[comp.unix.wizards] Should I switch to VMS for software development?

eric@hdr.UUCP (Eric J. Johnson) (01/06/89)

Help!  The new boss has decided that we no longer need our 3B15 running 
UNIX System V for software development, but can get along instead with
a VAX 11/730 running VMS.  :-(

Our software development duties including the building of language products
(using yacc/lex, etc.) and communications interfaces, and the porting thereof
to a number of target operating systems (lots of flavors of Unix, VMS, PC-DOS,
OS-1100, etc.)  UNIX for us has been an excellent platform for us in this
type of work.

If anyone has put together a list/report comparing UNIX and VMS for software
development, or has their own insights, I would greatly appreciate hearing 
from you!  As you might guess, I am rather fond of UNIX and would like to
keep it around.

-- 
Eric J. Johnson,  Amperif Corporation.  UUCP: eric@hdr.UUCP
Perhaps, once upon a time, some Devilish hacker planted a bomb deep in the 
human brain such that it would only trigger upon a certain thought passing 
through the mind...  Perhaps this explains spontaneous human combu*****

debra@alice.UUCP (Paul De Bra) (01/07/89)

In article <901@hdr.UUCP> eric@hdr.UUCP (Eric J. Johnson) writes:
>
>Help!  The new boss has decided that we no longer need our 3B15 running 
>UNIX System V for software development, but can get along instead with
>a VAX 11/730 running VMS.  :-(
>...
>If anyone has put together a list/report comparing UNIX and VMS for software
>development, or has their own insights, I would greatly appreciate hearing 
>from you!  As you might guess, I am rather fond of UNIX and would like to
>keep it around.
>
The best folution is to fire your boss, but that might be a bit of a problem:-)

I have no idea why your boss wants this move from the 3B15 to a 730.
In any case I think the performance difference should be at least a
factor of 2 (but probably more), meaning that the software developers
will spend twice as much time waiting for compiles... I think your
products may become expensive!

I can't imagine why people want to move to a 730 these days. It is becoming
more and more difficult to find someone who wants a 750 (for free) these
days...

If money is an issue, your boss should know that depending on the periferals
you can get a 386-box with Unix or Xenix for between $5000 and $10000, that
will outperform the 730 by a factor of 10 at least.

Paul.
-- 
------------------------------------------------------
|debra@research.att.com   | uunet!research!debra     |
------------------------------------------------------

dean@usceast.UUCP (Dean Karres) (01/07/89)

In article <901@hdr.UUCP> eric@hdr.UUCP (Eric J. Johnson) writes:
>
>Help! The new boss has decided that we no longer need our 3B15 running 
>UNIX System V for software development, but can get along instead with
>a VAX 11/730 running VMS.  :-(
>..

If your company is, currently, a solid Unix shop who's employees don't
grok VMS then there will be a learning curve for your developers. Is
this a significant time/money concern? Who knows. But it is a
concideration.

If your shop is already mixed, Unix/VMS or Unix/*, then there is
probably no real reason not to spead development tasks over the
available machines.

Another concideration is since the "new boss" wants this change is it
possible that (s)he is a VMS type and doesn't grok Unix? Also, it has
been my experience that "general user security" on VMS is somewhat
more -er- robust than that found on vanilla Sys V Unix. So, if your
development tasks *must* be separate and secure VMS *may* offer a
solution of sorts.

Dean Karres


-- 
Dean Karres
US-Mail: Math & Stat Comp Cntr, Math Dept, USC, Columbia, SC 29208
 E-Mail: ...{gatech!hubcap, mcnc!ece-csc}!ncrcae!usceast!dean
 - or -: relay.cs.net!cs.scarolina.edu!dean

bzs@Encore.COM (Barry Shein) (01/08/89)

>Help!  The new boss has decided that we no longer need our 3B15 running 
>UNIX System V for software development, but can get along instead with
>a VAX 11/730 running VMS.  :-(

That's what you get for living in Nebraska...

	-me

bdb@becker.UUCP (Bruce Becker) (01/08/89)

In article <901@hdr.UUCP> eric@hdr.UUCP (Eric J. Johnson) writes:
+------------- 
|Help!  The new boss has decided that we no longer need our 3B15 running 
|UNIX System V for software development, but can get along instead with
|a VAX 11/730 running VMS.  :-(
|
|Our software development duties including the building of language products
|(using yacc/lex, etc.) and communications interfaces, and the porting thereof
|to a number of target operating systems (lots of flavors of Unix, VMS, PC-DOS,
|OS-1100, etc.)  UNIX for us has been an excellent platform for us in this
|type of work.
|
|If anyone has put together a list/report comparing UNIX and VMS for software
|development, or has their own insights, I would greatly appreciate hearing 
|from you!  As you might guess, I am rather fond of UNIX and would like to
|keep it around.
+------------- 

	Your new boss is brain-damaged. I won't suggest any list of
	Unix/VMS comparisons. I'll instead suggest you replace your
	boss...

+------------- 
|Eric J. Johnson,  Amperif Corporation.  UUCP: eric@hdr.UUCP
|Perhaps, once upon a time, some Devilish hacker planted a bomb deep in the 
|human brain such that it would only trigger upon a certain thought passing 
|through the mind...  Perhaps this explains spontaneous human combu*****
+------------- 

Good luck,
-- 
   _  _/\	Bruce Becker	Toronto, Ont.
   \`o O|	Internet: bdb@becker.UUCP, bruce@gpu.utcs.toronto.edu
    \(")/	BitNet:   BECKER@HUMBER.BITNET
---mm-U-mm---	"The OSF is suffering from Penix envy" - Rocky Raccoon

bak@csd-v.UUCP (Bruce A. Kern) (01/11/89)

For software development and testing UNIX has the advantage of cheap
process creation.  Besides being able to do 3 things at once (most
VMS systems I've worked on limit the number of concurrent sub-processes
to 2), the simulation of a programs environment via process which provide
input, suck-up output, and emulate interrupts is much more easily created
in UNIX than VMS in my experience.
-- 
Bruce A. Kern                                  1-203-270-0399 
Computer Systems Design                        Voice: 730 - 1700 Mon. thru Fri.
29 High Rock Road                              Data:  All other times  
Sandy Hook, Ct.  06482