11 Jun
2009
11 Jun
'09
2:33 a.m.
On Wed, Jun 10, 2009 at 11:55:46AM -0400, Dave McGuire wrote:
On Jun 10, 2009, at 11:38 AM, Sridhar Ayengar wrote:
This attitude is common even here, amongst people who presumably
should know better. Just because VMS was around thirty years ago, that
means it's a thirty-year-old OS. "Wow, I can't believe we're still
using
cars. They're so old! Since there were cars in 1908, that means ALL
cars are from 1908!"
The other amusing thing about which people here (at least) should know
better is the visibility factor. VMS, OS/400, MVS, and VM are
*everywhere*...but people think they're somehow "dead" because the only
thing they see in for sale in WalMart is PCs running Windows. Do these
people really believe PCs running Windows process their bank
transactions, maintain hospital databases, or run railroads?
Probably yes - and the frightening thing is that they are partially
right. There _are_ definitely hospital databases running on Windows
machines. If you count ATMs, then yes, there are Windows machines that
process bank transactions (and some of those ATMs have been hacked to
forward your credit card details to ... elsewhere). I don't know about
railroads, but I wouldn't be surprised if there was some Windows there
as well. From their home machines running Windows, people appear to be
used to computers not being that reliable, so in the eyes of non
technical people, Windows is 'good enough' - and all they know. *sigh*
I've seen projects to run significant systems on non-Windows platforms
canned in favor of running them on Windows (with a massive increase in
CapEx and OpEx) simply because the manager in charge knew about Windows
and didn't like anything he didn't know about. The curses from the techs
who had to deal with the fallout (and massive problems) from this
decision could be heard for months ...
Regards,
Alex.
--
"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and
looks like work." -- Thomas A. Edison
It might
seem odd, but I don't know how to use 'ed'. I kinda know
'ex'
due to the fact 'vi' is 'ex' turned from a line editor to a screen
editor. Most of what I know about computers from way back is mostly
limited to UNIX (and that's only because UNIX didn't die like the
other OSes.)
I hate statements like this. Died like what OSes? MVS? VM? VSE?
There are a bunch of OSes from back then which are still around.