🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1ik7eeINN9tt@umbc5.umbc.edu> themos@umbc3.umbc.edu (Mr. Themos Pentakalos) writes:
>Hello everyone.
>In a few weeks, we will be receiving a 3000 Model 400  but we have not
>specified an operating system for it. Can you please answer these
>questions for me:
>
There are different part numbers for VMS and OSF/1 system. What part
number have you ordered? 

>In chosing between OSF/1 and VMS, what are the benefits/problems, besides
>the obvious differences of the operating systems?
>
VMS AXP 1.0 was officially released in Nov 1992. OSF/1 AXP won't be
released officially until March 1993. It's possible that you'll receive
a VMS system quicker than an OSF/1 system....

>Also, according to our rep, it is very simple and also free for us if we
>chose to change opearting systems on the machine sometime in the future.
>How true is that?
>
As far as VAXes are concerned, you cannot change OS's unless you pay for
an additional OS license fee. All along I believed the same to be true
of AXP as well. Ask your salesrep to double check this, or get this in
writing!

>Why are we getting an Alpha? Well, like the VP said at DECUS:
>"so we can finally run All-in-1..."

If you're serious, I guess you'll need to have VMS, since All-in-1
doesn't run on OSF/1! I would probably get Alpha, since as the VP
said, "Alpha really annoys Scott McNealy" :-)

Fred Velijanian
University of California, Irvine
fredv@uci.edu

In article <1ik7eeINN9tt@umbc5.umbc.edu>, themos@umbc3.umbc.edu (Mr. Themos Pentakalos) writes:
> In chosing between OSF/1 and VMS, what are the benefits/problems, besides
> the obvious differences of the operating systems?

Take a look at the CD-ROM consolidated software distribution.
Consider that in *.EDU your software license costs are NIL for
most of these products.

Then consider that under Unix you will end up paying real dollars
and/or real local implementation and administration time for many
basic conveniences.

On item that came to mind for me the other day, as I was touring my
old haunts at the MIT labs for AI and computer science:

 * a file and tape archiving system.

In the old days (circa 1980) a place like MIT was a DEC-HARDWARE and
some homebrew or TOPS-20 type house. People actually got used to
the fact that backups and archives were reliable, and that files could be
located and retrieved months or years later with little effort.

But then around 1983 we had the "great leap forward" to Unix. The rest
is a very long story.

Stick with VMS, let the other more famous places eat up their graduate
students and others in low-level, boring, repetitive computer-related tasks.

Anyway the DOMINANT operating system in terms of installed base
on ALPHA could very well be NT. Ask you friendly rep about that.

-gjc