[HECnet] Vt100 tester

[Jerome H. Fine]

Dave McGuire wrote:

On 03/06/2013 07:29 AM, Jerome H. Fine wrote:

I've mentioned this to one or two folks here privately, but now that
it has come up...My mother is a journalist with Associated Press, and
she recently took a new assignment in a different city.   Their office
has a VAX-4000 running VMS, handling some sort of database.   They love
it, and they have no plans to migrate away from it.

It would be appreciated if a few interesting aspects concerning
the system were shared so we could understand how such a
mature system manages to compete.

I suspect it's not trying to "compete", at least not any more than,
say, the desks (not the desktops, but the DESKS) in the offices, etc.
It's an appliance; it sits there and does its job.   There's no valid
reason to change it.

I should have said "continue to perform at more than the required
level of reliability, performance, availability and security" as opposed
to "compete".

My understanding is that a VMS system which has sufficient CPU
power and disk space will continue to out-perform any windows
based system.

The only problem is that if the number of transactions per second
increases to the point that the response is too long, then something
has to be done.

There's an odd consumerist attitude that goes something like "oh, the
manufacturer has introduced a new model, this one must somehow suck now,
I'd better replace it!"...That attitude is common in the worlds of
computers and cars, but not much else.   If Great Neck (a common-in-USA
manufacturer of cheap-but-usable hand tools) introduces a new model of
hammer, I'm not going to throw my old one (probably twenty years old)
and rush out to buy the new one.   That would be stupid...and it's just
as stupid with computers and cars.

What a "refreshing" (my you are logical - but then I guess I have
been told I am as well) attitude.   Of course, that doesn't work
for a consumer society, but maybe it would if the focus on
having a satisfying toy rather than the newest toy was important.

I'm pretty sure I'm preaching to the choir here...at least I really
hope I am. ;)

Why do you think I asked the question that way?

(a)   When was the system first installed?

I have no idea.   She says she thinks it was a 4000-500, which would
put it in the mid-1990s.

That sounds about right.   The high end VAX systems were
the final DEC attempt to continue the obsolete marking model.
The software and hardware were the best.   But the Alpha was
just too late.

(b)   Approximately how long is the up-time between re-boots?

Again I have no idea. (this is my mother's place of employment, 1200mi
from here, not mine)   Let's put it this way, though...it's likely that
this machine is running VMS, and it's not at all unusual for VMS systems
to have uptimes in the 5+ year range.   If it didn't get those sorts of
uptimes, it probably would've annoyed someone and gotten replaced by now.

My joke with anyone who was not familiar with the VAX / VMS systems
was that the uptime measurement unit was DECADES.   The uptime with
Clusters was in CENTURIES.   Of course, the latter joke was considered
so impossible that it was useless to even attempt to explain.

(c)   Do they have any virus problems?
(d)   Have they ever been hacked into?

ROFL!!!   I haven't had a laugh this good on a long time. ;)

GLAD to be of service.   I know that early VMS software
tended to have a few glitches, but by the early 1990s, DEC
had managed to plug the holes.   Of course, each VMS release
was built directly on the shoulders of the previous version
which had the advantage of decades of testing.   Somehow,
a particular company whose name started with M forgot that.

Seriously, has anyone ever successfully developed a virus for
a VMS system?   I think I heard that there was a yearly contest
to see if anyone could compromise a VMS system and it failed
every year.

A denial of service attack is a different problem.   Did DEC ever
find a work around for that problem?

Other information such as the physical details would also be
interesting along with the number of users.   Anything else
your mother felt willing to share would provide the list
members with good hard information.

She's pretty busy in her new assignment, but I'm sure she can do some
digging.   I'd love to find out more myself.

It seems so unreasonable that such incredible software as
VMS and hardware such as the VAX and Alpha were unable
to compete with other products.   But marketing is also needed
at some level.   DEC's marketing needed to focus on the reason
why they were so superior and why in the long run they were
probably more cost effective.

For that, Ken Olsen seems to have been the wrong person.

Jerome Fine