paul@greipa.UUCP (Paul A. Vixie) (09/24/85)
In article <196@graffiti.UUCP> peter@graffiti.UUCP (Peter da Silva) writes: >Why not just go on using net.decus? I mean, apart from micros we don't >even have 1 vendor-specific group, let alone 2! The volume of VMS articles >on net.decus is small, and it's amusing watching vms types try to do >elementary unixoid things. It is sort of amusing, unless the place you work for only has VMS machines. Then "doing elementary unixoid things" becomes a desperate struggle that you fight every time you go to work... Anyway, you raise a good point: net.decus is a group dedicated to DEC users; why not use it? Well: DECUS = Digital Equipment Corporation User's Society. This group (net.decus) seems oriented more toward DECUS members and their activities (large symposiums several times a year, mostly). It is an unlikely place to find technical information, and even if it were: VMS is not the only operating system DEC supports. Even for the VAX there's VaxELAN; for the PDP-11 there are at least 10 different OS flavors. A better substitute for net.vms would be fa.info-vax. This is an ARPA mailing list gatewayed both ways onto Usenet. There are occasional postings from Usenet people, but posting involves sending mail to info-vax@ucbvax, which sometimes comes back with 99 lines of error messages. Make that "usually comes back..." And besides, info-vax isn't really VMS specific either. Perhaps we need a setup like net.micro.*: net.????.{dg,dec,hp,...}. Or maybe a net.os.{aos,vms,rsts,mpe,...}. You can argue that Usenet is for Unix people, but that won't explain the popularity of net.micro.mac... What net.vms seems targeted for is a Usenet version of fa.info-vax. I (and others) hope that someone will still gateway between net.vms and INFO-VAX; this would just make posting much easier and more reliable for Usenet people. As I've already stated, I vote "YES" for net.vms......... -- Paul Vixie {decwrl dual pyramid}!greipa!paul
ron@brl-sem.ARPA (Ron Natalie <ron>) (09/27/85)
> Anyway, you raise a good point: net.decus is a group dedicated to DEC users; > why not use it? Well: DECUS = Digital Equipment Corporation User's Society. > This group (net.decus) seems oriented more toward DECUS members and their > activities (large symposiums several times a year, mostly). It is an unlikely > place to find technical information, and even if it were: VMS is not the only > operating system DEC supports. Even for the VAX there's VaxELAN; for the > PDP-11 there are at least 10 different OS flavors. Wonderful, you'll next want us to abolish net.unix in favor of net.usenix. > And besides, info-vax isn't really VMS specific either. It damn well is! If you've actually read it there hasn't been a single non VMS relate topic on it in a long time. I used to try to read it for VAX hardware oriented information, but alas, they don't discuss it there. INFO-VAX really is INFO-VMS.
root@bu-cs.UUCP (Barry Shein) (09/28/85)
Actually, the reason why INFO-VAX is probably sufficient for INFO-VMS is contained in the request for a new newsgroup itself: > ...VMS is not the only > operating system DEC supports. Even for the VAX there's VaxELAN; (I didn't omit anything relevant I don't think.) Note the omission of ULTRIX. I see this over and over again (eg. recent flames about various DECUS mailings/questionairres omitting any reference to ULTRIX.) No major judgement here, I just think that INFO-VAX is probably covering the VMS topic well enough and a new newsgroup would probably just confuse things. Besides, I suspect there is a huge movement away from the VAX by UNIX users so the trend will probably be stronger in the future (VAX users becoming primarily VMS users.) -Barry Shein, Boston University
sid@linus.UUCP (Sid Stuart) (09/30/85)
Give me a break, does this really need to be in net.sources? Have some consideration. sid at linus