Editing OpenVMS (section)

===Origin and name changes===
[[File:VAX VMS logo.svg|thumb|right|Stylized "VAX/VMS" used by Digital]]

In April 1975, [[Digital Equipment Corporation]] embarked on a project to design a [[32-bit]] extension to its [[PDP-11]] computer line. The hardware component was code named ''Star''; the operating system was code named ''Starlet''. Roger Gourd was the project lead for VMS. Software engineers [[Dave Cutler]], [[Dick Hustvedt]], and Peter Lipman acted as technical project leaders.<ref>{{cite interview |last=Cutler|first=Dave|subject-link=Dave Cutler|interviewer=Grant Saviers|title=Dave Cutler Oral History|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29RkHH-psrY |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/29RkHH-psrY| archive-date=December 11, 2021 |url-status=live|publisher=Computer History Museum|date=February 25, 2016|website=youtube.com|access-date=February 26, 2021}}{{cbignore}}</ref> The Star and Starlet projects culminated in the [[VAX-11#VAX-11/780|VAX-11/780]] computer and the VAX/VMS operating system. The Starlet project's code name survives in VMS in the name of several of the system libraries, including <code>STARLET.OLB</code> and <code>STARLET.MLB</code>.<ref name="what-is-vms" /> VMS was mostly written in [[VAX MACRO]] with some components written in [[BLISS]].<ref name="vms-20-years"/>

One of the original goals for VMS was [[backward compatibility]] with DEC's existing [[RSX-11M]] operating system.<ref name="vms-20-years"/> Prior to the V3.0 release, VAX/VMS included a compatibility layer named the ''RSX Application Migration Executive'' (RSX AME), which allowed user-mode RSX-11M software to be run unmodified on top of VMS.<ref name="vms-1.0-spd" /> The RSX AME played an important role on early versions of VAX/VMS, which used certain RSX-11M user-mode utilities before native VAX versions had been developed.<ref name="vms-20-years"/> By the V3.0 release, all compatibility-mode utilities were replaced with native implementations.<ref>{{cite newsgroup|url=https://comp.os.vms.narkive.com/N4yPsEEV/a-simple-question-what-the-h-ll-is-mcr|title=a simple question: what the h*ll is MCR?|access-date=December 31, 2020|date=September 14, 2004|newsgroup=comp.os.vms}}</ref> In VAX/VMS V4.0, RSX AME was removed from the base system, and replaced with an optional layered product named ''VAX-11 RSX''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/vax/vms/4.0/AE-DL72A-TE_VAX_RSX_1.0_SPD_198410.pdf|title=Software Product Description VAX-11 RSX, Version 1.0|date=October 1984|publisher=Digital Equipment Corporation|access-date=September 20, 2021}}</ref>

[[File:Vms-albert-cheshire-cat.png|thumb|right|"Albert the [[Cheshire Cat]]" mascot for VAX/VMS, used by the [[DECUS]] VAX SIG<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.openvmshobbyist.com/forum/viewthread.php?forum_id=130&thread_id=332|title=Hello from....well what used to be SpitBrook|date=February 27, 2007|access-date=January 24, 2021|website=openvmshobbyist.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.altiq.se/vax-vms/vax-vms-eng.html|title=Computer system VAX/VMS|website=altiq.se|access-date=January 24, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210201143630/http://www.altiq.se/vax-vms/vax-vms-eng.html|archive-date=February 1, 2021|url-status=dead}}</ref>]]

By the early 1980s VAX/VMS was very successful in the market. Although created on [[Unix]] on DEC systems, [[Ingres (database)|Ingres]] ported to VMS believing that doing so was necessary for commercial success. Demand for the VMS version was so much greater that the company neglected the Unix version.<ref name="rdbmsingressybase20070613">{{Cite interview |interviewer=Doug Jerger |title=RDBMS Workshop: Ingres and Sybase |url=https://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/access/text/2013/05/102702565-05-01-acc.pdf |access-date=2025-05-30 |publisher=Computer History Museum |date=2007-06-13}}</ref> A number of distributions of VAX/VMS were created:

