[Info-vax] In memoriam: 10 years since Alpha's passing away.

[Richard B. Gilbert]

On 7/10/2011 8:37 PM, JF Mezei wrote:
> Richard B. Gilbert wrote:
>
>> The sin is not the photo copy, it's the distribution!
>>
>> It's entirely possible that nobody gives a s*** any longer but I
>> wouldn't want to count on it.
>
> Consodering that much of the DEC documentation has been scanned (for
> instance, hardware setup pages for different boards) and been on the net
> for ages, I doubt that HP/Intel would even bother or notice one more DEC
> manual out on the net.
>
> These manuals are public. It isn't as it they contain proprietary
> information that was never public.  And they depict early alpha
> architecture, not the latest EV7 which may contain technologies that are
> still of value.

They are "public" ONLY in the sense that anyone who is willing to pay 
several hundred dollars can buy a set.  If you buy a system; hardware 
and software, you get a set of manuals, the "Blue, Orange, Gray or White 
Wall".

You want a second set?  H-P will sell you one.  It's not cheap!
>
> At best you could expect a letter asking you to widthdraw the documents,
> at which point, you could ask for official permission from HP to keep
> them and they woudl likely give it to you. The only reason they would go
> through this procedure is so that people can't claim that HP/Intel are
> not protecting their intellectual property.

H-P *Sells* those manuals.  The last time I looked, a VMS documentation 
kit filled four or five feet of shelf space.  The last time I bought 
one, I think I paid close to $2000 US.

There's more than paper and ink to be paid for; H-P paid people to write 
the manuals, proof read them, etc, etc.

I suspect that manuals are a significant source of revenue!