HPE OpenVMS Hobbyist license program is closing

[Jason Howe]

One of the machines I have still has it's permanent license (along with 
the pretty paper license) for the OS.  It's all the auxiliary packages 
you need to do anything useful that are going to be the headache.

--Jason

On 3/7/20 9:27 AM, Zane Healy via cctalk wrote:
>
>> On Mar 7, 2020, at 9:07 AM, John H. Reinhardt <johnhreinhardt at thereinhardts.org> wrote:
>>
>> On 3/7/2020 8:10 AM, Zane Healy wrote:
>>> On Mar 7, 2020, at 5:00 AM, Michael Kerpan via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org <mailto:cctalk at classiccmp.org>> wrote:
>>>> Well that's sad news. Since VMS Software may or may not ever launch a
>>>> proper hobbyist program and has stated that they don't have the ability to
>>>> issue licenses for VAX versions of VMS, that means we have until 2021 to
>>>> legally use VMS on the vintage hardware or emulations. After that, I guess
>>>> we will have to either sail the seven seas or learn to love 4.3BSD...
>>>>
>>>> Mike
>>> If VSI doesn’t have the ability to issue VAX versions of the VMS license, will it be possible to buy VAX licenses?  I’m curious as about five years ago, I had to help buy VAX/VMS licenses for a project.
>>> Zane
>> On the HECnet list, David Moylan had sent an inqujiry to the OpenVMS Customer Lab and got this as a response
>>
>> "  Users who wish to avail of HPE OpenVMS long term licenses are encouraged to
>>
>>   purchase permanent licenses at standard prices. You may contact [Fellman, Jon]
>>
>>   <jon.fellman at hpe.com> for the same."
>>
>>
>> So this HP person, Jon Fellman looks like the person to ask about buying an OpenVMS VAX license.  I've sent him an email but I don't expect a response until Monday at least.  The "standard prices" part doesn't' look encouraging.
>>
>> -- 
>> John H. Reinhardt
>   
> The thing is, most people don’t know they need a real VAX/VMS license, until they find themselves doing something that will require it at some point in the future.  It’s not a normal need, but it is one I’ve seen.  I sure can’t justify buying any right now.
>
> Zane
>
>