[Info-vax] Hard links on VMS ODS5 disks

[Johnny Billquist]

On 2023-08-23 08:44, John Dallman wrote:
> In article <u9n69c$r61o$1 at dont-email.me>, arne at vajhoej.dk (Arne Vajhøj)
> wrote:
> 
>> There are two very different questions:
>>
>> #1: Did DEC's decisions in 1977 make sense given 1977 knowledge?
>>
>> I believe the answer to #1 is YES. Their decisions was similar to
>> how most OS was designed at the time.
> 
> The decisions in 1977 were defensible, but not forward-looking. Operating
> systems written in high-level languages already existed, and
> microprocessor-based machines offered a possibility of computers becoming
> much cheaper. VAX/VMS solved the problems of the recent past, quite well,
> but did not anticipate the future.

I think it was way more about meeting the existing demands of their 
existing customers. You had this large customer base running PDP-11s 
with RSX and RSTE/E (primarily), who wanted something bigger, and was 
willing to pay for it.
So that is what DEC built. Both hardware and software wise.
And it makes *total* sense. You build what your customers as for, and 
you try to also plan a little bit for the future. But you don't build 
something that is contrary to what the customers ask for.

   Johnny