I've been checking the VSI Service Platform to see if the x86 Community PAK got renewed over the weekend just in case they decided to put out something to keep my x86 systems from expiring Monday (or will things stop working at midnight? I've ever been around when a PAK expired). All weekend there was no change - until tonight. It's 10:20 CDT and not even midnight Eastern time but my package listing is blank. It looks like all access to x86 packages there has been revoked. At least to me.

Both letters I got from VSI mentioned continuing x86 Community Licensing and I thought I saw someplace that said if you already had an x86 CLP then they would automatically send an email with the new credentials/setup but re-reading both I don't see that so I'm not sure if I imagined it or it was someplace else or that my reading comprehension failed.

It will be interesting to see what April Fool's Day brings.

--
John H. Reinhardt

On Sun, 2024-03-31 at 22:33 -0500, John H. Reinhardt wrote:
>
> I've been checking the VSI Service Platform to see if the x86
> Community PAK got renewed over the weekend just in case they decided
> to put out something to keep my x86 systems from expiring Monday (or
> will things stop working at midnight? I've ever been around when a
> PAK expired). All weekend there was no change - until tonight.  It's
> 10:20 CDT and not even midnight Eastern time but my package listing
> is blank.  It looks like all access to x86 packages there has been
> revoked.  At least to me.
>
> Both letters I got from VSI mentioned continuing x86 Community
> Licensing and I thought I saw someplace that said if you already had
> an x86 CLP then they would automatically send an email with the new
> credentials/setup but re-reading both I don't see that so I'm not
> sure if I imagined it or it was someplace else or that my reading
> comprehension failed.
>
> It will be interesting to see what April Fool's Day brings.

Same here. Waiting to see what happens next.
--
Tactical Nuclear Kittens

On 4/1/2024 4:29 AM, Single Stage to Orbit wrote:
> On Sun, 2024-03-31 at 22:33 -0500, John H. Reinhardt wrote:
>>
>> I've been checking the VSI Service Platform to see if the x86
>> Community PAK got renewed over the weekend just in case they decided
>> to put out something to keep my x86 systems from expiring Monday (or
>> will things stop working at midnight? I've ever been around when a
>> PAK expired). All weekend there was no change - until tonight.  It's
>> 10:20 CDT and not even midnight Eastern time but my package listing
>> is blank.  It looks like all access to x86 packages there has been
>> revoked.  At least to me.
>>
>> Both letters I got from VSI mentioned continuing x86 Community
>> Licensing and I thought I saw someplace that said if you already had
>> an x86 CLP then they would automatically send an email with the new
>> credentials/setup but re-reading both I don't see that so I'm not
>> sure if I imagined it or it was someplace else or that my reading
>> comprehension failed.
>>
>> It will be interesting to see what April Fool's Day brings.
>
> Same here. Waiting to see what happens next.

PAK wise I guess we still have today (1-APR-2024) and things will stop when the date rolls over to 2-APR-2024. I couldn't remember if the termination date took effect ON the date or if that was the last day.

--
John H. Reinhardt

On 3/31/24 10:33 PM, John H. Reinhardt wrote:

> Both letters I got from VSI mentioned continuing x86 Community Licensing
> and I thought I saw someplace that said if you already had an x86 CLP
> then they would automatically send an email with the new
> credentials/setup but re-reading both I don't see that so I'm not sure
> if I imagined it or it was someplace else or that my reading
> comprehension failed.

What they said was they will send anyone who has previously applied for
an x86 license is a link to the new vmdk that already has software and
licenses on it. My understanding is that the service portal is going
away for CL users and what you get on the vmdk is what you'll have until
the next one comes out the following year.

Regarding Alpha and Integrity, the announcement on the web page says,
"Effective immediately, we will discontinue offering new community
licenses for non-commercial use for Alpha and Integrity. Existing
holders of community licenses for these architectures will get updates
for those licenses and retain their access to the Service Portal until
March 2025 for Alpha and December 2025 for Integrity."[1] Which is odd
since my community membership never got me access to anything related to
Alpha and Integrity on the portal.

