Updates to the Community Program

[imiller]

https://vmssoftware.com/about/news/2024 ... se-update/
Big news about the hobbyist license program

[pocketprobe]

From issue:
SPS-1521

Tracking is used to see if mail is "read"...., After 6 "unread" mails one is dropped from the list.
Also i do hardly read any HTML makeup in mail, the ASCII version has a lot less chance to auto-invoke al kinds of rubbish..

I do suppress tracking ==> .... appearantly this was mail 7, 8 ....

Can someone explain exactly what this means? It almost sounds as if you are saying that if VSI has sent you bulk mail in the past and not consistently gotten read receipts for it that they will block you for all mail, including notifications about your CL application?

I wonder if this is why I haven't heard back about the ambassador program. Or been given a link to the VMDK.

[jonesd]

The web form they use is flawed in that the response doesn't echo back the email address you entered, leaving you to wonder if you are being ghosted or simply had a typo on the address. A confirmation email would also be nice.

[sms]

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>  I wonder if this is why I haven't heard back about the ambassador
> program. Or been given a link to the VMDK.

   I doubt it.  I re-applied for the Community License Program, and got
the "Your Community License Package" e-mail about 20 hours later. 
Whether that was a response to the new application or the previous
participation, I don't know.

   I also applied for the Ambassador Program on 1 April, and have heard
nothing about it.


> That would mean : everyone using OpenVMS mail is dropped (sic..)

   I still struggle along trying to use VMS MAIL, and that doesn't seem
to have prevented my receiving anything, only made reading it less
convenient.

   I do occasionally copy an especially opaque VMS MAIL message to a
MAIL file to which I point a Mac Mail IMAP account, so I can't
absolutely guarantee that a message to me from VSI hasn't been touched
by a modern e-mail client, but it'd happen infrequently, if ever.  (Mac
Mail has serious problems with the TCPIP IMAP server, too, so this is
far from being a satisfactory scheme.  Especially now that Google mail
servers require authentication which TCPIP lacks.)

[joukj]

I also applied for the ambassador program end of march. Nothing on it replied. I know however they did receive it: I use a new E-mail adress and got promptly "spammed" from VSI with their webinar and their new "products". A proper confirmation would be appreciated instead.

[rsx11m]

great to see VSI shooting themselves in the foot in much the same way IBM are, in a decade or so (assuming they are still around) they will be doing the exact same song and dance, wondering where all the passion and new VMS admins/developers went, having long since killed all the legal means to actually experiment with their product in a meaningful, unrestricted way

props to the silicon valley-brain bean counters who made this decision! also appreciate the very petulant tone in the original announcement; are we obligated to write code and documentation for you? doesn't that seem a bit entitled? you do pay people to do this after all, do you not?

i am truly sorry that nobody at VSI is smart enough to come up with an improved pipeline for hobbyist applications, but i hardly think that's the community's fault

[sms]

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> [...] doesn't that seem a bit entitled? [...]

   This question comes from someone who expects to get something
valuable from a for-profit corporation at no cost whatsoever?

   I'm not satisfied by the revised "Community" program, but I don't
presume to have all the data on the costs and benefits (or lack thereof)
of such programs to VSI.

   Also, regarding goal-directed behavior in general, I wouldn't expect
direct insults to be an especially effective tool when trying to get
some benefit from the people who can provide it.  Call me old-fashioned.

[arne_v]

I'm not satisfied by the revised "Community" program, but I don't
presume to have all the data on the costs and benefits (or lack thereof)
of such programs to VSI.

Also, regarding goal-directed behavior in general, I wouldn't expect
direct insults to be an especially effective tool when trying to get
some benefit from the people who can provide it. Call me old-fashioned.

I agree. This is about the business case.

VSI is a business and operate to make a profit not to make hobbyists happy.

But I do think the CLP has provided significant value for VSI:
* lots of open source ported from VMS Alpha and VMS Itanium to VMS x86-64 - software is important for a platform - VSI can and should maintain ports of some of the most important open source, but VSI does not have resources to do everything
* lots of testing of VMS and especially compilers - in reality a bunch of volunteer testers doing work that either paid VSI employees or paying commercial customers otherwise would have had to do
* exposure of VMS to people that used VMS years ago and want to refresh and to first time VMS'ers

My assumption is that the new CLP will work OK for the third group but not for first and the second group.

That is 2/3 of the benefits down the drain.

[jhavard]

Personally, I just wish there was a simple way to click and buy a commercial license without talking to anyone. I mean, there would probably be some sobbing when the credit card bill is due, but it's 2024 and we should be able to buy enterprise software at 3am.

[abrsvc]

I applied for ambassador status and received an Email about acceptance in about a week. Please note that the Email also indicates that it will be a while before kit access happens due to the volume of requests. This seems more than reasonable to me as the main focus of VSI is and should be customers.

Kudos to the team for trying to make this work.

Dan

[daemonspudguy]

I wish it was more clear what they wanted in the Ambassador Program's application prompt. Then again, I also wish that they didn't decide to do this garbage in the first place but clearly that's just wishful thinking. I haven't even gotten my email with the VMDK either.