faunt@hplabsc.UUCP (01/19/84)
USENET is to unix as BITNET is to VM. BITNET is a liberated VNET run among a bunch of schools.
gwyn%brl-vld@sri-unix.UUCP (01/21/84)
From: Doug Gwyn (VLD/VMB) <gwyn@brl-vld> Good points; I also have heard that VM is amazingly decent for an IBM OS. I must take issue, however, with the statement that there are some computer-literate people who have never heard of UNIX. It is not possible to be truly computer-literate these days without having heard of UNIX; practically every professional or hobbyist journal I have seen for the past year and a half has mentioned UNIX in at least one article.
phipps@fortune.UUCP (Clay Phipps) (01/23/84)
Many people are assuming that IBM users are a complacent and contented lot, taking whatever Big Blue gives them as an operating system. What they don't realize is that there are many parallels between VM/370 and UNIX. OS origin: UNIX: Developed by Bell Labs, a research organization. VM: Developed by IBM Cambridge Scientific Center, a research and marketing support organization, i.e., not part of IBM's mainstream software development organization. OS goals: UNIX: Provide a modest but effective interactive computing environment (I'm not quoting anyone; that's just my perception). VM: Provide a modest and efficient interactive computing environment; in particular, do not attempt to be everything to everybody. OS network culture: UNIX: Communication with the world via USENET; the largely unrestricted commmunication sometimes drives management crazy. VM: Communication with the world (ignoring SNA/SDLC protocols) via VNET (actually, I'm not sure if VNET is available yet outside IBM itself); the largely unrestricted commmunication drives IBM management crazy. Host vendor attitude: UNIX: DEC pushes its customers to use VMX or RSX or ..., not UNIX, and hoped that UNIX would just go away some day. VM: IBM pushes its customers to use MVS/XA, MVS, SVS, or (long ago) OS/360, and hoped that VM would just go away some day. Customer attitude: UNIX: Probably the dominant OS for pdp-11s and probably VAXes, too. VM: The dominant OS on IBM mainframes (in terms of number of machines). In the IBM world, including within IBM itself, use of VM/370 is an act of *resistance* against oppression (i.e., MVS), rather one than of submission. There are many otherwise computer-literate people in the IBM world, sheltered place that it is, who have never heard of UNIX; if they did have some exposure to it, they might well prefer it. -- Clay Phipps -- {allegra,amd70,cbosgd,dsd,floyd,harpo,hollywood,hpda,ihnp4, magic,megatest,nsc,oliveb,sri-unix,twg,varian,VisiA,wdl1} !fortune!phipps