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

[Bill Gunshannon]

In article <H8udnWlQO9XhU9HPnZ2dnUVZ_rqdnZ2d at giganews.com>,
	"Richard B. Gilbert" <rgilbert88 at comcast.net> writes:
> On 10/1/2013 11:17 AM, Bill Gunshannon wrote:
>> 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
>>
> 
> Perhaps someone made a poor decision.  Or perhaps it was a good decision
> and no one understands it yet.  In two or three years we will see if the 
> decision was good or bad.  Situations like this are why a few people are 
> paid astronomical salaries, they get good results in situations that 
> look less than promising!

Well, we don't know what he paid for Mentec (at least I don't) and he was
a former meployee of some sort.  Maybe the cost was trivial and he was
nostalgic.  :-)

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>