12 Nov
2020
12 Nov
'20
11:27 a.m.
On Nov 12, 2020, at 10:39 AM, Peter Coghlan via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
wrote:
There's something icky about VMS running on x86. I can't see the prospect
being attractive to either the VMS people or the x86 people.
Do you have any valid data to base that statement on? Quite a few people on the x86 side
that I?ve talked to are interested by the prospect, and from what I?ve seen, it?s being
well received on the VMS side. I know of one company that is interested in seeing if they
should add support in their product for it. Mark Daniel already has WASD up and running
on OpenVMS/x86. There have already been 6 customer releases of the x86 version, with a
7th due in about a month, in fact the V9.0-F release looks to be pretty significant (I
believe it?s where cluster support will start showing up).
The problem with the x86 port is when you have software that only runs on older versions
or architectures. This is also a big problem for the Itanium port. For example I keep a
system running VAX/VMS 5.5-2 for just this reason, and there is a ton of software that is
VAX only, or at best Alpha only.
One thing that is interesting about the x86 version is that people will be able to easily
get their feet wet with a modern version of the OS. I?m anxiously awaiting VMware and
Hobbyist support. Anything that makes it easier to get OpenVMS into the hands of
hobbyists and students is a good thing.
Zane