[Info-vax] x86 Update 4/22/19

[Dave Froble]

On 4/29/2019 1:09 PM, Stephen Hoffman wrote:

> Pragmatically, one needs better ways to deal with the inevitable.  Apps
> and systems *will* get more complex.  Dependencies *will* increase.
> Constituent libraries and apps *will* need patches.  Apps *will* be
> found vulnerable.  Patches and updates *will* need to be deployed
> faster.  Apps and patches *will* need better and faster and increasingly
> automated deployments.  Because even if "one needs to find a balance",
> there's a very clear trend where one and all are headed, and one and all
> may not be (are not at all?) prepared for that trend with the present
> state of OpenVMS and its features, and of the designs and assumptions
> typical of the VSI and ISV and end-user developers involved.

All of the above is most likely valid.  Still, I'm not ready to rush 
into such things.  For example:

What if the bad guys get into the "patch process"?

Do you really want your local nuclear power station to just 
automatically apply patches?

"Fast" and "accurate" don't co-exist very well in patches and such.

Apps should not be more complex than required.

Yes, each day that goes by, we depend more and more on computers.  As 
that dependency increases, so too do the ramifications of errors and 
such.  "Proven" but with known errors is to be desired over "unproven 
and who knows what the hell it's going to do".

Just another perspective.

-- 
David Froble                       Tel: 724-529-0450
Dave Froble Enterprises, Inc.      E-Mail: davef at tsoft-inc.com
DFE Ultralights, Inc.
170 Grimplin Road
Vanderbilt, PA  15486