[Info-vax] VSI OpenVMS Hobbyist Program Announced.

[Bill Gunshannon]

On 6/14/19 9:56 PM, Arne Vajhøj wrote:
> On 6/14/2019 8:40 PM, Bill Gunshannon wrote:
>> On 6/14/19 6:40 PM, Arne Vajhøj wrote:
>>> On 6/14/2019 9:20 AM, John H. Reinhardt wrote:
>>>> To be blunt, this is a huge step down from the HP program for us 
>>>> that have our own compatible hardware and want to run it 24/7 or at 
>>>> least not have to redo the license every 180 days.
>>>>
>>>> I really hope this is not the last word on VSI Hobbyist licenses.
>>>
>>> The page clearly state "Student" several times.
>>
>> Then they should have said it was an EDU Program rather than a
>> Hobbyist Program.
> 
> Wasn't EDU for formal education?

Isn't STUDENT an indicator of formal education?

> 
> This says student but does not specify any formal requirements to
> qualify.

Most people would see a meaning inthe name I would have thought.
STUDENT certainly doesn't imply HOBBYIST.  At least not to me.

> 
>>> It makes perfect sense to me that VSI prioritize making VMS available
>>> for new users over making VMS available to the classic hobbyist crowd.
>>>
>>> There is simply more business opportunities in getting some 25 yo's to
>>> try boot and login to VMS than to provide free VMS licenses to
>>> some people that as a hobby play with 10/20/30/40 yo HW.
>>
>> This won't cut it.  The largest majority of my students before I
>> retired were running Macs, not Windows.  That  number has probably
>> gone up rather than down.  And that was with free Windows licenses
>> available to any student who wanted one.  All the Professors but
>> 2 had Macs.
> 
> In general it is probably a bit more mixed with Windows, Linux and
> Mac.

None of our students were running Linux on their laptops. (I do, but
then I'm strange.)  Windows was decreasing.  They had access to it
in the labs but personal laptops were mostly Macs.  And this system
can not be used in a lab environment making its adoption in a real
academic environment untenable.  Maybe we need an explanation of
just what VSI thinks this is for.

> 
> But Mac should not be a problem. Parallels Desktop.

Mac is a problem if it only runs on Windows.

bill