[Info-vax] [Attn: HP Employees] PDP-11 OS hobbyist licensing

[Bill Gunshannon]

In article <l2eehl$opp$2 at iltempo.update.uu.se>,
	Johnny Billquist <bqt at softjar.se> writes:
> On 2013-09-30 22:07, Rich Alderson wrote:
>> Simon Clubley <clubley at remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP> writes:
>>
>>> On 2013-09-29, Johnny Billquist <bqt at softjar.se> wrote:
>>>> On 2013-09-30 01:13, Simon Clubley wrote:
>>
>>>>> PPS: Now if we could just sort out the PDP-11 OS hobbyist licensing
>>>>> situation so we can clear up any licensing doubts about running them under
>>>>> simh; simh has clearly maintained it's status as a decent quality emulator.
>>
>>>> Sure. Do you know the right people at HP, and could you please talk to them?
>>
>>> No I don't unfortunately.
>>
>>> However, I'm going to take this opportunity to ask the HP employees in
>>> c.o.v if _they_ know who the correct person is to talk to as you have tried
>>> various approaches and made comments for years about wanting to do something
>>> about this.
>>
>> No one at HP has anything to do with the PDP-11.  Mentec bought the IP from
>> Digital prior to the Compaq purchase, so HP never owned it.
> 
> Unfortunately incorrect, Rich.
> DEC sold the PDP-11 software to Mentec, but retained control over how 
> Mentec were allowed to spread the software.
> That right has been transferred over to HP as a part of HP taking over 
> the remains of DEC.
> Which is a big reason why no hobbyist licenses for the PDP-11 OSes 
> exist. They need approval from HP. Mentec could not do it by itself, and 
> neither can the current owners. It's all very sad.
> 

That being the case, one must wonder just why they bought them!!

bill

-- 
Bill Gunshannon          |  de-moc-ra-cy (di mok' ra see) n.  Three wolves
billg999 at cs.scranton.edu |  and a sheep voting on what's for dinner.
University of Scranton   |
Scranton, Pennsylvania   |         #include <std.disclaimer.h>