[Info-vax] Eisner's PAKs, was: Re: Can't get hobbyist licenses from Openvmshobbyist

[Kerry Main]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Info-vax [mailto:info-vax-bounces at info-vax.com] On Behalf Of
> David Froble
> Sent: 20-Jan-15 3:49 PM
> To: info-vax at info-vax.com
> Subject: Re: [New Info-vax] Eisner's PAKs, was: Re: Can't get hobbyist
> licenses from Openvmshobbyist
> 

[snip..]

> > Even given your miracle scenario, who is going to pay the Professors
> > to create entirely new curicula using VMS instead of the OS that has
> > been used to teach Computer Science for over 4 decades?  Or did you
> > think they just stand in the front of the room and talk off the cuff?
> > Course development takes a lot of time and effort and there has to be
> > a good reason for doing it.  Pushing something as obscure as VMS is
> > not likely to meet that criteria.  Let's try sticking to reality.
> >
> > bill
> >
> 
> Nit picking, but 4 decades would be 1975, if I can still do math.  VMS
> did not come out until 1978, and at one time was used in education.
> 
> Now, maybe not at your school, but, there are many schools, and I
> cannot
> believe that there might not be a VMS bigot somewhere in education
> that
> given a decent chance just might offer a course that is based on VMS.
> 
> For you to say that no where on the planet this could happen is a bit
> rash, don't you think?

Taking the OS religion out of the discussion, perhaps a university who
was interested in teaching core computer architectures and strategies 
vs. only teaching what is popular (today) would be a good candidate 
for this?

As an example, UNIX, Linux, Windows are all shared nothing
architectures. What about teaching an alternative architecture based  
on shared everything?

Of course, OpenVMS might be a good candidate for this shared 
everything teaching, but to be fair, z/OS (formerly MVS) might also 
be an option.

As an example of pros and cons of these different architectures,
check out this whitepaper:

http://www.scaledb.com/pdfs/WP_SDvSN.pdf

And since there was reference in this thread to what text books, likely 
one of the best would have to be:  
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1555580599  (Amazon order)

VAX/VMS Internals and Data Structures - Ruth Goldenberg and
Lawrence Kenah, ISBN 1-55558-059-9 . Based on OpenVMS V5.2

Extract from back cover:
"Teachers and students of graduate and advanced graduate courses 
in operating systems will also find this book a valuable study in how 
theory and practice are resolved in a complex commercial operating 
system"

Scroll down on Amazon link to see another book on OpenVMS file 
systems.

Regards,

Kerry Main
Back to the Future IT Inc.
 .. Learning from the past to plan the future

Kerry dot main at backtothefutureit dot com