OpenVMS Community License

[Bill Gunshannon]

On 7/29/20 10:13 AM, Antonio Carlini via cctalk wrote:
> On 29/07/2020 14:29, Bill Gunshannon via cctalk wrote:
>>
>> This supposed Mentec Hobbyist License has been obsolete and invalid
>> for decades.  It never covered use on real PDP-11 hardware.  It was
>> only valid for one particular emulator which ceased to exist the
>> day Bob Supnik left DEC.  I
> 
> 
> I think that emulator definitely continued beyond the point at which Bob 
> Supnik left. You might be able to argue that it ceased to exist when DEC 
> ceased to exist, but usually the rights and obligations would simply 
> pass on to its successors (which probably means HPE ... which I think is 
> where we started). Any, all that matters is is Mentec's successors 
> interpretation.
> 
> 
> 
>> t has floated around for ages and
>> apparently, still, no one has actually read it, but me!!
> 
> 
> And me :-)
> 
>>
>> There was an attempt to get a PDP-11 Hobbyist Program from Mentec
>> many years later but it died on the vine and while they never
>> actually said why they decided not to do it, many of us had our
>> suspicions. 
> 
> 
> I'm curious. What suspicions?
> 

As pointed out by a note "provided by Stuart Brook of Mentec" that
can be found on the Dbit web site there was work being done by Mentec
in late 1999 on a potential Hobbyist License for the Software they
somewhat controlled.  At that time there were several very outspoken
members of the community who publicly stated that they didn't care,
one way or the other, whether Mentec made a Hobbyist License or not.
They would continue to use Mentec's IP as they wished.

Shortly thereafter all talk of a PDP-11 Hobbyist License from Mentec
came to an end.

bill