8 Aug
2012
8 Aug
'12
4:11 p.m.
On 2012-08-08 23:17, Mouse<mouse at Rodents-Montreal.ORG> wrote:
As Al Kossov alluded to, the "someone" is Dave Carroll. Ex. DEC, ex
Mentec, and the last person around at Mentec who did the development of
this software.
Yes, it is a good sign. However, don't anyone hold their breath. The age
old problem of HP still have a controlling interest in all this is still
around and just as unsolved as ever before.
Johnny
>The rights were bought from Mentec by XX2247,
LLC
With a name like that it's clearly someone who actually has some DEC
clue, not just a random holding company. I'd call that good. 
8 Aug
8 Aug
4:37 p.m.
Johnny Billquist wrote:
On 2012-08-08
23:17, Mouse<mouse at Rodents-Montreal.ORG> wrote:
>The
rights were bought from Mentec by XX2247, LLC
With a name like that it's clearly someone who actually has some DEC
clue, not just a random holding company. I'd call that good. Yes, it is a good sign. However, don't anyone hold
their breath. The
age old problem of HP still have a controlling interest in all this is
still around and just as unsolved as ever before.
When DEC sold the rights to the IP for the software to
Mentec, DEC probably retained a veto on most decisions
with respect to hobby use. HP now has that control. In
addition, even commercial use now seems to be blocked
as far as the purchase of a license is concerned.
My guess is that until the issues are resolved, Dave and everyone
else are keeping quite.
Jerome Fine
11:56 p.m.
As HP are quite happy with licensing VMS 7.3 for VAX and 8.3 for Alpha free
of charge to Hobbyists who are members of HPUG. I can't see an issue with
PDP-11 OS's
Not only that but you can download applications like a secure web browser
also FOC to HPUG members.
I have a nice DEC 3000 (Alpha) with VMS 8.3, DecWindows, and HP Secure Web
Browser. Not the fastest system on earth but its over twenty years old and
does much the same as a PC with Windows 7 and Internet explorer.
Regards
?
Rod Smallwood
?
-----Original Message-----
From: cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org]
On Behalf Of Jerome H. Fine
Sent: 09 August 2012 00:37
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: Current license holder of DEC PDP-11 operating systems
As Al Kossov alluded to, the "someone" is Dave Carroll. Ex. DEC, ex
Mentec, and the last person around at Mentec who did the development
of this software.
XX2247.LLC has been inactive for a number of years.
The name refers to the special key used to lock a DEC
console. The web site specifies "Under Construction".
You can do a search at whois.
Now that you have confirmed this publicly (well at least
to the few individuals who might actually care), I can say
that I arrived at the same conclusion a few months ago.
When I attempted to contact Dave at the location where
he actually works (after all, owning the company which
owns the rights to the PDP-11 software IP will no longer
pay the bills), Dave neglected to return my phone calls
and e-mails. At my age, I can't remember the name of
that company, but I seem to remember the name starts
with "A".
Johnny Billquist wrote:
On 2012-08-08
23:17, Mouse<mouse at Rodents-Montreal.ORG> wrote:
>The
rights were bought from Mentec by XX2247, LLC
With a name like that it's clearly someone who actually has some DEC
clue, not just a random holding company. I'd call that good. Yes, it is a good sign. However, don't anyone hold
their breath. The
age old problem of HP still have a controlling interest in all this is
still around and just as unsolved as ever before.
When DEC sold the rights to the IP for the software to
Mentec, DEC probably retained a veto on most decisions
with respect to hobby use. HP now has that control. In
addition, even commercial use now seems to be blocked
as far as the purchase of a license is concerned.
My guess is that until the issues are resolved, Dave and everyone
else are keeping quite.
Jerome Fine
9 Aug
9 Aug
8:29 a.m.
On 8/8/12 11:56 PM, Rod Smallwood wrote:
As HP are quite happy with licensing VMS 7.3 for VAX
and 8.3 for Alpha free
of charge to Hobbyists who are members of HPUG. I can't see an issue with
PDP-11 OS's
These systems have champions on the inside that can make things happen.
It is actually a lot more complicated than that, and as I understand it there
is a business reason for wanting to keep VMS usage numbers up.
There is no one left who can do that for any of the PDP systems. I tried
using the channel that CHM had for the other non-commercial licenses from HP
in the past and didn't get anywhere.
2:02 p.m.
On Thu, 9 Aug 2012, Al Kossow wrote:
On 8/8/12 11:56 PM, Rod Smallwood wrote:
With the Itanium circling the drain, it seems like it would be a Good Idea
to port VMS to a different processor -- like maybe AMD64. Does anyone
know anything about this beyond what the FreeVMS people are doing?
--
David Griffith
dgriffi at cs.csubak.edu
A: Because it fouls the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?
As HP are quite happy with licensing VMS 7.3 for
VAX and 8.3 for Alpha free
of charge to Hobbyists who are members of HPUG. I can't see an issue with
PDP-11 OS's
These systems have champions on the inside that can make things happen.
It is actually a lot more complicated than that, and as I understand it there
is a business reason for wanting to keep VMS usage numbers up.
There is no one left who can do that for any of the PDP systems. I tried
using the channel that CHM had for the other non-commercial licenses from HP
in the past and didn't get anywhere. 
2:45 p.m.
New subject: VMS port (was Re: Current license holder of DEC PDP-11 operating systems)
David Griffith wrote:
With the Itanium circling the drain, it seems like it
would be a Good
Idea to port VMS to a different processor -- like maybe AMD64. Does
anyone know anything about this beyond what the FreeVMS people are doing?
I'd be completely astounded if HP hasn't had an x86_64 port of VMS
running for at least five years now. However, it would OF NECESSITY be
an incredibly well-kept secret, and we would never hear of it until HP
is ready to publicly admit that the Itanic is sinking. I'm not
expecting that for at least another few years.
3:01 p.m.
New subject: VMS port (was Re: Current license holder of DEC PDP-11 operating systems)
With the
Itanium circling the drain, it seems like it would be a Good
Idea to port VMS to a different processor -- like maybe AMD64. Does
anyone know anything about this beyond what the FreeVMS people are doing?
I'd be completely astounded if HP hasn't had an x86_64 port of VMS
running for at least five years now. However, it would OF NECESSITY be
an incredibly well-kept secret, and we would never hear of it until HP
is ready to publicly admit that the Itanic is sinking. I'm not
expecting that for at least another few years. 
5:25 p.m.
New subject: VMS port (was Re: Current license holder of DEC PDP-11 operating systems)
The same hardware group is also going to be tasked with supporting the
Tandem software if they bail from the Itanic. Last time I knew about
that group they were in the same building and working together.
I think the more interesting design to figure out will be that one. I
think they still support the same sort of execution model with Itanium
as they did with the original hardware.
jim
On 8/9/2012 2:45 PM, Eric Smith wrote:
David Griffith wrote:
With the Itanium circling the drain, it seems
like it would be a Good
Idea to port VMS to a different processor -- like maybe AMD64. Does
anyone know anything about this beyond what the FreeVMS people are
doing?
I'd be completely astounded if HP hasn't had an x86_64 port of VMS
running for at least five years now. However, it would OF NECESSITY
be an incredibly well-kept secret, and we would never hear of it until
HP is ready to publicly admit that the Itanic is sinking. I'm not
expecting that for at least another few years.
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days inactive
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