[1] https://vmssoftware.com/about/news/2024-03-25-community-license-update/

On Mon, 2024-04-01 at 06:58 -0500, Craig A. Berry wrote:
> Existing holders of community licenses for these architectures will
> get updates for those licenses and retain their access to the Service
> Portal until March 2025 for Alpha and December 2025 for
> Integrity."[1]  Which is odd since my community membership never got
> me access to anything related to Alpha and Integrity on the portal.

I have access to the x86 portal but there is nothing there, no updates
or packages.
--
Tactical Nuclear Kittens

On 3/31/2024 11:33 PM, John H. Reinhardt wrote:
>
>
> It will be interesting to see what April Fool's Day brings.
>

Maybe the April Fools were the ones who banked on life under
VMS continuing as it had in the past? :-(

bill

On 4/1/2024 5:49 AM, John H. Reinhardt wrote:
> On 4/1/2024 4:29 AM, Single Stage to Orbit wrote:
>> On Sun, 2024-03-31 at 22:33 -0500, John H. Reinhardt wrote:
>>>
>>> I've been checking the VSI Service Platform to see if the x86
>>> Community PAK got renewed over the weekend just in case they decided
>>> to put out something to keep my x86 systems from expiring Monday (or
>>> will things stop working at midnight? I've ever been around when a
>>> PAK expired). All weekend there was no change - until tonight. It's
>>> 10:20 CDT and not even midnight Eastern time but my package listing
>>> is blank. It looks like all access to x86 packages there has been
>>> revoked. At least to me.
>>>
>>> Both letters I got from VSI mentioned continuing x86 Community
>>> Licensing and I thought I saw someplace that said if you already had
>>> an x86 CLP then they would automatically send an email with the new
>>> credentials/setup but re-reading both I don't see that so I'm not
>>> sure if I imagined it or it was someplace else or that my reading
>>> comprehension failed.
>>>
>>> It will be interesting to see what April Fool's Day brings.
>>
>> Same here. Waiting to see what happens next.
>
> PAK wise I guess we still have today (1-APR-2024) and things will stop when the
> date rolls over to 2-APR-2024. I couldn't remember if the termination date took
> effect ON the date or if that was the last day.
>

One of our customers had a problem. Their PAKs expired in December, but the
system wasn't re-booted until a recent power outage. It appears that perhaps
the licenses continued to work, but, would not re-load upon re-boot.

Now, never re-booting isn't a solution. But perhaps the expired PAKs will work
until a re-boot, and failure to load, occurs. Then again there have been claims
of long uptimes on VMS.

--
David Froble Tel: 724-529-0450
Dave Froble Enterprises, Inc. E-Mail: davef@tsoft-inc.com
DFE Ultralights, Inc.
170 Grimplin Road
Vanderbilt, PA 15486

On 4/1/2024 6:58 AM, Craig A. Berry wrote:
>
> On 3/31/24 10:33 PM, John H. Reinhardt wrote:
>
>> Both letters I got from VSI mentioned continuing x86 Community Licensing and I thought I saw someplace that said if you already had an x86 CLP then they would automatically send an email with the new credentials/setup but re-reading both I don't see that so I'm not sure if I imagined it or it was someplace else or that my reading comprehension failed.
>
> What they said was they will send anyone who has previously applied for
> an x86 license is a link to the new vmdk that already has software and
> licenses on it. My understanding is that the service portal is going
> away for CL users and what you get on the vmdk is what you'll have until
> the next one comes out the following year.
>
> Regarding Alpha and Integrity, the announcement on the web page says,
> "Effective immediately, we will discontinue offering new community
> licenses for non-commercial use for Alpha and Integrity. Existing
> holders of community licenses for these architectures will get updates
> for those licenses and retain their access to the Service Portal until
> March 2025 for Alpha and December 2025 for Integrity."[1]  Which is odd
> since my community membership never got me access to anything related to
> Alpha and Integrity on the portal.
>
> [1] https://vmssoftware.com/about/news/2024-03-25-community-license-update/

Yes, that's where it was, on the web site. Thanks Craig!

At 8:34am CDT I received the email with the information and the download link for the vmdk. It's a zip file with a 5GB virtual disk. I'm in the process of uploading it to my ESXi host and creating a system with it. Also in the email is a link to a page describing how to set up a VM using VirtualBox. I'm just cloning one of the two VMS VM's I already have.

--
John H. Reinhardt