[Info-vax] Thoughts on VSI Community License Program

[Bill Gunshannon]

On 8/14/20 3:23 PM, Dave Froble wrote:
> On 8/14/2020 11:38 AM, Arne Vajhøj wrote:
>> On 8/14/2020 11:28 AM, Dave Froble wrote:
>>> On 8/14/2020 8:39 AM, Arne Vajhøj wrote:
>>>> On 8/14/2020 4:44 AM, Phillip Helbig (undress to reply) wrote:
>>>>> In article <c5677abe-805f-45f9-bd1e-d3af9125f321o at googlegroups.com>,
>>>>> David Goodwin <dgsoftnz at gmail.com> writes:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Removing access to the platforms main selling point to try and combat
>>>>>> pirac=
>>>>>> y seems like a pretty serious error. Piracy is the very last thing
>>>>>> VSI shou=
>>>>>> ld be concerned with. They would be lucky if piracy was a problem.
>>>>>> Right no=
>>>>>> w they're going to have a hard time even getting Linux users to
>>>>>> seriously l=
>>>>>> ook at OpenVMS at all, let alone consider pirating it.
>>>>>
>>>>> Sounds like the "it's good to `share' music because it benefits the
>>>>> musician".  The musician himself can decide if he wants to give stuff
>>>>> away.  So can VSI.  The idea that people first pirate stuff to try it
>>>>> out then become paying customers is bullshit.
>>>>>
>>>>> Whether VMS piracy is a problem is a different question.
>>>>>
>>>>>> Also, they seem to not realise that a company pirating OpenVMS is
>>>>>> better for VSI than one that just gives up and runs Linux. A
>>>>>> company that's
>>>>>> pirating OpenVMS is at least creating demand for OpenVMS experts and
>>>>>> software and is a potential VSI customer.
>>>>>
>>>>> Really?  Someone morally low enough to steal intellectual property 
>>>>> will
>>>>> have a vision and become a paying customer?
>>>>>
>>>>> It is attitudes like this which seriously endanger hobbyist licenses.
>>>>>
>>>>>> The pool of OpenVMS experts and available softw=
>>>>>> are needs to be much much larger than it is for OpenVMS to be
>>>>>> competitive w=
>>>>>> ith linux.
>>>>>
>>>>> VMS will probably never compete with Linux.
>>>>
>>>> And before anyone starts to go down the pirate path let me link to:
>>>>
>>>> https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2319
>>>>
>>>> Usually doing "something" for VMS is good.
>>>>
>>>> But doing 1/3/5/6/10 years for VMS is not good.
>>>>
>>>> :-)
>>>
>>> It's once again proven, "human intelligence" is a myth .....
>>>
>>> So, though it's probably hopeless, I'll try once again to help
>>> understanding.
>>>
>>> Some will claim that if say 10,000 commercial users of VMS are not
>>> paying for VSI support (best revenue method for VSI) that it will
>>> cause financial loss for VSI.  Consider the case that the "illegal"
>>> users would stop using VMS before paying one dollar for such use.  So,
>>> then, how much revenue is VSI losing?
>>>
>>> Under those conditions the only correct answer is ....
>>>
>>> wait for it ....
>>>
>>> NOT ONE DOLLAR!  NOT ONE RED CENT!
>>>
>>> One cannot lose anything one was never going to get.
>>>
>>> However, consider what those 10,000 users will be doing.
>>>
>>> There will be a substantial number of employees working with VMS.
>>>
>>> There will be the realization that VMS is a good solution for many
>>> requirements.
>>>
>>> Perhaps in some cases a law abiding person ends up in charge, and
>>> decides to become "legal".
>>>
>>> The cheap bastards probably won't pay decent salaries, so there will
>>> be a large number of VMS capable people looking for better jobs, and
>>> available to VMS users who are a revenue source for VSI.
>>>
>>> Such a scenario would be one of the better things to happen for VSI.
>>
>> And?
>>
>> The law is still the law.
>>
>> Some people think piracy is OK if the pirate would not have paid anyway.
>>
>> The mafia thought is was OK to kill people that broke their code of
>> conduct.
>>
>> And so on.
>>
>> But laws applies to everyone.
>>
>> Laws is not something you pick and chose among. I like those two laws
>> so I follow them, but I don't like the third one so I will ignore that.
>> Doesn't work that way.
>>
>> Arne
>>
>>
> 
> Who is talking about laws?  Not me.  I'm just suggesting pros and cons 
> if some decided to use VMS without VSI permission.
> 
> As far as I'm concerned, VSI should make their product free to everyone, 
> with commercial use requiring support contract.
> 
> Ask Red Hat what they think of such a thing.
> 

Red Hat didn't invest a lot of money getting the product
they started with.

bill