[Info-vax] OpenVMS versus Windows/GE Telemetry Control Systems.

[Simon Clubley]

On 2013-01-15, David Froble <davef at tsoft-inc.com> wrote:
>
> As for the case of the original poster, the Alpha systems are running 
> today, and will continue to run until something breaks.  Given the 
> history of DEC hardware, it should normally be expected to run for a 
> long time yet.  Individual pieces can and do break, and then it's a 
> question of whether there is any recourse to fixing or replacing the 
> failed equipment.  In most cases, fixing or replacing is far less costly 
> than a migration of the system to something else.  In business decisions 
> should be based on a cost / benefit ratio.
>

I wonder why people only consider hardware breaking instead of also
considering software breaking.

In this Internet connected world, software can break just as hard as
hardware when a security exploit is discovered and can be a _lot_ harder
to fix than a simple hardware failure.

If you have a hardware failure, you can just replace your board or
component and resume normal service. OTOH, if someone finds a protocol
vulnerability or stack/server coding error in the software you are
running, you are dead in the water until either you find a workaround
or your code base is fixed either by you or your vendor.

Current mainstream platforms may have issues, but you can have more
confidence that either a workaround or fix will be available in short
order for any active exploit that makes it into the public domain for
those platforms.

I've gone through several cycles of getting Internet related components
fixed under VMS and the fixes took a lot longer than I would be comfortable
with if the problem in question had been a active exploit.

Simon.

-- 
Simon Clubley, clubley at remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP
Microsoft: Bringing you 1980s technology to a 21st century world