[Info-vax] VSI and Process Software announcement

[David Froble]

IanD wrote:
> On Saturday, September 24, 2016 at 7:08:18 AM UTC+10, David Froble wrote:

>> You just want to take all the "fun" out of running a VMS system ....
>>
>> :-)
> 
> lol
> 
> I see no fun in it at all having ground my teeth a number of times doing this

Maybe you just don't know how to have fun ???

Ok, I'll get serious for just a few minutes.  That's my limit.

> I ended up having to redo a number of the installs too, partly because I
> didn't know what I was doing and partly because it's just too easy to make
> mistakes or miss something

I recently set up a weendoze 10 system.  I think I could have done 2 VMS 
installs in the same time, and been more sure of what I was doing.

Maybe it's in what you know ....

> Security and stability is enhanced by boiler plating what is known to work
> rather than choosing from a myriad of options

Yes, and I have plenty from past VMS systems to "just move over", and that 
usually works just fine.  At least for me, that concept doesn't exist on 
weendoze.  It's all new every time.  Lots of customization work, each and every 
time.  And re-learning.

Oh, and I don't care what anyone says, options are GOOD!

> I'd eventually like to see standard hardware with options selected as a
> ready-made package install with all the configuration already done - like
> what you can buy on Amazon when you buy a pre-configured OS + package
> install. Much much easier to do when OpenVMS will be on a VM host because
> hardware options will be more uniform
> 
> We might even get to the stage where OpenVMS is run from a single
> distribution file and unpacked and run in memory as a turn-key. No more
> having to update EXE's or code in myriads of directories and scan for
> security breaches and/or corruption. Updates would be simply a matter of
> download a single file. Checksumming an entire system then becomes much
> easier as it's just one single file. We could then finally move towards
> separating the OS from user data totally and could then lock down the OS even
> further. It's much easier to ring-fence a static or near static area than a
> dynamic one
> 
> OpenVMS needs to pick up the security mantle it once had and forge ahead with
> new ideas to attract people back to it - security going forward is going to
> become a major issue. Performance gains will slow, storage will get faster
> but security IMO will become more important than ever and a big diffirentitor

I'm not going to argue with much of that.  More intelligence in the installation 
will always be good.  I sure would not like things to be hidden from me.  Just 
makes more work for me to dig them out.  That also can be a bad thing.

Should VMS be improved, sure it should.  But I have to say, for me right now, if 
I have something more complex than point and click here and here, VMS is the 
easiest and best choice.  Even SSL, cause certificates are OS agnostic, and 
always a PITA for me.