[Info-vax] VAX VMS going forward

[Bob Wilson]

> There was active debate around whether to ship the then-next OpenVMS 
> VAX release OpenVMS VAX V6.3 or OpenVMS VAX V7.0, and there were 
> similar debates around the then-next OpenVMS Alpha release as OpenVMS 
> Alpha V7.4 or OpenVMS Alpha V8.2. This as the changes with VAX and 
> later with Alpha were minor.  In both cases, the decision was made to 
> use the same number as the larger "paired" release on the newer 
> platform, as explaining the lack-of-difference-but-still works-together 
> was viewed as being more involved and more confusing and more effort 
> than would shipping OpenVMS VAX V7.0 and OpenVMS Alpha V8.2 and each 
> with comparatively fewer differences and the same version number as 
> compared with the then-newer platform. 

The indecision is obvious when looking at how the various "projects" were named, and started and stopped, renamed, and restarted, and, and, and... 

The IA64 port at the very least provided some clarity of what-to-do-next.

> Mako V8.0, Jaws V8.1, Topaz V8.2, Dory V8.2-1, Nemo V8.3, Orion 
> V8.3-1H1, Jedi V8.4. 

Yeah, yeah...too many, too much. Don't forget Ghost, Zombie, Eureka, Redtail, and various other things that never saw the light outside of ZKO.

bw