Thanks! I am glad someone appreciates this. :-) I suggest amplifying this with examples, citations and links, and sticking it in a blog post somewhere that peo

Thanks! I am glad someone appreciates this. :-) I suggest amplifying this with examples, citations and links, and sticking it in a blog post somewhere that people can comment on. OSnews springs to mind. It seems to me that you know a lot of the history here that I don't, and I'm a journo working in this field and a former VAX sysadmin. This stuff is on the point of being lost to history now. It NEEDS to be recorded. And you seem to be a good person to do it. Don't leave it as a few hints in HN comments. Even this response explains a little, but it's a tease: it has no citations, no links, no pointers, and no explanations of anything except my specific questions. You really need to amplify this with 10x more background for a general audience. But PLEASE do so. It needs to be recorded.