Overview

• OpenVMS today

• A brief history of Digital/Compaq/HP

• A brief history of OpenVMS

• OpenVMS concepts: A brief tutorial

According to Compaq/HP literature, OpenVMS (virtual memory system) is installed on more than 450,000 computers worldwide and has more than 10 million users. This installed base includes five of the top ten stock exchanges and more than 50 other exchanges and clearinghouses. More than 80 percent of the automated lotteries are run on OpenVMS machines; 90 percent of the world's CPU chips are manufactured on assembly lines that are monitored and controlled by OpenVMS. Northern Light's Web search engine is the largest text-retrieval database in the history of the world, and it runs on OpenVMS. The largest, fastest mail list server in the world (1.3 million deliveries per hour and more than 6 million deliveries per day) is powered by OpenVMS. More than 80 million customers for the largest mobile communications company are billed with an OpenVMS-supported system.

OpenVMS is a solid and mature product designed and built by Digital Equipment Corporation in the late 1970s; it has been evolving ever since. A team of hardware and software engineers designed the OpenVMS operating system and the VAX computer so that the two complement one another. OpenVMS has been a supported product for 22 years. OpenVMS is not a "legacy" product but is actively supported by Hewlett-Packard Corporation (HP). OpenVMS 7.3-1 was released midway through the preparation of this manuscript. Nonetheless, commands and examples are based on OpenVMS 7.3. HP will even support...