[Info-vax] VAX VMS going forward

[Alice Wyan]

If I understand the situation correctly, HPE is completely dropping support for VAX VMS, but the rights haven't been transferred to VSI. This means starting next year VMS on the VAX is essentially abandoned.

If HPE is no longer going to be making money out of it, what would be stopping them from selling it/give the rights away to, say, a hobbyist collective that could be set up to preserve this system? I guess there'd be quite a legal mess of rights behind the old code, but... would it be a doable thing? What sort of money could we be talking about to get this sort of transfer done?