Conference thebay::joyoflex

Then "proper" use of VAX should be "VAX Computer System", therefore
the plural would be "VAX Computer Systems".

VAXen appears to be the "colloquial" when we are "talking" to each
other via Mail or Notes.

- dave

Its etymology is by analogy from ox/oxen.

	Jon

If you go for analogies, a VAX usually looks like a box...

Rien.

my VAXen cluster reminds me more of a vixen...

Re .2

The "en" plural of "oxen" derives from an Anglo-Saxon verb form
that was on the way out even 700 years ago.  How strange that it
should be applied to high technology! 

Mark

Does anyone know of the origin of the word VAXEN?  It might be interesting
to see the true reason for its beginning.

Dave

re:.5

Amazingly enough, computer people are among the movers and shakers in
the Society for Creative Anachronism.  700 years ago it was on its way
out you say?  Sounds just right for SAC.  Then there's the fantasy angle...
(as in fantasy and science fiction).

Morgan Robinson

I always preferred VEX as the plural of VAX.  It describes very well the
emotional state of system managers of multiple VAX computer systems.

--PSW

    Re .5  VERB form??
    
    Rex -> Reges, hence Vax -> Vages.  The feminine form is not used.

	    Funny, I first saw "vaxen" used by James Gosling in his
	Emacs manual.  I assumed that he was Germanizing it.
			<_Jym_>

Is VAX an acronym?
Virtual Access X__(?)___

Then wouldn't the proper plural be formed by adding "es"-> VAXes ??
Too bad. I kinda liked VAXen...

- Skeezix

>Is VAX an acronym?

        For what it's worth department:

        VAX = Virtual Address Extension
              ^       ^        ^

    Digital has trademarked "VAX".  It is to be used ONLY as an adjective,
    as in "The VAX family of compatible computers", or "VAX processors" or
    the "VAX architecture".
    
    It is not to be used as a noun, as in "VAXes" or "VAXen" or "I own a
    VAX". Since it should be used as an adjective and not as a noun, the
    question of forming the plural simply doesn't arise.

    This legal fussiness comes directly from the Digital legal department. 
    It is one of the rules they have promulgated in order to avoid losing
    "VAX" as a legal trademark.

    How you use "VAX" when referring to vacuum cleaners is the concern of
    another company.

    Well, six weeks later, I've received a long note from the Digital legal
    department (Jim Perkins) confirming note .12, except he didn't like my
    "legal fussiness" comment. Apparently all the earlier authors in this
    topic got a copy too.

    I can't repost Jim's mail here 'cause it explicitly says:

    			ATTORNEY-CLIENT PRIVILEGE
    	DO NOT DISTRIBUTE EXCEPT TO THOSE WITH A NEED TO KNOW

    I think everybody has a need to know, so maybe I'll ask him if I can
    post it.

    VAX is an adjective all right; and an adjective (_in_English_)
    has no plural.
    
    What interests me, though, is what happens in languages where
    adjectives do have plurals. 
    
    b

    
    Well, "flax" is an adjective, but so is "flaxen".  Perhaps there are
    "VAXen Computer Systems".
    
    - David
    

    Hmmm.  "VAXen Computer Systems"  It's not clear to me what legal
    rule THAT might be violating, but I suspect there is one.  Probably
    using "VAX" in vain, which would show, in a court of law, that we
    don't use the trademark consistently even inside DEC, and therefore
    ...

    "VAXen Computer Systems"  

	- sounds like a Russ Meyer film

Stephen

Who's Russ Meyer?

Wook

    
    Russ Meyer is a producer of soft porn movies with titles like 
    
    _The Vixens_ and _The Super Vixens_
    
    They usually featured women with minimum bust measurement of 40+D+
    
    Roger

    A few decades ago, Isaac Asimov published a science fiction story
    in which one of the computers is a Microvac (noun, not adjective).
    Dr. Asimov invented this word.  In the context of the story, there
    are clearly many Microvacs, though I don't recall if the plural
    word actually appears in the story.  The story is copyrighted.

    Do DEC's lawyers really think that marketplace confusion over the
    name VAX is going to cause damage?  We're going to lose our trademark?
    Hard to imagine, but if it should happen to be true, maybe we should
    just accept it.  One bad Apple doesn't have to spoil this barrel.

    Oh yes, and what kinds of car do the lawyers drive?  Mercedes-Benzes?
    BMWs?  Firebirds?  I even saw a newspaper article just yesterday,
    mentioning Firebirds.  No one, not even a lawyer, is pedantic enough
    to speak of "Mercedes-Benz brand car" and "Firebird brand car" in
    ordinary conversation.

    The people who used to own the trademark to the Zipper brand slide
    fastener might not agree with you . . .
    
    --bonnie

.21>    A few decades ago, Isaac Asimov published a science fiction story
.21>    in which one of the computers is a Microvac (noun, not adjective).

Which story was that?  Are you sure that the computer wasn't Multivac?

    Re .23:
    "The Last Question", which appears in _Nine Tomorrows_ (I think),
    among other places.
    
    >mark

    
    
    Then it was a decendent of Multivac.....
    
    Nigel