with OpenVMS

[Richard B. Gilbert]

Michael Kraemer wrote:
> In article <97902402-bbe4-451c-b542-0e978865a807 at x25g2000yqj.googlegroups.com>,
> Neil Rieck <n.rieck at sympatico.ca> writes:
>>
>> The only difference between IBM and DEC is that Palmer carved up the
>> company, sold off pieces, then sold the remainder to Compaq.
> 
> That was of course not the only difference.
>   
>> Parts of the book dwell upon the competition between PRISM (the
>> project to move to 64-bit RISC) vs. Aquarius (the water cooled
>> VAX-9000). Many of DEC's VPs advised Olsen that numerous customers
>> wanted Aquarius which turned out to be false. 
> 
> So who did lie?
> The VP's to Olsen?
> The customers to the VP's by telling
> them they would buy VAX9000 (and didn't when it came out)?
> Or was it more like the VP's only asked 
> special customers and ignored the rest?
> 
>> Of special interest is
>> Appendix-E titled "What Happened? A Post Script" written by Gordon
>> Bell.
>>
>> In the book "Showstopper! The Breakneck Race to Create Windows NT and
>> the Next Generation at Microsoft (1994) by G. Pascal Zachary" we learn
>> some things about what happened after a fraction of the PRISM team
>> begins working at Microsoft. Of special interest is the reaction by
>> Intel to some of Culter's hardware demos and recommendations. From
>> what I can tell, the DECies may have had almost as big an influence on
>> Intel as they did at Microsoft. 
> 
> Such as? Whenever I look at M$ products, nothing reminds me of VMS.
> 

Perhaps because you are looking at the user interface rather than the code!

Perhaps it was no accident that Windows 2000 was the first version of 
Windows that actually worked more or less dependably!  Maybe the 
expression "software engineering" actually means something in a context 
other than advertising!!