[Info-vax] VMS Hobbyist Program

[David Goodwin]

On Friday, July 31, 2020 at 2:49:42 PM UTC+12, Rick Jenkins wrote:
> All things considered, is there a logical business rationale for HPe to not want issue one last "Eternal" VAX OpenVMS license PAK?  I mean just plain inertia, sure...  But it's not like it would cost alot to do.  

Only thing I can think of is if there is any 3rd party stuff they have to pay royalties on. But that seems unlikely otherwise they would have surely charged some small sum for the hobbyist licenses all these years like they did for the Tru64 hobbyist licenses back when they were a thing.

> Just gen up the new PAK. email it out to everyone on their Hobbyist email list and attach a message that says "Here you go!  Merry Christmas!"  Insert a note from their lawyers saying "It's been fun...you're on your own now...no warranty or guarantees implied...don't call us...we won't call you...The Secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions...so long and thanks for all the fish!"  Then delete the email account, fold their tents and go home.   

Cost wise doing this would have been cheaper than dealing with all those final license renewals (or continuing to deal with them if the hobbyist program hasn't completely ended yet). However many minutes of someones time and then they never have to deal with another hobbyist license renewal ever again.

I guess the challenge at this point would be getting hold of someone at HPE who actually has the authority to make this happen and convincing them its a good idea. But perhaps the OpenVMS business unit is small enough at this point that getting in contact with the right person wouldn't be so hard.