[Info-vax] VMS FAQ (was Re: Where to locate software)

[Kerry Main]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Info-vax [mailto:info-vax-bounces at info-vax.com] On Behalf Of
> Stephen Hoffman via Info-vax
> Sent: 10-Jun-16 10:58 AM
> To: info-vax at info-vax.com
> Cc: Stephen Hoffman <seaohveh at hoffmanlabs.invalid>
> Subject: Re: [New Info-vax] VMS FAQ (was Re: Where to locate
> software)
> 
> On 2016-06-10 02:01:47 +0000, David Froble said:
> 
> > The Wizard (Stephen Hoffman) maintained the FAQ while he was at
> DEC et
> > al, and I do believe he has a copy on his web page Hoffman Labs.  So,
> > it's still available, but perhaps a bit dated, just like VMS.
> 
> The 2006-vintage OpenVMS FAQ:
> 
> http://labs.hoffmanlabs.com/vmsfaq also known as
> http://labs.hoffmanlabs.com/node/1
> 
> I looked at updating the FAQ and even started porting the FAQ text to
> more modern tools — the FAQ is written in DEC/TTI Document SDML,
> and
> I'm not inclined to buy a license for that — and slowly realized that
> both the old text format and the segmented newsgroup distribution was
> a
> whole lot of work and for rather less results than are available with
> other approaches and tools.
> 
> > While helpful, some feel this should be provided by the OS vendor.
> Not
> > sure it matters, as long as it's available.
> 
> The recommendations around how software kits and open source
> packages
> are organized and configured best come from the vendor, as they're the
> ones that inherently establish the related standards.   For any OS
> vendor, this (in decreasing order of preference) is either with
> explicit recommendations and associated tools and frameworks (e.g. app
> bundles, sandboxes, containers, etc), through folks mimicking
> conventions based on what the vendor themselves present and
> document,
> or by whatever code perambulations the particular vendor happens to
> throw over the wall for end-user folks and third-party folks to deal
> with that particular week.    As for user opinions, there are already
> various recommendations posted both in this thread and around the
> 'net.
>  Many are good, some IMO not so good, and none that I've encountered
> are even remotely forward-looking.
> 
> Were I to tell you how to configure your package, I'm just another bozo
> on this bus.    I can assure y'all that some of my opinions here would
> be unpopular with the crowd that is used to OpenVMS as it is.
> 
> I've been considering offering a "Alternate Future OpenVMS"
> presentation for the boot camp, covering my opinions around this topic
> and other drag-VMS-forward topics.  Whether that'd even be of interest
> to the session reviewers or attendees?   No sé.   Certainly not
> something I'd expect VSI to implement, either.   It's far outside any
> presentation I've encountered at a previously boot camp or symposium,
> so there's that.  But I digress.
> 
> > Don't know if Steve is taking and including new submissions for the
> FAQ.
> 
> Have you looked at the HL web site?   ~1800 articles.  With a way to
> start discussions.  That's where I've been putting articles.   Articles
> which can be longer than the quick-hit FAQ-style Q&A format and
> discussions.
> 
> If I were over at VSI, I'd have a web content management system
> deployed for the content (and a whole lot less of the stock photos),
> and — for discussions — I'd be pushing for either a Stack site, or
> would be using the existing Stack Overflow and related sites and tags.
>  Discussions locally require forum administration and some very gentle
> moderation, or the forums tend to become filled with spam or vitriole.
>  No, I wouldn't use Notes and the Notes-News or other gateways.  At
> least not until Notes gets dragged forward.  But I digress.
> 

Steve - excellent point on the content management system (CMS - not
to be confused with the other CMS - code mgmt. system). 

It's likely the VSI / community should be looking at more modern ways
to manage multiple different types of information regarding OpenVMS.
The community needs a much more centralized environment where not
Only experienced users can go, but also somewhere to direct new users
for documentation, training info, video's, presentations, announcements
and numerous other things typically in a content mgmt system.

Imho, this new information system should be OpenVMS based - perhaps
on a small cluster for higher availability. It likely should be hosted by VSI, 
but with external contributors /partners that can assist with the creation 
(shared authoring), and mgmt. of the information.

As a suggestion - get Mark Daniel to assist with the following:
http://wasd.vsm.com.au/vdub/

" Vdub CMS  is a content management system for VMS-based Web sites.

Vdub is a nickname for the VWcms (VMS Web-content management system) 
application.  The generic term content management system (CMS) is used to 
refer to software applications used to organize information in various 
environments.   

In this case VWcms helps organise web sites on VMS systems.

"There are many free and commercial packages providing the essentials 
of a Web site.  These are constructed by professional graphic artists and 
designers and can provide a polished look and feel to a Web presence 
while saving a significant amount of effort for the site administrator. It is 
usually a relatively straight-forward exercise to adapt this sort of package 
to VWcms usage.

VWcms has been developed against recent versions of Firefox, Google
 Chrome, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Safari and Opera. As is often the 
case, much more time was spent getting MSIE (mostly) to behave as 
required than on all the others put together!"

:-)

Regards,

Kerry Main
Kerry dot main at starkgaming dot com