 |
The Question is:
Is Windows XP supported under any version of OpenVMS?
The Answer is :
If this is a question of support plans for Windows XP as a client in
the Advanced Server (PATHWORKS) environment, then that qualification
work is presently underway -- realize that (as if this writing in
July 2001), Microsoft Windows XP has not been released by Microsoft
for general availability. Windows 2000 client support was included
in the Advanced Server V7.3 environment.
If, however, the rather tersely-worded question is interpreted literally
(and is further assumed to not be a "troll"), then the short answer is
either "huh?" or "no!".
And if again interpreted literally, the long answer is...
Compaq OpenVMS is an operating system, and it expects Alpha or VAX
hardware architecture. At present, there are no plans to port OpenVMS
to any other hardware architectures.
Microsoft offers at least three operating system families, and all
rather confusingly named Windows. The classic version of Microsoft
Windows and its descendents (95, 98, ME) uses an operating system
kernel that is descended from the original IBM PC operating system.
The second variant, Microsoft Windows CE, is intended for embedded
environments, handhelds, and similar, and it provides compatibility
with other Microsoft Windows platforms.
The third variant, Windows NT (and its descendents Windows 2000 and
Windows XP) all use an operating system kernel that is quite different
from the classic Windows kernel and from that of CE, though the NT
kernel does have various similarities to the OpenVMS kernel.
The Microsoft Windows operating systems (other than CE) all expect to
run on Intel IA-32 or compatible hardware -- while early versions of
the Microsoft Windows NT kernel were ported to other platforms, updates
to these ports are no longer made available. The classic variants of
the Windows operating systems were never ported to other platforms.
That said, there exists one or more VAX hardware emulator packages.
At least one is intended as a commercial product, and is available
from a third-party. This third-party hardware emulator can operate
on the Intel IA-32 and compatible processors, and on Alpha architecture
platforms, and thus provides a VAX environment that can potentially
bootstrap most any operating systems with VAX support.
Also, there was once versions of an Intel IA-32 emulator for OpenVMS
systems, packages known as SoftPC and SoftWindows. These packages
emulated the Intel IA-32 architecture sufficiently to permit Microsoft
Windows operating systems to bootstrap and run on OpenVMS. These
packages are no longer available, and no longer being enhanced.
(Various of these packages emulated the 80286-class processor, and
features of later Intel IA-32 processors were not implemented.)
Thus the synopsis of the long answer is:
"Not directly. What problem are you looking to solve?"
 |
|
|
 |
|