From: cho@duke.cs.duke.edu (Teddy Cho)
Newsgroups: misc.jobs.misc
Subject: Re: Advice needed : Job Transfer
Date: 3 Sep 92 14:11:26 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Duke University Computer Science Dept.; Durham, N.C.

In article <1992Sep3.023535.3626@Princeton.EDU> mikulska@astro.princeton.edu (Margaret Mikulska) writes:
>In article <Btwqv9.JEw@fiu.edu> mookherj@serss0.fiu.edu (The Happy Man) writes:
>>A friend who doesn't have access to internet has this problem.
>>
>>He has been employed with a software company, say A,  where he has been
>>working on vms. He is not too happy with this job, because his
>>interests are in unix/c. Meanwhile, he has another job offer
>>from a company which does exactly, what he likes: unix/c/x/motif.
>>This company, say B, is offering him slightly less money (approx
>>$350 less p.m), but is a very big company.
>>
>
>UNIX is _the_ system for the _present_, while VMS is a system whose time
>has never come and is certainly gone now, especially with the current
>situation at DEC.
>
>My advice is to run away from VMS to UNIX, especially that your friend
>prefers UNIX and is not happy with the VMS job.  Working on a dying OS
>and disliking it is hardly worth $350/mo. - definitely not worth it if
>you have an offer to work on an OS that is alive and well and
>interesting.
>
>
This isn't quite true.  While it is true that UNIX machines are much
more popular today, the installed base of VMS machines are such that 
there will be a need for those who are familiar with VMS for the rest
of my lifetime (and I'm young).  While I'm not actually advocating
staying at the job, a position using VMS is not going to hurt that
particular person.  In a way it's a little like mutual funds :-).
Those who invest in Magellen will never get the high rate of return
that they did in the 70's & 80's.  However, the shear size of the fund
provides stability and a peace of mind unlike smaller, more aggressive 
contrarian funds.  A little like VMS and UNIX.

VMS has a lot going for it, including better security, a more logical 
command line structure, and easier administration.  UNIX, of course,
has other advantages.  VMS will also be fully supported on the Alpha
processors.  Who knows, maybe the installed base of VMS will go up in
the next decade due to the Alpha chip.

In addition, a sum as small as $350/month is minimal in terms of
weight.  Personal job satisfaction & interest is much more important.
In fact, $10,000 per year is still not enough to compensate in entry
level jobs.  I know because I've been offered positions with a salary
disparity greater than that.

Anyway, VMS's demise is greatly over-exaggerated by those not really
familiar with the state of current technology.  This assumption is
most often made by those in academia who have access to 30 MIP
workstations and who have little need to concern themselves with
broader issues of security, networking, money, and the shear will of
endusers.

In addition, the creator of VMS is now working on WinNT.  NT is
currently only a 32 bit Windows3; however, once they actually develop a
command line interface, it might be similar to VMS.  

Take everything you hear with a grain of salt.  In addition, you'll
realize that people who seem to know of what they speak may be totally wrong.
Of course, I'm not saying mikulska@princeton is wrong.  But it is
Newsgroups: misc.jobs.misc