[Info-vax] Creating an open source version of VMS, was: Re: OpenVMS Hobbyist Notification

[Bill Gunshannon]

On 3/10/20 9:21 AM, Simon Clubley wrote:
> On 2020-03-09, Phillip Helbig (undress to reply) <helbig at asclothestro.multivax.de> wrote:
>> In article <r4606o$gjl$4 at dont-email.me>, Dave Froble
>> <davef at tsoft-inc.com> writes:
>>>
>>> Define "commercial" ....
>>
>> In this sense, "to make money; for profit".  But that isn't the only
>> restriction in the hobbyist license; it also has to be "personal use".
>>
> 
> Something that did occur to me:
> 
> I wonder, if someone tried to create an open source version of VMS
> from public documentation only, if VSI would somehow try to suppress
> development of it.
> 
> There are a number of possibilities here, if you focus on application
> level source code compatibility and break compatibility at a lower level
> instead, in which you could produce something which runs a good number of
> existing applications but which has a _much_ cleaner and more functional
> operating system underneath.
> 
> Think about how Linux is much more functional and cleaner underneath
> when compared to the original versions of Unix, yet can still compile and
> run earlier Unix application level source code.
> 
> I wonder if VSI would actively try to suppress development of such an
> alternative version of VMS.

It was tried more than a decade ago.  How far it got and how
successful it was should be obvious by this point.  I have
often thought about a clones for the PDP-11 OSes which are
much simpler and have never gotten anywhere on that either.

bill