[Info-vax] hobbyist patches

[Norm Raphael]

---- Phillip Helbig---undress to reply <helbig at astro.multiCLOTHESvax.de> wrote: 
> 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?
> 

Well, Su - Sujatha - is still with OpenVMS, and Sue (IIRC) also talks informally to Su.
As we have neither seen nor heard anything from either of them, or from David Mathog for that matter, I must conclude that negotiations are going on behind-the-scenes and we are in a "no-comment period."

Or perhaps there isn't enough oil in the universes to soothe this squeaky wheel (metaphor mixed on purpose).

--
Norman F. Raphael
"Everything worthwhile eventually 
degenerates into real work." -Murphy