Newsgroups: comp.parallel.pvm
From: dfields@lehman.com (Doug Fields)
Subject: Re: PVM on Windows PCs?
Organization: Lehman Brothers, Parallel Processing Group
Date: Mon, 29 Aug 1994 17:54:05 GMT
Message-ID: <CvB5q5.M3G@lehman.com>

DISCLAIMER: I am not in any way talking for Lehman: these are my own opinions
in every respect.

Okay, I started this whole thread way back when. It has since degenerated into
the usual arguments to be expected from people who don't actually have to get
work done (academics) in many ways. Let me make these points:

  o There are many thousands of Windows PCs installed here at Lehman

  o There are not an insignificant number of apps which use PVM at Lehman

  o Porting the PVM apps to use a different communications protocol would
    be "hard" (although it is something we are considering)

  o Porting PVM to Windows- at least for the minor functionality we use of
    PVM- should be "easy"

  o Applications need to be made to run on Windows PCs

Sure, we could take the holier-than-thou approach and say, "You're running
a non-operating system, you lamer, so we're not going to give you want you
want." We'll also be working on our resumes the next day. Rather than taking
this attitude, we decided to attempt to give the users what they wanted:
access to data on PVM based applications from their Windows PCs. As I said,
there are a number of ways of doing this. All I wanted to know was if anyone
had done any significant work on porting PVM to Windows PCs. A few helpful
people mentioned ports to OS/2 and asked to be informed if I turned up any
useful information. Others said, "Why bother?" 

In any event, I don't have much of a point to make other than, "Rather than
argue, accept as a given that PVM will be ported to Windows. Under this 
premise, how would you go about doing this? Has anything like this been
done? What are the possible pitfalls?"

I suppose that in the future I will stay away from asking potentially
religious questions. Indeed, my first reaction was simliar to many of yours:
"Why would you want to do that?" My job, however, is merely to get it done,
and come hell or high water I'm going to do it.

Cheers,

Doug
--
Doug Fields, dfields@lehman.com
Lehman Brothers Inc., Parallel Processing Group
212-526-1237

