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

[Craig A. Berry]

On 11/23/19 4:17 PM, Robert A. Brooks wrote:

> 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.

When we switched our support for OpenVMS I64 from HPE to VSI in May of
2017, I specifically asked whether this included upgrade rights to
OpenVMS x64 (or whatever the marketing name is going to be).  The answer
was yes.  I was slightly stunned (and pleased) since in the history of
VMS, moving to a new machine, much less a new platform, has never been
something one could do without paying a handsome extra fee.  It was part
of what made moving support to VSI a no-brainer.

Of course these assurances may not mean much now since in May of 2017,
the assumption was that the port would be available well within the
three-year terms of the support contract, but that's not going to
happen.  Even if we renew next May, I don't know if we'd be allowed to
renew with the same upgrade rights and at comparable prices, nor do I
really trust the end of 2020 date for the v9.2 release since that is
already about four years later than the original estimate.