[Info-vax] HP adds OpenVMS Mature Product Support beyond the end of Standard Support

[David Froble]

Bill Gunshannon wrote:
> In article <lcgn57$pgm$1 at iltempo.update.uu.se>,
> 	Johnny Billquist <bqt at softjar.se> writes:
>> On 2014-01-31 07:24, Bill Gunshannon wrote:
>>> But don't think it is only Unix that is going to outlast VMS, the VAX's
>>> great-grandfather the PDP-11 is now scheduled to be around in some very
>>> critical positions until at least 2050.  I wonder what OS or if it is a
>>> bare metal operation.
>>>
>>> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/06/19/nuke_plants_to_keep_pdp11_until_2050/
>>>
>>> Hmmm....   Maybe that's why some guy bought all that IP from Mentec...
>> If I were to guess, they would be running RSX.
>> And yes, there are still PDP-11 CPUs being made. So the PDP-11 did 
>> manage to outlive the VAX.
> 
> It also outlived the Alpha dn I have little doubt it will outlive
> the Itanium.
> 
>> I know of plenty of places still running PDP-11s in business critical 
>> places. Some are being replaced by emulated machines, though.
>>
> 
> If we could just get some fabbed with todays tech.  Just think what
> a performance jump you would get with just the process shrink.  Let's
> see, then we need SATA controllers.  How about modern (external)
> memory management?  Now, where's my plans for that PDP-11 laptop....
> 
> 
> bill
> 

Ya know, I started with RSTS, and I liked it.  Until I got into VMS.

My one simple question is this, "why would anyone want a 16 bit OS in 
these days of gigabytes of cheap memory?"

Now, VAX with the process shrinks might be interesting, and who knows 
how fast Alpha might be with successful process shrinks.  Regardless, 
there are other advances they wouldn't have, unless added in addition to 
the process shrinks.