[Info-vax] The Doom of VAX VMS Hobbyist Licenses?

[tomc at frontieranalytical.com]

On Monday, July 20, 2020 at 8:26:06 AM UTC-7, Phillip Helbig (undress to reply) wrote:
> In article <>, Dave Froble
> <> writes: 
> 
> > > Try to get a commercial license.  Buy it from someone.  If someone sells
> > > it to you, and you bought it in good faith, I don't see any legal
> > > problems.
> > 
> > Actually Phillip, that is illegal under the license terms.
> 
> What is illegal?
> 
> > >  If you want to be really careful and are aware that at some
> > > point in the dim and distance past there was a rumour of a $300 transfer
> > > fee, contact HPE and ask them how to pay it.
> 
> If there is a $300 transfer fee, that implies that they can change 
> hands.

Lots of ethical, moral and legal issues at hand here.
All over software that's nearly extinct and most probably completely forgotten by the unwashed masses. Does Monkeysoft care about MSDos any more? Does IBM care about OS/2?
I'll wager that many of us have folders full of licenses for extinct software that ran on equipment that hit the scrap heap dozens of years ago.
I've personally got 20 or 30 legitimate copies of various flavors of Windoze products, DOS (multiple flavors), 95, Millineum, NT, NT for Alpha, OS/2 and many others. Not to mention my big file of VAX related stuff which hasn't been opened in a good 20 years or more.
Moral/ethical issues aside, how wrong would it be for someone to share this unused bounty with others, especially if no monetary value is associated or exchanged?

Inquiring minds and all that jazz........