[Info-vax] hobbyist patches

[Phillip Helbig---undress to reply]

I was away for about a week and have now caught up on email and 
newsgroups.  :-|  I'm not sure if I should be surprised that there 
appears to have been no progress on the issue of patch access for 
hobbyists.  Any news?

Yes, I've heard some rumours, some promising ones as well, but nothing 
concrete.

One solution would be some sort of hobbyist access to ITRC.  This would 
be the easiest way to integrate it into the existing/future 
infrastructure.

Another possibility would be some sort of special access for hobbyists, 
perhaps through the Montagar site, just another option in addition to 
the licenses.

A third solution would be for hobbyists to purchase patch access 
(presumably without any other support).  Not a problem if the price is 
right.

Personally, I could live with any of these solutions.

I have not had any sort of response to queries at three different levels 
of HP.

For those who made this decision, I don't think VMS is even on the
radar, much less the hobbyist programme.  Thus, I don't think potential
objections need to be countered, since there probably aren't any.  One 
needs the right person with the right connections.  Were Sue still with 
HP, I'm sure she could have pulled this off.

I would have thought this is an area where DECUS/Connect/whatever could 
make itself useful, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

Has anyone here, as a hobbyist, contacted HP to get a quote for 
purchasing something which would include patch access?