[Coco] Re: OS Vulnerabilities

[Dennis Bathory-Kitsz]

At 11:39 AM 2/28/04 -0500, John E. Malmberg wrote:
>OpenVMS is currently in use in many places, and is usable for from the 
>desktop to systems that are in disaster tolerant configurations.  It 
>qualifies as truly multi-purpose.

Educate me. I know nothing about it. The last VMS system I saw was running
email at a college, and was replaced a few years ago because nobody knew
how to run it anymore. I can't go into Staples and buy software for it
(which is no judgment, actually, as I can't buy Mac software there,
either). So here's my random questionnaire for whether it is truly a modern
multi-purpose OS: 

Is it more than networking platform? Does it have a GUI? Graphical
browsers? Can it do audio editing and production? Graphics, photos? Video
production? Desktop publishing with access to Type 1 or OpenType fonts?
Does it have a MSWord-compatible text editor? Read standard spreadsheets?
Does it burn CDs and DVDs? Have an OS-resident spell checker? Is there a
musical notation program for it? Are there disabled-access methods? Can it
run off-the-shelf scanners and color printers and plotters? Is it
USB-compliant? Do it do CAD? 3D?  Wireless networking? Run on laptops? Have
access to AIM or ICQ or MSN? Have digital camera interfaces and software?
Firewire? Streaming media clients like Real? Can it play MP3s? Interface
with iPods? Rip CDs? Copy DVDs?

I'm gonna guess that only Windows and Mac can do these things. Linux can do
75% of them, 50% at a pro level. Specialized clients like Irix are used for
graphics, Sun for audio. If OpenVMS can do these things, then it is the
best-kept multi-purpose OS secret in computing history!

Dennis