[Info-vax] Why it is a good idea that OpenVMS isn't on x86-64 just yet

[Bob Gezelter]

On Monday, January 18, 2016 at 5:06:06 PM UTC-5, Hans Vlems wrote:
> John, what on earth did you do wrong to deserve that???
> The TU58 was probably cheap, certainly less expensive than the RX02 on the 11/780 along with its LSI-11.
> The 11/750 had to be slower than the 11/780 because DEC had announced an entry level VAX. The gate array technology was rather new and I think engineering was pleasantly surprised with the end result. Marketing must have felt a different emotion...
> The 11/750 cpu ran slower than the 11/780. At 0.6 VUPS it was twice as fast as the 11/730. Its only advantage was its small size, roughly a pdp 11/40 cabinet, a lot smaller than the 12/750 and no a/c required.
> Two TU58 drives didn't really help either.

The 11/730 was also, if I recall correctly, at a far lower price point. The lower investment made it attractive to ISVs developing software for the platform.

A point worth remembering: Capital costs are an impediment to high risk development efforts.

- Bob Gezelter, http://www.rlgsc.com