[Info-vax] FYI: A Communique from the VMS Liberation Front

[Subcommandante XDelta]

[The spell-checker has been spell-checked! - Memo: Coffee and
prescription glasses next time!]

Hola comp.os.vms collegiates,

It is but a scant five days away to '25.10' (2012) the 35th Anniversary
of the mighty, unstoppable and unkillable, VMS.

Heretical admission, but we have not been keeping up with the
comp.os.vms conversation as diligently as we might, because the VMS
Liberation Front have been busy preparing their special 35th Anniversary
tribute to Vernon, as health and circumstances permit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Festschrift

However we have dipped into the odd topic or two and were particularly
impressed with the conversation in the post topic entitled:

"What is the draw of VMS?"

And that got the VLF thinking that a 'Festschrift' for the VMS Operating
System would be a fitting 35th Anniversary tribute. In such a
festschrift those that know VMS best after decades of deep familiarity
describe its' virtues, unique qualities, its' limitations and its'
future potential, damn straight, no gilding of the lily.

Any such contribution to the festschrift could contain both general
observations and specific observations and insights derived from the
specialised expertise of the contributor, whether it be VMS Architect,
VMS Engineer, System administrator, Capacity Planner, Operations
Manager, Operator(!), Systems Programmer, Applications Programmer,
Network Administrator and so on.

Any such compiled Festschrift would not be a eulogy or a hagiography but
an unambiguous testament to 35 years of excellence, and a foundation for
the next 35 years of VMS, from surviving back to thriving.

http://h71000.www7.hp.com/openvms/20th/

The 'OpenVMS at 20 Nothing Stops it' book is both a nostalgic joy and a
pain to read, particularly when reminded of the 'Affinity' program
(really the 'Asininity' program) signed off by Palmer and Gates in 1995.

Now the real history of VMS, 1997-2012 needs be written, but not by some
PR hack and running dog of HP Management. Such a bracingly honest
history could be part of the festschrift too.

'OpenVMS at 35 Nothing Kills it'

Calling VMS old hat and yesterday's technology is as dissembling and
specious as criticising your DNA and immune system.

VMS may well be chained in its' itanium Itanic Sarcophagus at the HP
Hospice in an induced coma with a starvation drip-feed and (mixing
metaphors) the virile bull of its' VMS Engineering heart ripped out and
replaced with a carcass hide propped up on four sticks with a tin voice
box that bleats "moo", however, there is still a pulse...

VMS - Unstoppable, Unkillable!

Shoot the messengers, if that is your inclination, but do not shoot the
message:

A proper, formal, comp.os.vms 'Festschrift for Vernon' - it needs to
happen, VMS deserves it.

If someone other than the VLF would care to open a 'Festschrift for
Vernon' topic thank you.

Any such topic would only accumulate contributions to the Festschrift
for the next three weeks, say, and no discussion of any of the
contributions allowed - otherwise the topic thread would become
unmanageably complex to navigate.

Thank you.

Saludos cordiales,

Subcommandate XDelta
p.p. Subcommandante BYPASS