[Info-vax] Unix on A DEC Vax?

[MG]

On 19-jan-2013 1:07, Howard S Shubs wrote:
> The only operating system which seems to have a serious future
> is Linux.

Mostly for "LAMP" web servers, but hardly on 'the desktop' and
(especially there) Linux is still extremely marginal.  This was
also exactly the area which VMS supposedly underestimated.  The
worrisome part is, that many 'mission-critical' things are on
Windows systems; for instance, I've seen TV news imagery from
navy vessels here, with Windows logos on the background (of the
'desktop', I presume)...

I've, over time and from optimistically to somewhat reluctantly,
been using Linux for over ten to fifteen years (with breaks in-
between) and the desktop has been consistently poor, in my own
experience.  Many drivers, especially for graphics hardware, is
still surprisingly poor.  (If price hadn't been an issue, SGI
would've still been alive and those IFFFS suites would be still
happily running on IRIX, instead of Linux.)

Most of the complaints that applied to VMS, in terms of so-called
'usability' (like to be running it as a 'desktop' system), also
to varying degrees apply to Linux.  Unlike VMS, Linux is scattered
all over the place and there's no single point of 'quality control'
and many people (who aren't too streetwise) don't have an idea
which distribution would suit them best.  Some also perceive the
'free' and 'open' character of Linux, BSD and others as being a
bit too /laissez-faire/.  In the end, they will often simply fall
back to using Windows and OS X...

  - MG