[Info-vax] Trying to build a case for Benefit of OpenVMS Hobbyist Program being beneficial to HP

[abrsvc]

On Nov 16, 12:06 pm, "Bill Pedersen" <peder... at ccsscorp.com> wrote:
> I personally believe that the OpenVMS Hobbyist program is a great asset to
> HP and OpenVMS.  But I have been challenged to show the return to OpenVMS
> from this program.  My hope in this process we can work toward getting
> access to patches for the OpenVMS Hobbyist community.  No guarantees, but I
> have to try.
>
> So I am asking you, the OpenVMS Hobbyists, what Open Source applications
> have you ported?  What utilities have you developed?  Where are they
> published?  What have you done as far as possibly participating in field
> test programs?
>
> Thanks for listening and I look forward to getting this information.
>
> Bill.
>
> Bill Pedersen
>
> CCSS - Computer Consulting System Services, LLC
>
> 211 Ruth Drive
>
> Gaffney, SC 29341
>
> Telephone: 864-490-8863
>
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>
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>
> Skype Name: william.a.pedersen
>
> LinkedIn Profile:  <http://www.linkedin.com/in/billpedersen>www.linkedin.com/in/billpedersen

It may be hard to come up with a dollar amount of value to HP.  I use
the hobbiest system for research for general debugging techniques and
general experimentation.  I recently used a hobbiest system to attempt
a port from Alpha to I64.  The result of that test, allowed me to
better estimate the magnitude of another porting project.  Please note
that the experiment was for a series of my own programs and not for a
client.  This was perhaps somewhat of a gray area, but there was no
monitary gian by me as a result of that effort.

In the longer term, the availability of the hobbiest licenses allow
those of us with the time and hardware to become familiar with other
languages and products.  This again will allow us to better serve the
OpenVMS world.  It can be argued that this is monitary gain as we
generally get paid for our services, but those services are delivered
on the clients' machines and not using ours.

Overall, the hobbiest program provides incentive for the secondary
market of hardware, the continued exposure of OpenVMS to the
population in general and perhaps potential sales for HP should an
OpenVMS solution be the correct one for a client.  As an example, I
showed a client that a current DS10 had be up and running for over
1000 days.  The stability of that system helped to persuade them to
choose an OpenVMS solution.  This resulted in a few thousand for HP in
licenses alone.  Maybe not much, but these can add up.

Dan