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It's cool that this exists. I might even try to port a program to it, for my own amusement. But I don't see the big draw. VMS had its pros and cons as compared
by dwheeler 7y ago
It's cool that this exists. I might even try to port a program to it, for my own amusement. But I don't see the big draw.
VMS had its pros and cons as compared to Unix/Linux. VMS' help system is really nice. However, VMS filenames are baroquely complex (yes, automatic versioning can be nice, but the rest of it was insane). Even at its height, VMS lost to Unix, and Unix plus Linux are now completely dominant in the areas VMS once filled and has had decades to fill in missing capabilities. I don't see what the big draw of VMS would be over Unix/Linux, at least enough to justify it. The world doesn't need another proprietary operating system, especially one incompatible with what people have now been doing for decades.
- speleo_engr 7y agoI don't think its going to get any design starts, nor is that the intent. There are companies with rock solid legacy applications that want to continue to run them on newer hardware. VMS first ran on the VAX (long dead), then Alpha (dead), and finally Itanium (recently dead). x86 will let these legacy apps run for a few more decades.
- technofiend 7y agoAs much as anything I believe it's a mix of nostalgia and appreciation for what came before. I don't think anyone is suggesting Amazon crank up micro VMS instances for taking on modern workloads. Although as the person below me suggests there may also be a niche market for hosting legacy applications a little while longer.