[Info-vax] : Welcome to lockdown - HP limiting access to patches

[Jeremy Begg]

Hi,

I too received the email announcing that access to OpenVMS patches would be 
restricted by ITRC userID and no more anonymous FTP.  Fortunately it doesn't 
affect me too much because I have OpenVMS support on my critical systems and
so do my customers.  But it's sure going to be annoying.  Particularly when 
a customer wants me to apply some patch updates which aren't covered by my 
own support agreement.  (It's not yet clear to me how tightly the new rules 
are going to be applied.)

I suggest everyone who is attending the OpenVMS Bootcamp next month make 
your concerns felt.  The Hobbyist program is a joint effort of Connect and 
HP, as is the new Bootcamp, so it shouldn't be too hard to get the relevant 
people in the same room at the same time.  (And before someone goes pedantic 
on me, yes I know that Connect is responsible for both -- but neither would 
happen without the willing co-operation of HP.)

As to remarks about OpenVMS being expensive, in my recent experience the 
base OpenVMS operating system licence is not unreasonable compared to other 
commercial products.  What makes it expensive is the hardware to run it on 
and the VMScluster licence (which is about 2.5 times the price of the base 
licence).

Regards,

	Jeremy Begg