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

[Johnny Billquist]

On 2013-10-03 16:19, Bill Gunshannon wrote:
> 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.  :-)

Maybe I'm confused here. I thought we were talking about when Mentec 
bought this from DEC, not when XX2247 bought the remains from Mentec.

Since XX2247 is not really doing much business, I guess the question is 
less relevant here. They probably didn't pay much, and are not making much.

Mentec did the deal when there was still some money left to be made. Why 
they accepted the restrictive conditions surrounding it all I have no idea.

	Johnny