[Info-vax] VAX/VMS is not VMS. Not any more.

[David Goodwin]

On Monday, August 1, 2022 at 12:31:15 PM UTC+12, Simon Clubley wrote:
> VAX/VMS is no longer VMS. VMS has developed greatly since those days. 
> 
> Suggesting that people learn VMS by sticking them in front of a VAX/VMS 
> machine makes about as much sense as telling people to learn Windows by 
> sticking them in front of a Windows 98 or Windows 2000 machine. 
> 
> VAX/VMS is so limited compared to later versions of VMS (even Alpha) 
> that it is extremely counter productive to tell people to learn VMS by 
> making VAX/VMS their first exposure to VMS, especially when a hobbyist 
> version of Alpha VMS is freely available to use. 

I'm not sure how you arrive at this conclusion.

Anything you learn using or developing for Windows 2000 is certainly applicable
to current windows. The Win32 API is mostly the same, the development tools 
haven't changed a whole lot, the UI is still pretty similar, the command line is 
almost identical. Windows 10 is an incremental improvement over windows 2000, 
not an entirely different operating system.

>From what I've seen of OpenVMS VAX 7.3 (or even 5.5) and OpenVMS Alpha 8.3
the same applies. I'm sure there are significant improvements in 8.3 just like there
are in Windows 10 but as a user OpenVMS VAX 5.5 they look more similar than they
do different and my ability to navigate around the system, edit files, etc, seemed 
to transfer just fine to 8.3.

Additionally, doesn't VSI OpenVMS Alpha require at least an EV6 processor? At
least that's what the list of supported AlphaServers implies. My only EV6 is
a faulty DS20 and I don't like my chances of getting my hands on anything smaller
or less faulty. Small VAXen always seemed to be easier to get my hands on than
small Alphas.