From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=0.2 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_MSGID, REPLYTO_WITHOUT_TO_CC autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,b87849933931bc93 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Thread: f43e6,b87849933931bc93 X-Google-Attributes: gidf43e6,public From: Rex Reges Subject: Re: language marketing question, was Re: What is wrong with OO ? (& RSX-11M ...) Date: 1997/02/14 Message-ID: <3304CCA4.332F@mds.lmco.com>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 218849588 References: <32F7A06E.17540175@ulst.ac.uk> <855176978snz@transcontech.co.uk> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Organization: M&DS Mime-Version: 1.0 Reply-To: rex.r.reges@lmco.com Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada,comp.software-eng X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.0 (Win95; I) Date: 1997-02-14T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: I caught this tidbit from an article which is now out of date: > > In article <32F7A06E.17540175@ulst.ac.uk> > jg.campbell@ulst.ac.uk "Jonathan G. Campbell" writes: > > > > Sorry to draw the thread further away, but I must agree wholeheartedly > > with Robert -- except in one small detail: 'cat's ass' doesn't translate > > to too much on this side of the pond, but I assume that it's > > complimentary; for RSX-11M can imagine far more appropriate animals and > > also more appropriate body parts. When I came to it from Prime DOS-VM > > (PRIMOS) -- which like UNIX also had MULTICS ancestry -- I found it > > almost intolerable, for example, during simple editing I recall having > > to become aware of some crass implementation detail like 'segments'; for > > any serious work, a PDP 11/34 was effectively single user. > > > > At the same time, DEC had TOPS-10, -20, so, although these were not > > written by DEC, they had no excuse for continuing with a lemon like > > RSX-11M. Even when they produced the VAX, and VAX-VMS -- under pressure > > from Prime! -- it, too, remained inferior to the Prime product, and to > > UNIX. > > > > My great regret is that from 1980 to 1995 I had to tolerate the likes of > > VAX-VMS and MS-DOS. > > One wonders why you want to compare motorcycles (RSX-11M) to freight trains (MULTICS). Why not compare MULTICS to its peers: IBM-360, CDC Cyber 70s and the like? After all the PDP 11/34 fit into an 18" rack and MULTICS systems used up a whole room. The PDP 11/34 was exceptionally good at some things, including price and real-time response. I could respond to an interrupt and have 4K of data transferred to disk within 500 microseconds. It's hard to get any computer to consistently wake up inside of a millisecond even today. It's too bad that DEC didn't give away RSX-11M rights back in the late 70's as an alternative to Unix. I think there were aspects of RSX-11M that are quite useful (e.g. events instead of signals). I wouldn't say the PDP 11/34 was single user, but it certainly wasn't good for much more than two or three users. Unfortunately, I cannot comment on PRIME - I am not familiar with it. Even after reading Jonathan's news article, I still have no notion as to why PRIME is worthy of praise other than any system by DEC is intolerable to Jonathan and full of crass implementation details. -- Rex Reges or you can call me The Fixer Systems Analyst or you can call me The Lawyer Lockheed Martin, M&DS or you can call me The Doctor (610)354-5047 or you can call me Rexasaurus