[Info-vax] to upgrade or not to upgrade

[Ken Fairfield]

On May 20, 11:24 am, pe... at langstoeger.at (Peter 'EPLAN' LANGSTOeGER)
wrote:
> In article <4d5c4850-3b29-4b27-baae-60d55f4f2... at z7g2000prh.googlegroups.com>, Ken Fairfield <ken.fairfi... at gmail.com> writes:
>
> >On May 20, 2:29=A0am, pe... at langstoeger.at (Peter 'EPLAN' LANGSTOeGER) wrote:
> >> In article <ir3nr7$ta... at online.de>, hel... at astro.multiCLOTHESvax.de (Phillip Helbig---undress to reply) writes:
> >> >It might be the last hobbyist upgrade. :-(
>
> >> Don't think so
>
> >Why not?  Do you have some inside information?
> >(You don't have to spill it here if it's a "if I told you,
> >I'd have to kill you" deal... :-)
>
> Because I'm a hobbyist, too. And I'm on V8.4
> V8.4 was released last summer...
>
> And I still don't think (but of course, don't know), that VMS hobbyist
> licenses will go away before next vms version, but that is not the point.
>
> >> Latest V8.4 ECOs are from May-2011
>
> >Available only to those with a support contract,
> >and currently there's no path to a support contract
> >for hobbyists.
>
> Yes, but I'm sure, you know one with a support contract...

Actually, no, I don't.  My company ended its VMS support
contracts last Fall.

And personally, I wouldn't want to put anyone in legal
jeopardy by asking them to send ECOs to me in e-mail
or by putting them up for ftp, especially in light of HP's
current stance on the issue.

> >I'm with Phillip on this one.  I have media for V8.4,
> >but no access to ECOs.  I'll stay with V8.3 until
> >or unless something changes... :-(
>
> Why? Vanilla V8.3 is as worse as vanilla V8.4. And you now don't have access
> to V8.3 (or V7.3-2) ECOs at HPQ either. And you know how to get V8.4 ECOs...
>
> Are you assuming, that V8.3 is better because HPQ obviously no longer
> provides frequent V8.3 ECOs?

My V8.3 was current on patches up through last
December or so.  That gives me some confidence
in it.

I've "inherited" the V8.4 O/S kit, so I could upgrade,
but there is a required MUP no longer available to me
(I didn't jump to grab ECOs before access was shut off
to me), and there vanilla V8.4 bugs that have been posted
here that I'd rather not have to deal with, one in particular
involved that SSH, IIRC.

I'll stick with a fully patched V8.3 for now...

    -Ken