[Info-vax] Online and Subscription Models (was: Re: Eisner's PAKs, ...)

[johnwallace4 at yahoo.co.uk]

On Wednesday, 21 January 2015 16:21:07 UTC, Stephen Hoffman  wrote:
> On 2015-01-21 16:44:45 +0000, Bob Koehler said:
> 
> > In article <ci7k26FmpinU2 at mid.individual.net>, 
> > bill at server3.cs.scranton.edu (Bill Gunshannon) writes:
> >> 
> >> You mean like Microsoft's new model for their Office Product?
> > 
> >    What's new about selling buggy software and then charging for
> >    the "upgrade" that fixes some of the bugs?  MS has had that model
> >    for decades.
> 
> Like Adobe, Microsoft is now offering online tools and a subscription 
> service; Adobe Creative Cloud, and Microsoft Office360.  What's often 
> called SaaS.
> 
> It wouldn't surprise me to learn that VSI is or will be looking at 
> subscription server monitoring and proactive maintenance notifications 
> and other related services, and maybe also the capacity on demand 
> support.  The existing VMS operating system and layered products and 
> tools themselves don't lend themselves to SaaS online operations, short 
> of running VMS guests on hosted servers.  It wouldn't be surprising to 
> see some folks outsource VMS to VSI.   Though it would be entertaining 
> to see a VMS PXE system boot directly from a remote VSI server.  (But 
> how you'd sign and secure that path, given some of the current MITM 
> shenanigans?)
> 
> 
> -- 
> Pure Personal Opinion | HoffmanLabs LLC

When was LMF introduced, I forget? I know it was associated with (maybe
prerequisite for) ConDist, whose introduction date I also forget.

What I do remember is that DEC had software rental a very long time ago.

It arrived with the VAXBI bus machines, if I remember rightly, and went 
by the name of Periodic Payment Licence. 

It was long before the days of Interwebz so there's little easily-findable
evidence of its existence (and, I presume, later demise).

But it was there.

Marginally more recently, you could buy an Alpha and later add more processors
but they'd only do useful work under VMS once you'd got the SMP PAK. 

Remember, DIGITAL had it then.

[I know Hoff knows all this. Other readers may not.]