[Info-vax] VMS internals design, was: Re: BASIC and AST routines

[Scott Dorsey]

=?UTF-8?Q?Arne_Vajh=c3=b8j?=  <arne at vajhoej.dk> wrote:
>Just look at Windows where the 64 bit stuff is in C:\Windows\System32
>and the 32 bit stuff is in C:\Windows\SysWOW64 and in registry
>HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT vs HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Wow6432Node and the fun with
>ODBC drivers.
>
>But even if we consider it a clean design, then it really does
>not matter. It is all facilitated by the fact that the x86-64
>CPU have a 32 bit mode and a 64 bit mode. Alpha did not have
>two modes. So it was not an option for VMS.

Windows did it very very badly.  Solaris is a much better example of
how it can be done right.

Remember the 11/780 had a 16-bit mode and could run RSX binaries too.
So we have been through all this before.
--scott

-- 
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."