[Info-vax] VSI Hobbyist plans ?, was: Re: VSI OpenVMS Hobbyist Program Announced.

[Simon Clubley]

On 2019-10-01, kammerer001 at gmail.com <kammerer001 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I know the way we are providing the kit is not very convenient for a
> hobbyist use, but we can't just simply share the PAKs because nowadays
> anything that is shared publicly is instantly downloaded and distributed
> across the Internet which means that the licenses may and will be used to
> activate production-level systems and that is definitely not our purpose.

Does this also mean that VSI, if it launches its own hobbyist program,
will not be comfortable with the HPE approach of issuing PAKs to hobbyists
after the hobbyists apply for them online ?

> Moreover, as it has been correctly mentioned, the primary purpose of this
> kit is to give UNIX/Linux and Windows users, system managers, and
> programmers a way to quickly and easily familiarize themselves with OpenVMS
> without buying legacy hardware and to provide our students with an
> environment that they can safely experiment with and not being afraid of
> breaking anything major.

Yes, I understand that this isn't a "proper" hobbyist kit and that you
are instead producing a turnkey style system for student use.

> We don't know when and whether VSI launches its
> own hobbyist program, but at the moment it's the only free option we were
> allowed to give access to.
>

If HPE terminates the hobbyist program at the same time it exits the
VMS world, that means there's a little over a year for VSI to get
a hobbyist program up and running.

Does anyone from VSI know what state the plans for any VSI controlled
hobbyist program are in and any constraints that VSI may apply in
addition to the HPE constraints ?

Thanks,

Simon.

-- 
Simon Clubley, clubley at remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP
Walking destinations on a map are further away than they appear.