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

[VAXman- at SendSpamHere.ORG]

I'm looking at this decision from the viewpoint of a software developer and
or third-party software provider.  

Suppose my product exaccerbates a flaw in OpenVMS or is rendered inoperable 
because of a flaw (case in point, the V8.4 VMSINSTAL) and my customer needs
a patch to use the software.  Under the present scheme, said customer would
have purchased OpenVMS and could then download the patch(es) for the OS, if
needed, to use my software.  With this proposed new patch access scheme, if
there is(are) a patch(es) to use my software, the customers must engage HP
to purchase some pricey support contract that gives them access to patch(es)
to use my software.  This will affect me because the customer will see it as
an additional expense to use my software.  Fewer options to run onon the OS
translates to fewer users of the OS.  Another quatraine of the Nostradamus
prophesies for the demise of OpenVMS has been decyphered.

  Oh, the more it changes, the more it stays the same,
  And the hand just re-arranges the players in the game.

  Oh, I had a dream.
  It seemed I stood alone.
  And the veil of all the years,
  Goes sinking from my eyes like a stone.

      -- Al Stewart, Nostradamus

-- 
VAXman- A Bored Certified VMS Kernel Mode Hacker    VAXman(at)TMESIS(dot)ORG

All your spirit rack abuses, come to haunt you back by day.
All your Byzantine excuses, given time, given you away.