Unix Bugs vs. VMS bugs

Without trying to get involved with the technical differences between
Unix and VMS, I'd like to say a few words about how I feel when I
read the Unix Bug reports that have been coming from Vance Vaughn.

I run VMS. One of the reasons I prefer VMS to Unix is because VMS
is much easier to maintain. In essence, I don't do any maintainence
because DEC does it all for me at a fixed rate. I can plan my
budget knowing exactly how much it will cost be to run VMS. With
Unix, software maintainence requires one or more gurus who spend
lots of time on the phone, going to conferences, reading nets
like this, and hacking. The worst part of this is that so much
effort is duplicated. For example, how much time has been spent
by all the Unix users in the world to find and fix the bugs that
are now being described. I bet that each bug has been found and
worked on by more than one person. This is wasted time.

Also consider that if you buy Unix from DEC, Tektronix, Unisoft,
IBM, or even Bell that you are paying for this wasted time. All
these companies employ people to do the same thing - supporting
Unix. With VMS the longest you have to remain in uncharted 
territory is until the next Software Dispatch comes out. This
at least tells you what the known bugs are so you don't have
to replicate someone else's work. Then, every 3 or 4 months you
receive an update that fixes the known bugs. One company does
all this work. With the exception of people who find the same
bug before a Software Dispatch is issued, there is no wasted
effort.

After seeing the hundreds or thousands of bugs in the list I wonder
how much wasted effort will go into fixing them. Every Unix
site will have to perform the same work to fix the bugs.
With luck, most of the fixes will work. Some probably won't, which will
result in new bug reports that will have to be resolved. When
does it stop? My guess is that DEC support of Ultrix, IBM support
of PC/IX, Tektronix support of whatever they call their version,
and Bell support of System 5 will bring down the amount of wasted
time but compared to running VMS, sites running these versions of
Unix will still be paying more.

I realize that in one sense this isn't a fair comparison because unless
you're running a Vax, you really have no choice. In spite of the
problems I see with Unix, it is far better than any other system
I have ever seen (except VMS). I'd be glad to hear what anyone
has to say about this but let's please keep away from comparing
the technical details of VMS and Unix, at lease for now. Comparing
the two technically is one of my favorite topics of discussion
but that's not what this article is about.

Jon Forrest
ucbvax!ucsbcsl!forrest