[Info-vax] The best VMS features, was: Re: openvms renaming file

[Dave Froble]

On 5/29/2018 8:05 PM, Arne Vajhøj wrote:
> On 5/29/2018 5:31 PM, Robert A. Brooks wrote:
>> On 5/29/2018 5:19 PM, Phillip Helbig (undress to reply) wrote:
>>> In article <pek49d$2kp$1 at dont-email.me>, "Robert A. Brooks"
>>> <FIRST.LAST at vmssoftware.com> writes:
>>>>>> I mentioned this before but I will repeat it. A while back I
>>>>>> eliminated
>>>>>> the annoying 24 line terminal assumption from EDT and released it
>>>>>> internally (to VSI). After then a few people came up to me and
>>>>>> thanked
>>>>>> me for doing so. It was almost like being at an AA meeting, with
>>>>>> people
>>>>>> saying: "My name is Joe Smith, and...and I use EDT" followed by a
>>>>>> thank
>>>>>> you.
>>>>>
>>>>> Another reason I am waiting for VMS on x86.  It WILL be part of the
>>>>> distribution, right?
>>>> It will make its appearance in VMS V8.5.
>>>
>>> Can't wait!
>>>
>>> In contrast to the old days, most hobbyists will not have a chance to
>>> experience VMS on x86.  Many won't buy a supported machine, at least not
>>> right away.
>>
>> As has been said before, many times -- we expect that VMS will play
>> quite nicely with a few hypervisors.  VirtualBox at first, and KVM
>> soon after, if not immediately.
>
> And besides.
>
> A hobbyist does not need the HW to be supported just that it work.
>
> Are there any reason to believe that VMS x86-64 will not run on
> any standard HW or standard VM's?
>
> Run meaning being usable potentially with a few funky
> effects: certain hardware being identified as UNKNOWN,
> VM's not releasing CPU when VMS is idle and stuff like
> that.
>
> And of course VSI will not take any bug reports.
>
> Similar to VMS on Multia some decades ago.
>
> Arne
>
>

Any problems with specific HW will most likely be the lack of 
appropriate device drivers.  Even Microsoft no longer supports all 
devices.  They support many, and I doubt VSI will match that.

Since VMS is a "server" OS, this might not be a huge problem.  Many of 
the devices are graphics.  Being able to support generic graphics should 
be enough.