naresh@ukecc.UUCP (10/28/87)
We just received a microvax II with microvms. I think the major difference between VMS and MicroVMS is the manuals. We have received a really tiny subset of the manuals. In fact the help facility mentions referring to the manuals we don't have. On talking to DEC, I was told to cough up about 1700 dollars just for manuals. On top of that, the delivery time is about 2-4 weeks. I was interested in getting older version of used manuals. If any one is having a set of manuals, they want to get rid off, we shall be glad to pay for shipping and handeling. I do not know about DEC's copyright about buying such used manuals. We do have anew set of microvms manuals and licence and I do not see any reason why DEC should have any problem in our getting non-latest manuals. Thanks.
leichter@venus.ycc.yale.EDU ("Jerry Leichter") (11/01/87)
We just received a microvax II with microvms. I think the major difference between VMS and MicroVMS is the manuals. We have received a really tiny subset of the manuals. In fact the help facility mentions referring to the manuals we don't have. The actual HELP files are different. (In most cases, stuff from the VMS HELP files is omitted from the MicroVMS HELP files, but there are some paradoxical situations in which the MicroVMS HELP is actually more complete!) Also, the MicroVMS distribution doesn't contain things like drivers for devices that aren't supported on MicroVAXes; and there are some differences in how stuff is organized and sold: E.g., CI cluster support is bundled with VMS, but Local Area VAXCluster support is separate. And MicroVMS enforces restrictions on the number of logged-in users, depending on which license you bought. Other than that - and "other than that" includes just about everything you do on VMS as a user, and most of what you do as a system manager - the software is exactly the same. On talking to DEC, I was told to cough up about 1700 dollars just for manuals. On top of that, the delivery time is about 2-4 weeks. You can purchase individual manuals, and different subsets - there's a "pro- grammer's subset", for example. Buying EVERYTHING is indeed expensive and probably unnecessary. I was interested in getting older version of used manuals. If any one is having a set of manuals, they want to get rid off, we shall be glad to pay for shipping and handeling. I do not know about DEC's copyright about buying such used manuals. We do have anew set of microvms manuals and licence and I do not see any reason why DEC should have any problem in our getting non-latest manuals. Just to clear this up before rumors start to fly: Copyrights protect the right to MAKE COPIES; if you buy a piece of copyrighted material, you are free to re-sell THAT COPY. Additional restrictions can, of course, be written into contracts or licenses, but I'm not aware of any such restrictions on the VMS documentation. In general, such restrictions are only used as part of contracts that try to keep some information proprietary - for example, you might buy the right to the use the internals of some product, but be restric- ted from passing the information on. Information restricted in this way is normally clearly marked - if it isn't marked or otherwise made obvious (by always keeping the stuff in a safe, for example) it's unlikely that the courts would uphold the restrictions. Actually, there are even deals available - at least to educational institu- tions - that, IN RETURN FOR A PER-COPY ROYALTY, allow the institution to make as many copies of the VMS documentation as it likes for its own people. -- Jerry ------