[Info-vax] Vax Station 4000 VLC

[Hans Bachner]

Richard Maher schrieb am 29.12.2018 um 04:04:
> On 27/12/2018 7:18 pm, Jan-Erik Söderholm wrote:
>> Den 2018-12-27 kl. 10:25, skrev Hans Bachner:
>>> Jan-Erik Söderholm schrieb am 25.12.2018 um 10:38:
>>>> [...]
>>>>
>>>> As have been said many times, a web *browser* is wasted money on VMS.
>>>> No sane person uses VMS as their "office desktop" today. [...]
>>>
>>> I'm certainly not asking for a full desktop environment on OpenVMS,
>>> but a reasonable/usable browser should be rather high on the list.
>>> Given the fact that most support stuff (patches, kits, ...) is
>>> accessible through a browser (only, in many cases), there should be a
>>> way to directly download this stuff to a VMS box and not go through
>>> intermediate systems with different OSs.
>>>
>>
>> To fetch some pacthes or new OS kits a few times a year, I do not see
>> the big win here. And not the ROI from browser development/porting.
>>
>> For manual kit/patch fetches, your normal Windows desktop works
>> perfectly OK.
>>
>> Automated patch fetches will not be based on a web browser anyway.
>>
>> No, save those efforts for things that actually matters.
>>
>> Jan-Erik.
>>
>>> Well, VSI offers their kits/ECOs on an SFTP server which changes
>>> requirements a bit. But the old HP(E) interface into the patch
>>> website was quite good, where you could look at details of individual
>>> ECO kits and add them to your download list. I don't know how it
>>> looks today as partners (DSPP/AllianceONE) have been locked out for
>>> quite a while now.
>>>
>>>> And regarding a "GUI for VMS" in general, it is today a web server (on
>>>> VMS) and browsers (on some common office desktop platform).
>>>
>>> This is correct, and, while much management is still done on the
>>> command line and through scripting, more browser based tools at least
>>> for parts which are used only occasionally would be very helpful.
>>>
>>> Hans.
>>
>
> Give up Jan Erik. These people still want to use All-in-1 and
> VAXDocument :-(

I last used ALL-IN-1 around 1997 (or whenever DEC switched to an 
Exchange based mail service). Some of my colleagues then used it longer 
for other business applications integrated into ALL-IN-1. If I remember 
correctly, there also was a Windows client available. ALL-IN-1 wasn't 
that bad as an application integration platform, though it was used as a 
mail system my many/most users.

VAX Document shared the fate of many OpenVMS products. Ahead of its 
time, or at least competitive in the beginning, and then losing ground 
over time. It was the only tool I know of where documents could be 
exchanged and edited between VMS and Windows (maybe even the Pro 
350/380, not sure about that one).

I still have customers who maintain documentation of decades old 
applications (still serving the intended purpose very well) with VAX 
Document. It's just too much effort to convert everything to a current 
documentation tool. But I hear that VSI is offering conversion as a 
service as they need to do it for tons of VMS documentation anyway.

In anticipation of some replies to this posting - no, I certainly would 
not recommend to create documentation for a brand new project with VAX 
Document.

Hans.