cottrell@nbs-vms.ARPA (01/04/85)
/* what the f*ck is this crap doing in unix-wizards? i have spent my life avoiding exposing myself to nuclear radiation, toxic waste, and ibm. i dont intend to start now. take it elsewhere. */
Mark Crispin <MRC@SU-SCORE.ARPA> (01/04/85)
Considering that VM/370 may well become one of the preferred host environments for the Unix environment, I think that the topic is quite germaine. One thing you can say for IBM is that IBM has become a reliable vendor since the 60's fiasco...especially compared to DEC. -------
BostonU SysMgr <root%bostonu.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa> (01/07/85)
if I may put my 2 cents in [I always do I guess] the ONLY thing wrong with IBM is their brain-damaged development environment (read: software in general.) We have an IBM3081D here for academic use. Consider, it's a dual processor system with about 15MIPS, 50-100MBytes/sec of disk bandwidth and 17.5GB of disk. We run >14,000 user accounts usually >250 at a time with good response. Consider, at night when the machine is unloaded I can push thru about 1/3 to 1/4 of a CRAY-I without any administrative hassles (it's free to the community.) Our graphics and physics people couldn't live without it nor (especially) WITH any box that dec makes (they own vaxen but not for crunching.) And need I even talk about IBM's rep for service and uptime? What's wrong is IBM's software (hey, I cut my teeth at Cornell with MVT/HASP on punchcards.) We have quite a good C-compiler with most V7 calls emulated. I guess in general (IBM,DEC etc) companies that build great hardware build mediocre software (and maybe vice versa.) I love DEC's machines dearly because they are designed to fit within reasonably sized POLITICAL domains which is critical and they work and are flexible. I agree with MRC, onwards to great UNIX on VM/370!! -Barry Shein, Boston University