On Tue, 19 Oct 2004 10:33:14 -0500 (CDT), Mike Miller <mbmiller at taxa.epi.umn.edu> wrote: > On Mon, 18 Oct 2004, Ryan Ware wrote: > > > On Fri, 15 Oct 2004 18:40:20 -0500 (CDT), Mike Miller > > > >> We have IT staff but they are just getting into Linux (they still > >> prefer to run VMS, believe it or not). > > > > VMS is about a rock solid as you can get in both stability and security. > > Yet there are *many* problems with your statement and with continuing to > use VMS. I have some comments below. I would be very interested in > hearing more from the people on this list. I am especially interested in > knowing any ways in which VMS is *superior* to Linux. <snip> Mike, In general for your needs it sounds like Linux would be much cheaper to acquire and will support more of the apps you want. Aqcuisition cost is but one thing to consider though, maintenance, et al are all factors. In a university setting you have an advantage - cheap labor supply (students) that can do a lot of the support for Linux. Almost none of them will have any VMS knowledge compared to the ones with rudimentary Linux knowledge. VMS is usually run by large companies who need reliablity. I'm guessing your university uses or at least used VMS at one time for it's record keeping. As far as stability, yes third party apps can be crap, but that effects Windows, and Linux too. VMS as an operating system is as stable as any UNIX or UNIX like operating system out there. Security. Here is an interesting read I found on The Inquirer http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=13420 VMS does much better than *nix. Also if memory serves VMS is the ONLY operating system that has been tested at the Defcon that wasn't compromised. I especially thought this quote in the article sheds some light on why we have the security issues we do. "The other significant feature of these operating systems is the language in which they are written. The two from IBM are both written in assembler and OpenVMS uses a range of about ten languages, one of which is C. C and similar languages that use pass-by-value techniques are exceptionally prone to buffer overflow and the consequent potential for unauthorized users to execute either their own malicious code or other programs which run with enhanced access privileges. Avoiding the use of these languages at the most vulnerable points, namely user I/O and network I/O, would appear to be wise" In the words of Sam McDonald "I'm in an asbestos suit standing in the middle of Lake Superior" if the C fans need to vent. _______________________________________________ TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota Help beta test TCLUG's potential new home: http://plone.mn-linux.org Got pictures for TCLUG? Beta test http://plone.mn-linux.org/gallery tclug-list at mn-linux.org https://mailman.real-time.com/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list