[SunRescue] Tape drive

[Dave McGuire]

On May 20, Joshua D. Boyd wrote:
> How many VMS installations have users(people who log in and switch
> between different programs for different tasks like word processing and

  That sort of thing is certainly possible under VMS, but it's not
really what it's used for nowadays.

> spreadsheet)? I bet most VMS installations are either application servers,
> or they serve terminals, but the users are automatically logged in to a
> program that communicates mainly with some sorta database back end?

  Yup, I'd say this is correct in general.  VMS is fairly heavily used
today in transaction processing, process control, database
applications, and other mission-critical stuff like that.

  That doesn't mean it isn't *capable* of doing things like sitting
on a desktop and being a fancy GUI-fied spreadsheet, word processing,
web browsing, telnetting-to-your-favorite-MOO machine.  It actually
does those things quite well too, but they're certainly not it's main
application these days.

  Indeed...X runs quite nicely under VMS.  A later-model VAX
(VS4000/90 for example) or a newer, nice zippy Alpha running VMS and X
makes a very nice desktop machine.  And a fun one, too! 8-)

> When I think about what's ideal in an OS, I think in terms of end user
> OSs.  For servers, it really doesn't matter that much as Novell (didn't
> they run on DOS?) and Oracle (they use raw disks instead of a file system)

  Novell was/is it's own operating system...an interesting but
somewhat nasty one at that. ;)

> have demonstrated.  For servers, the OS is just a matter of convienience
> to the programmer, and if he doesn't like it, he can just write his own.

  This is an excellent point, but only from one point of view.  If I
were building a client that required a back-end database server that
communicated via a certain standardized network protocol, it'd be
irrelevant what the back-end OS is...to a point.  If performance,
reliability, or maintainability are a concern, it's a matter of much
more than just convenience...it's a matter of what's the right tool
for the job.

      -Dave McGuire