Microvax 3100 VMS 7.3 password reset

[Zane Healy]

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