* '''MicroVMS''' was a distribution of VAX/VMS designed for [[MicroVAX]] and [[VAXstation]] hardware, which had less memory and disk space than larger VAX systems of the time.<ref>{{cite book |title=Getting Started with OpenVMS: A Guide for New Users |url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0080507352  |isbn=978-0080507354 |author=Michael D Duffy |date=2002| publisher=Elsevier }}</ref> MicroVMS split up VAX/VMS into multiple kits, which a customer could use to install a subset of VAX/VMS tailored to their specific requirements.<ref>{{cite news  |newspaper=[[Computerworld]] |date=June 18, 1984 |page=7 |quote=The Micro VMS operating system announced last week by Digital Equipment Corp. for its Microvax I family of microcomputers is a prepackaged version of ... |title=Micro VMS operating system |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aqjZTUJlyygC}}</ref> MicroVMS releases were produced for each of the V4.x releases of VAX/VMS and was discontinued when VAX/VMS V5.0 was released.<ref name=DEC.prof>{{cite magazine  |magazine=DEC Professional Magazine |title=The VMS/MicroVMS merge |pages=74–84
|author=Kathleen D. Morse}}</ref><ref name="vms-5.0-rel-notes">{{cite web|url=http://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/dec/vax/vms/5.0/AA-LB22A-TE_VMS_5.0_Release_Notes_198804.pdf|title=VMS Version 5.0 Release Notes|date=April 1988|publisher=DEC|access-date=July 21, 2021}}</ref>
* '''Desktop-VMS''' was a short-lived distribution of VAX/VMS sold with [[VAXstation]] systems. It consisted of a single [[CD-ROM]] containing a bundle of VMS, DECwindows, DECnet, VAXcluster support, and a setup process designed for non-technical users.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://home.iae.nl/users/pb0aia/vax/dsvs3100.html|title=DECUServe WORKSTATIONS Conference 8|access-date=December 22, 2020|date=January 11, 1989|author=Bob McCormick|website=home.iae.nl|archive-date=July 10, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220710024529/http://home.iae.nl/users/pb0aia/vax/dsvs3100.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://blog.nozell.com/2004/02/office-archeology.html|title=Office Archaeology|date=February 24, 2004|access-date=December 22, 2020|website=blog.nozell.com}}</ref> Desktop-VMS could either be run directly from the CD or could be installed onto a hard drive.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.digital.com/info/SP25F4/SP25F4PF.PDF|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000816181649/http://www.digital.com/info/SP25F4/SP25F4PF.PDF|title=Software Product Description - Desktop-VMS, Version 1.2|publisher=Digital|date=January 1991|archive-date=August 16, 2000|access-date=February 2, 2022}}</ref> Desktop-VMS had its own versioning scheme beginning with V1.0, which corresponded to the V5.x releases of VMS.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://vaxarchive.org/hardware/vms-hw.html|title=OpenVMS pages of proGIS Germany|website=vaxarchive.org|access-date=December 22, 2020}}</ref>
* An unofficial derivative of VAX/VMS named '''MOS VP''' ({{langx|ru|Многофункциональная операционная система с виртуальной памятью, МОС ВП|lit=Multifunctional Operating System with Virtual Memory}})<ref>{{cite web|url=http://oldpc.su/lib/gsp/sm89.pdf|title=Computer Complexes, Technical Equipment, Software And Support Of The System Of Small Electronic Computer Machines (SM Computer)|date=May 1989|language=Russian|publisher=Soviet Union Research Institute of Information and Economics|access-date=October 16, 2021|editor=D.O. Andrievskaya}}</ref> was created in the [[Soviet Union]] during the 1980s for the [[VAX#Clones|SM 1700]] line of VAX clone hardware.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.swsys.ru/index.php?page=article&id=1480#|journal=Software Systems Journal|volume=1988|issue=3|title=Basic software for 32-bit SM computer models|author1=Prokhorov N.L.|author2=Gorskiy V.E.|language=Russian|access-date=October 15, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.swsys.ru/index.php?page=article&id=1491#|journal=Software Systems Journal|volume=1988|issue=4|title=Multifunctional operating system that supports virtual memory for 32-bit computers|author1=Egorov G.A.|author2=Ostapenko G.P.|author3=Stolyar N.G.|author4=Shaposhnikov V.A.|language=Russian|access-date=October 15, 2021}}</ref> MOS VP added support for the [[Cyrillic script]] and translated parts of the user interface into Russian.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://mirrors.pdp-11.ru/_vax__/_MOC-32/MOC-32M45/moc-32m-install-1.1.pdf|title=Installing OS MOS-32M|date=June 16, 2012|access-date=October 15, 2021|language=Russian|website=pdp-11.ru|archive-date=October 27, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211027181221/https://mirrors.pdp-11.ru/_vax__/_MOC-32/MOC-32M45/moc-32m-install-1.1.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> Similar derivatives of MicroVMS known as ''MicroMOS VP'' ({{langx|ru|МикроМОС ВП}}) or ''MOS-32M'' ({{langx|ru|МОС-32М}}) were also created.

With the V5.0 release in April 1988, DEC began to refer to VAX/VMS as simply VMS in its documentation.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/vax/vms/5.0/AA-LB22A-TE_VMS_5.0_Release_Notes_198804.pdf|title=VMS Version 5.0 Release Notes|date=April 1988|publisher=Digital Equipment Corporation|access-date=October 27, 2021}}</ref> In July 1992,<ref name=DuffB>{{cite web|url=https://tech-insider.org/vms/research/1992/0715.html|title=Digital Introduces First Generation of OpenVMS Alpha-Ready Systems|publisher=Digital Equipment Corporation|date=July 15, 1992|access-date=January 25, 2021}}</ref> DEC renamed VAX/VMS to OpenVMS as an indication of its support of [[open system (computing)|open systems]] industry standards such as [[POSIX]] and Unix compatibility,<ref name=POSix>{{cite web
|title=OpenVMS Definition from PC Magazine Encyclopedia
|url=https://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/48503/openvms}}</ref> and to drop the VAX connection since a migration to a different architecture was underway. The OpenVMS name was first used with the OpenVMS AXP V1.0 release in November 1992. DEC began using the OpenVMS VAX name with the V6.0 release in June 1993.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vaxmacro.de/ovmsfaq.html|title=OpenVMS FAQ - What is the difference between VMS and OpenVMS?|author=Arne Vajhøj|date=November 29, 1999|access-date=January 25, 2021|website=vaxmacro.de|archive-date=September 24, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210924175454/http://www.vaxmacro.de/ovmsfaq.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>