[Info-vax] BOINC for VMS

[David Froble]

Keith Parris wrote:
> On 3/13/2012 5:01 PM, Michael Kraemer wrote:
>> Well, it was Olsen who was reluctant to bring Alpha to market
>> (if, for example, that Apple story is true).
>> It didn't happen until Palmer took over.
> 
> Incorrect. The Alpha Project started in the late '80s. Olsen was removed 
> in 1992, just before Alpha shipped.

Well, the way I remember it, Ken wanted to extend the VAX, not create a new RISC 
processor.  Regardless, on his watch the Alpha got it's start.

Frankly, while I doubt it would have matched the Alpha, I think the VAX still had a lot of 
life to it, and with 64 bit extensions, might have been interesting, and perhaps wouldn't 
have needed that Hudson FAB which cost so much.

Note that I have no way of knowing how well such development might have done, nor do I 
know what kind of costs might have been incurred.  What I do know is that the N-VAX CPU 
continued to sell well through the 1990s.  A PC killer?  Who knows?  If something like 
windows had been developed for it as a user interface?  Yes, I'm aware of DECwindows, and 
good or bad, the apps for it to be a desktop user interface just weren't there.  Can you 
imagine anyone at DEC building a computer for games?  Another case of "stop the 
development", and the product is doomed to die.