[Simh] OpenVMS Hobbyist Program

[Dan Gahlinger]

is it still technically pirating if it's impossible to legally buy it because it's a dead product?

I bought some vax with vms and got documentation with them including licenses of vms v4.x and such,
at least one system I'm fairly sure didn't have an expiry date that I could find.
of course the license paper says it cost about $90k USD.
from Ebay to me for $600

copyright laws also differ from country to country, some places have exceptions for personal use or archival purposes.

there are people out there with the pakgen ability, but I'm sure they'd like to remain anonymous.
and that becomes problematic for commercial use.

HPE is basically going to put you out of business if you rely on vms for anything.

is HPE going to sue individual hobbyists for copyright? I highly doubt it.

I doubt commercial too unless it's high profile or a lot of business, even then my argument would be - ok which license do I buy, my business depends on this.

while on the topic  what about Charon? what about those licenses?

I'll use the permanent license I legally purchased, if HPE wants to give me flack for personal, hobbyist use, try me...

Dan

________________________________
From: Simh <simh-bounces at trailing-edge.com> on behalf of Craig Berry <craigberry at mac.com>
Sent: Saturday, March 7, 2020, 10:58 p.m.
To: simh at trailing-edge.com
Subject: Re: [Simh] OpenVMS Hobbyist Program



> On Mar 7, 2020, at 5:51 PM, Bob Eager <rde at tavi.co.uk> wrote:
>
> A comment from Usenet, from VSI:

No, it was not from VSI.  It was from someone who had renewed HPE hobbyist licenses and got that reply from HPE.

> "The HPE OpenVMS Hobbyist licenses we are issuing in 2020 will be the
> last set. Subsequently, HPE will not issue new HPE OpenVMS Hobbyist
> licenses. Attached is the final set of the HPE OpenVMS Hobbyist
> licenses. These final licenses are valid through December 31st, 2021.
> We hope that this additional validity period will enable users to plan
> for the future.
>
> Users who wish to avail of HPE OpenVMS long term licenses are encouraged to
> purchase permanent licenses at standard prices. You may contact for the
> same."

That is what HPE says and is consistent with their long-standing plans to EOL VMS.  It has nothing to do with VSI.

> On Sat, 7 Mar 2020 17:37:30 -0600
> Gary Lee Phillips <tivo.overo at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Yes, quite important seems to be an understatement. HPE is dropping
>> the program, apparently because the OpenVMS product line is now the
>> responsibility of VSI. But I can find no sign that VSI will continue
>> the hobbyist license program in any form. Those of us with actual
>> Alpha/Itanium/Vax hardware may be completely shut out?
>>
>> I own two Alphas and also run Vax on Simh. This is not amusing. VSI
>> appears to be focused on OpenVMS for x86 processors,

Then why have they issued so many releases and patch kits for current OpenVMS on Alpha and Itanium?  Yes, they are also working on a port to x86_64, and that is taking longer and appears to be consuming more resources than they expected.  If anyone claims that has anything to do with their failure to release hobbyist licenses, it's possible, but I would like to see evidence.

>> which is fine if
>> they can do that. But without a way to renew license keys our Alpha
>> and Vax systems will be dead silicon. I don't require support or even
>> patches. I just need to keep my systems running.

Anyone who is the least bit surprised by any of this has simply not been paying attention for some years.  HPE is exiting the OpenVMS business and has been saying they would for some time.  Did you expect they would continue the hobbyist program when they no longer sell the product?  VSI cannot legally issue licenses for HPE releases, including all VAX releases.  The only thing new today is that the end date for new hobbyist licenses is the end of 2021 whereas a reasonable guess a year ago might have been the end of 2020.

Why VSI has not started a hobbyist program is a different question.  They initially said they would have one with essentially the same terms as the HPE one, but have not delivered that in the last five-plus years, and more recently have said they have no current plans for a hobbyist program, but nor do they rule out having one in the future.  They do have an educational program where you get a free Alpha emulator and short-term licenses; I'm told it compares poorly to the the traditional hobbyist license.

All of this is very disappointing of course, especially for folks with VAX nostalgia, but it's not news.
________________________________________
Craig A. Berry

"... getting out of a sonnet is much more
 difficult than getting in."
                 Brad Leithauser

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