Fwd: Re:SpecOpS Labs

[Ivan Leo Murray-Smith]

I asked project davied if they know what use of LGPL code involves, and if
the're using wine code, I got the following answer. The impression I have is
that they are using major parts of wine. They claim they will fully comply with
the LGPL. Here is the full email they sent me.

> Good Evening Mr. Smith
> 
> 
> Thanks for your email; We appreciate your taking the time to delve into
> Project David. We feel certain that the closer that you look at the project
> the more comfortable you will be with it.
> 
> Our overall purpose of the project is to encourage consumers to use Linux.
> Our David Linux/Win Bridge software is simply a product to facilitate the
> transition to Linux.  Our Linux/Win Bridge software is one of multiple
> components, which comprise our OS platform.  In the future we will release
> another component, which is a set of tools that will encourage developers to
> write native Linux applications.
> 
> The David software is a joint development effort between De La Salle
> University and SpecOpS Labs.  Our Chief Technical Officer is Mr. Peter
> Valdez. As you may know Mr. Valdez is the founder of Tivoli Systems, which
> is now a multi billion-dollar flagship product of IBM.
> 
> The code for our Windows/Linux Bridge is a hybrid of code, including our own
> proprietary code, and code from several open source projects.  For now we
> are keeping the exact nature of our code under wraps until our first release
> of David. We are not using pirated or stolen code from Microsoft or any
> other source. As stated we are not disclosing the nature of our code or our
> exact methodology for running Windows Apps on Linux, this is for competitive
> and other reasons. However, a good deal of our success is attributed to our
> innovative methodology in assembling together open source code, proprietary
> code that we have written/purchased, and freeware. In the future, once we
> disclose how we have done this, then I’m sure a number of developers will be
> kicking themselves in the rear end for not having thought of this
> themselves.
> 
> We do encourage the open source movement and we will comply with the GNU
> LESSER GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE.
> 
> Our website is currently under construction, the data (*especially the
> technical data) on the website for the most part is not current and in some
> cases is up to 20+ months old.  We are now in the process of doing a major
> overhaul of the site, which we expect to be completed in a few weeks.  *The
> technical data on our web site concerning David, is outdated and in some
> cases a competitive smoke screen. We appreciate your comments on the WINE
> Project and we have no intention of misrepresenting the WINE.  Therefore, we
> are now consulting our English-technical writers and the Filipino -
> designers/developers of David to ensure that there are no mistakes in the
> translation.  Until we can update the website we have disabled the links to
> both our technical and competitive data.  Hopefully, the development
> community won’t get wrapped around the axle about David, and will withhold
> judgment until David is released.
> 
> So far as our product goes we just completed our prototype, which has been
> in the making for quite some time.  Our first release will be issued before
> the end of 2004; we expect to start Beta Testing in about 4-5 months.  On 22
> April we held a press conference at De La Salle University. During the press
> conference we demonstrated our prototype to more than 30 members of the
> local and international media.  During the demo we ran Macromedia Flash, and
> MS Office on our Windows/Linux Bridge without a hitch.  What you read in the
> media was primarily the result of the press conference/demo.  David is not a
> hoax or vaporware, but we're not going to make any further claims about
> David at this point, We prefer to let our software do our talking for us.
> 
> 
> FYI: We are now a publicly traded company, our ticker symbol is SPLMF, you
> can view it on any major financial website such as Merrill Lynch:
> http://askmerrill.ml.com/markets_chart/1,2260,,00.html?q=SPLMF
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Customer Service
> SpecOpS Labs
> Summit One Office Tower
> Unit 23-H, 530 Shaw Blvd
> Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila, Philippines
> 
> Office 63 2 532-7854
> Fax    63 2 532-5875
>