Xref: utzoo comp.sys.amiga:74451 alt.religion.computers:2228 Path: utzoo!utgpu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!wuarchive!mit-eddie!rutgers!cbmvax!martin From: martin@cbmvax.commodore.com (Martin Hunt) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga,alt.religion.computers Subject: Re: A3000UX competition Message-ID: <16543@cbmvax.commodore.com> Date: 14 Dec 90 22:26:32 GMT References: <16482@cbmvax.commodore.com> <29400:Dec1405:54:4990@kramden.acf.nyu.edu> Reply-To: martin@cbmvax.commodore.com (Martin Hunt) Organization: Commodore, West Chester, PA Lines: 68 In article <29400:Dec1405:54:4990@kramden.acf.nyu.edu> brnstnd@kramden.acf.nyu.edu (Dan Bernstein) writes: >In article <16499@cbmvax.commodore.com> martin@cbmvax.commodore.com (Martin Hunt) writes: >> >I don't know of any OS, for example, which gives much control over >> >when someone can log in. >> VMS has that and much more built into it. > >Ah, yes, VMS. > >VMS, where the equivalent of ``make'' doesn't even come with the system. Not a big loss. You can get it PD. Remember, languages don't come with VMS either. Of course you can always get GNU C. >VMS, where you can buy an idle daemon for just $695 that UNIX users get >for free off a source group. You can also get one PD for VMS. Of course its not as neat as the $695 one. >VMS, where DEC desperately tries to get its customers to install patches >for security holes that are letting a virus run rampant through nearly >every networked VMS machine in the world. Yeah, right. There was a security hole in 4.7 that DEC distributed patches for. Of course it was nothing compared with the security holes in typical Unix implementations. >VMS, where just one vendor has control, and will continue to set >outrageous prices through next century. This is the first thing you've said I agree with. > >Now that's a cost-effective, secure operating system. > >> Why do >> most businesses with VAXen run VMS? It's very expensive and does not >> come with any source. Because it's easy to configure, is well supported >> and doesn't require a Unix kernel hacker to support it? > >Oh, yeah, sure. Anyone who looks at the real statistics from DEC will >observe that Ultrix and UNIX have slowly been eating away at the VMS >market share. Even the most pessimistic projections show VMS with under >half the VAX market by the year 2000. VMS still holds well over half the market. Of course, Unix will eventually win out as it becomes more of a standard. >So why do you think this happens? >Because VMS is so cost-effective and superior, right? Why do people use MS-DOS systems? I am not arguing for the continued existence of VMS. I was merely trying to refute the increasing common assumption "If Unix does it that way, that must be the best way to do it." VMS has many advantages over Unix. It also has many disadvantages. To say an operating system is inferior because you don't like DEC, its pricing, or because your favorite utility is not included, is narrow-minded. > >---Dan Martin Hunt Commodore-Amiga martin@cbmvax.commodore.com "Windows 3.0 is hot because it's really fun. It has brought some excitement back into the PC industry" - Microsoft I wonder who took the excitement out in the first place?