Copyright 2002-2016 by Kevin G. Barkes All rights reserved. This article may be duplicated or redistributed provided no alterations of any kind are made to this file. This edition of DCL Dialogue is sponsored by Networking Dynamics, developers and marketers of productivity software for OpenVMS systems. Contact our website www.networkingdynamics.com to download free demos of our software and see how you will save time, money and raise productivity! Be sure to mention DCL Dialogue! DCL Dialogue Online by Kevin G. Barkes Thanks to the supportive folks at Networking Dynamics, we're able to publish the "back issues" which originally appeared in DEC Professional and Digital Age magazines from August 1986 through December 1995.. Sadly, one of the reasons we can now use these columns is the demise of Digital Age in August 1997. The popularity of DCL Dialogue allowed me to negotiate a clause in my contract in which the rights to the columns would revert to me should the magazine ever fold. Thanks to the advice of a nameless attorney with whom I chatted on a flight from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia, DCL Dialogue can now be resurrected without any legal entanglements. For the most part, the columns appear unchanged. We've made some corrections to phone numbers and added net addresses; otherwise, they're in their original form. We toyed with the idea of updating everything, but the effort involved would have been enormous. Also, it's interesting to look back at what was happening in the DEC world eight to fifteen years ago and compare our opinions and predictions to what's going on today. Most, if not all, of the DCL code contained in the columns still works. There have been constant enhancements to VMS and DCL, but very few things have been made obsolete. Differences may exist between the online editions and the printed copies from the old magazine. While the editors at DEC Pro very rarely touched my copy for content, they did correct grammar and make other changes necessary to fit the column into the mechanical requirements of the magazine. They also sometimes rearranged the order of things. Alas, I never downloaded the "final" versions after they were printed. So, in one respect, you may be seeing some stuff that has never appeared before. As to the sensitive issue of advertising... If you recall, DEC Professional was a "controlled circulation" magazine, which meant the subscription was free. Advertising paid for the whole enchilada. The same is true here, except Networking Dynamics is trying to achieve the impossible task of promoting their products while keeping their advertising inobtrusive. The little Networking Dynamics link on the DCL Dialogue online page and the six line ad which appears at the beginning of each column is the extent of their solicitation efforts. (The covers from various VMS-related books are associate links to amazon.com. More info below). To keep DCL Dialogue Online alive, we'd appreciate it if you'd stop by the Networking Dynamics website (www.networkingdynamics.com), take a look around, and download their free trial software for products in which you may have an interest. I've used their fax and Peek and Spy products for several years now and can recommend them without reservation. And I paid for them. (We don't accept freebies.) They have a great support team, and they don't bother you constantly with additional pointless sales calls. Drop them an email saying you appreciate their support. Another way you can keep DCL Dialogue around is to spread the word to your friends and associates. But please, don't start posting shotgun announcements in Usenet newsgroups. We don't need the flames. Also, take a look at the other things we have on the www.kgbreport.com website. If you buy books from amazon.com, consider going through one of our portals. We get a modest commission on sales which originate from our site. Check out the KGB Report, which is pretty much the all the writing I do these days, aside from documentation and related technical stuff for my current employer, Datalogics. KGB Report is not DEC-centric, but covers a lot of technical issues and oddities. Tell your non-DEC friends about it. We'll hang in here as long as we can. In any event, we appreciate your past support and words of encouragement for DCL Dialogue and hope you'll like the online archives.