[Am-info] Philippine Company Creates Software To Run Windows Programs On Linux Computers

[Fred Miller]

Philippine Company Creates Software To Run Windows Programs On Linux
Computers


By Oliver Teves, AP
Manila, Philippines
10:16 AM EST Thurs., Apr. 22, 2004
A Philippine-based company unveiled software Thursday that would allow
Windows-based programs to run on computers using the rival Linux
operating system.

Peter Valdes, chief technology officer of SpecOps Labs, said his
company's software will help millions of users to 'migrate' from
Windows machines to the free and open source Linux platform, which he
claims is more reliable.

"After you install the bridge software ... it is as if you have a
Windows OS (operating system) on your desktop," he said.

Valdes noted that one big obstacle to propagating the use of Linux is
the massive expense required to retrain Windows applications users.

Previous attempts to run Windows word processors, spreadsheets and
other applications smoothly on Linux machines have been largely
unsuccessful and cumbersome, he said.

Asked to comment on the SpecOps' new software, Microsoft Philippines'
spokeswoman Mae Rivera told Dow Jones Newswires: "We know very little
about it. We can only give our comment when we know more about that
software."

Frederick Lewis, SpecOps' American chief executive officer, said the
software will be available commercially by the end of the year.

Lewis, a former member of the U.S. military's elite Delta Force, said
the price of the software, codenamed "David," has not yet been set,
but promised it would be "dramatically lower" than Windows.

"David will level the OS [operating system] industries battlefield. It
will free consumers from the bonds of MS Windows, and give them the
freedom to use the OS of their choice," SpecOps said in a statement.

Caslon Chua, the company's chief software architect who headed a group
that created the 80-megabyte program, said they had successfully
tested David with several Windows applications.

Michael Arco, assistant manager for NEC Telecomms Software Phils., who
has used Linux extensively for 10 years, said the "software is
promising" but it should undergo more rigorous tests.

"We should know how it was tested and by how many people," he said.
"Testing is the key."

Roberto Verzola, a personal computer pioneer in the Philippines and
author of a book that argues for free software such as Linux, said the
SpecOps' effort is "a small step away from Microsoft products ... but
if it is another commercial project, then you are just moving from one
commercial institution to another."

SpecOps, founded in July 2002 with an initial capital of US$200,000
merged in March with a Canadian construction company that has shifted
to computers.

SpecOps said it plans to sell more than 30,000 copies of David and
generate about US$1 million in gross revenues a year after its
commercial release. It projected a minimum revenue rate of US$90
million annually by the end of its first three years.

Since the first Linux was created in 1991 by Linus Torvalds of
Finland, its code has been made available for free, provided
improvements also are shared freely.

Microsoft and other proprietary software vendors keep their source
code protected by patents.

Copyright © 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The
information contained in the AP News report may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written
authority of The Associated Press.

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