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

[Bill Gunshannon]

On 05/30/2018 08:54 PM, Arne Vajhøj wrote:
> On 5/30/2018 9:02 AM, Bill Gunshannon wrote:
>> On 05/29/2018 11:07 PM, Dave Froble wrote:
>>> 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.
>>
>> This is a bad mindset to prolong.  It shows a indset willing to
>> give up a major piece of the market.
> 
> With unlimited funding then VMS could go after both.
> 
> But given limited funding then going after servers
> seems to make most sense.
> 
> Relative smaller gaps and higher rewards.

My point was that there is little difference between desktop
and server systems today and writing either off is a bad
decision.  Can it really be that hard  to write a device
driver for a limited set of graphics cards?  Remember, we
are not looking at taking over the gaming market (VMS could
not do that graphics support or not!!)

> 
>>                                     Windows and Linux are both
>> Server and Desktop OSes and there is really very little difference
>> between the two versions under both OSes.
> 
> They used to be the same.

They basically still are.

> 
> Windows desktop versions and Windows server editions has diverged
> a lot the last 15 years.

I think you will find not so  much at the kernel level.  The difference
is mostly what they will run and that is controlled by Registry Entries.
Been that way since the NT days.  At the time I retired (Server 2012)
it was pretty much the same.

> 
> Also Linux distros are getting more and more specialized as either
> server or desktop. But they can probably still be totally reconfigured
> with a bit of effort.

All of that is at the application level.  I run Ubuntu Server and
Desktop.  The run the exact same kernel.  And when you come down
to it, isn't VMS really what's in the kernel?  Everything else is
just applications.

Heck, I'll go one further.  People are talking about running VMS
on VM's where there is no server hardware at all.  Why  not do
Desktop the same way.  Put RDP in the kernel and use ThinClients
to do the graphics hardware. I would think this would be very
advantageous even to the people admining the boxes.

bill