[Info-vax] State of the OpenVMS hobbyist program?

[Robert A. Brooks]

On 11/23/2019 4:58 PM, Hans Bachner wrote:
> IanD schrieb am 23.11.2019 um 09:01:
>> Better that VSI offer a cheap upgrade path to come over to VSI branded VMS
>>
>> Don't they already offer a free path to x86-64 VMS?
> 
> To be exact, they *did* offer.
> 
> It did not take long after HPE announced that they would not sell or renew 
> support contracts for any version of OpenVMS, thus retratcting as the only 
> competitor of VSI, for VSI to remove the right to upgrade to Major Versions from 
> their (3+ year) support contracts.
> 
> Customers who don't already have such a contract will need to buy new licenses 
> for OpenVMS V9.x :-(
> 
> I'm curious how many licenses for V8.4-2L1 VSI will sell if the customer needs 
> new licenses only 12 to 18 months later to move on to V9 ... I assume that most 
> if not all HPE V8.4 customers will stay there until V9.

It's my understanding that the VSI ***Alpha*** offering came with the free
upgrade to X86_64.

Since I'm an engineer, not a marketer, I might have that wrong.

-- 
                  -- Rob