[Info-vax] Entitled attitudes, was: Re: vax vms licenses

[Arne Vajhøj]

On 3/15/2021 5:12 PM, Dave Froble wrote:
> DEC was there at one time, but now is gone, with little recourse for 
> their VMS customers.  In one sense, they failed their customers.
> 
> Compaq was there at one time, but now is gone, with little recourse for 
> their VMS customers.  In one sense they failed their customers.
> 
> HP was (sort of) there at one time, but now is out of the VMS business, 
> with little recourse for their VMS customers.  For anyone with a VAX, 
> according to some, unless they have an existing perpetual license, they 
> have no recourse.  In one sense they failed their customers.
> 
> See any trend here?
> 
> And so now VSI is supporting VMS, and VMS users have some recourse.  But 
> I have to now consider, should VSI for whatever reason not be able to 
> support their customers, what happens?
> 
> I sure don't want it to happen, but their business could fail.  Where 
> does that leave current paying support customers of VSI?  Will the past 
> repeat itself, or, will VSI do something to allow their customers to 
> continue to use VSI versions of VMS if for whatever reason VSI is gone?
> 
> Perhaps VSI will issue perpetual license PAKs to all customers who were 
> at any time paying for support?  Perhaps to only those on support at the 
> time VSI operations cease?  Perhaps devil take the hindmost.
> 
> Perhaps current VMS users using VSI versions and paying for support will 
> have no recourse.
> 
> If I was one of these customers, I might have some hard questions for VSI.
> 
> This doesn't even address hobbyist usage after such an event.

If I am to *guess*:

If VSI fails then VMS will be dead - dead as in no more
new versions, because I do not think another company
will try to do the same. Some company will buy the IPR
and the support contracts and offer remaining customers
support. But no new versions and the customer
base will continue to shrink year after year. So it
will be a slow death.

Based on how the IT industry in general works, then
that seems most likely to me.

Hopefully this will remain a hypothetical question
and VSI will become successful and VMS will thrive for
years to come.

:-)

Arne