old FourGen users: beware of Gillani Inc. - Response From Gillani

[Jesus Antonio Santos Giraldo]

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As the clown said...

This history really make me remember Informix history and the its bougth
by IBM...

You know the saying...

History repeats...?

Chucho!

Ifo Gillani wrote:

> "Zombie Elvis" has made several charges regarding Gillani, Inc. and
> the FourGen® CASE Tools. Many of the charges made by Mr. Elvis are
> incorrect and based on a flawed understanding of the history of
> FourGen and of intellectual property law.
>
> Gillani wants to set the record straight regarding the history,
> ownership and status of the FourGen software. Gillani also introduces
> its new "FourGen Passport" program to welcome old FourGen customers to
> the Gillani community.
>
> History
> The ownership and status of the FourGen CASE Tools and FourGen®
> Accounting (or Business) Software has been the subject of confusion
> and misrepresentations in this newsgroup and in the IIUG knowledge
> base.
> The FourGen CASE Tools remain a popular development environment for
> the Informix databases. From the mid-1980's through 1995, FourGen
> Software Technologies, Inc. ("FOURGEN") marketed these CASE Tools
> directly and through VARs and OEMs (including through Informix as the
> "Informix Forms"). The FourGen Accounting/Business Software boasted
> Modifiability-By-DesignTM because users could customize it with the
> FourGen CASE Tools, and this software was also marketed by FOURGEN
> directly and through VARs.
> At the end of 1995, FOURGEN decided to focus on the enterprise market
> for its financial and distribution management system ("DMS") solutions
> that were developed with and modified using the FourGen CASE Tools. At
> that time, FOURGEN offered its VARs the opportunity to acquire a
> paid-up, royalty-free and non-exclusive license to Version 4.12 of the
> FourGen CASE Tools and to Version 3.83 of the FourGen Business
> Software. Several former VARs acquired these limited licenses. This
> license agreement did not authorize these third parties to market the
> CASE Tools or accounting software under the "FourGen" trade name or
> use the registered "FourGen" trademark. These former VARs assumed
> responsibility for their versions of the software and no longer paid
> FOURGEN for updates, upgrades or support.
> FOURGEN licensed the FourGen CASE Tools and FourGen Business Software
> to these former VARs to ensure that the substantial FOURGEN customer
> base would have multiple sources of support for the software. FOURGEN
> also provided support to those few FourGen CASE Tools users that were
> unable to secure support from one of the former VARs for various
> reasons.
> At no point did FOURGEN or its succeeding companies abandon their
> rights to the FourGen software.
> FOURGEN changed its name to Endura Software Corporation in 1997.
> Endura was merged with a subsidiary of HK Systems, Inc. in 1998. First
> doing business as HK Systems, this subsidiary later changed its name
> to Irista, Inc. in 2000. On January 25, 2001, Gillani acquired all of
> the assets of Irista's Financial and DMS business, including all of
> the FourGen software, intellectual property (trademarks, copyrights,
> etc.), and the assignment of all DMS-related contracts. Gillani, and
> no other company, is the owner of the FOURGEN intellectual property.
> FOURGEN/Endura/HK/Irista/Gillani ("FOURGEN/Gillani") all continued to
> develop, market, license, and support the CASE Tools as part of its
> solution under various product names, including "Developer's Desktop,"
> "Workbench" and now again as the "FourGen CASE Tools." FOURGEN/Gillani
> also continued to develop and expand the FourGen accounting software,
> creating first the EnduraTM Distribution Management System and
> EnduraTM Financial Management System, and now the GillaniTM
> iDistributeTM, GillaniTM Financials, and GillaniTM Human Resources
> solutions. The current status of the Gillani software is listed at the
> end.
>
> Support of Current Users
> Gillani is currently providing support to a large number of customers,
> including to users who have always maintained support and to some
> which have re-started support since Gillani acquired the FourGen
> software. Since 1995, these supported customers have benefited from
> over eight years of continuing enhancements, updates and upgrades
> developed by FOURGEN/Gillani.
>
> Licenses for the FourGen Software
> FOURGEN required all FourGen customers to sign license agreements. All
> FOURGEN VARs, OEMs or those former VARs which acquired the limited
> licenses to resell the FourGen software were/are contractually
> required to obtain written license agreements signed by their FourGen
> software customers. Gillani has filing cabinets filled with these
> license agreements.
> As the owner of the FourGen software, Gillani needs to ensure that the
> FourGen software has been properly licensed to protect its
> intellectual property interests. Gillani has been contacted by a
> handful of users for which no records exist. Further, these users
> cannot provide a license agreement or other good proof of having paid
> for the license to use the FourGen software. FOURGEN had over 150 VARs
> active at one time, and some did not play by the rules. We all know
> that piracy is a rampant problem in the global software market. Some
> of these unlicensed, unauthorized users may have been innocent victims
> of these crimes.
> Without a license agreement, purchase order or invoice, Gillani does
> not know how many servers or how many users were licensed for what
> products, or even if this software was properly licensed at all.
>
> Ownership of the FourGen Software
> At no point did FourGen/Gillani abandon its copyrights, trademarks,
> patents, or trade secrets. FourGen/Gillani never stopped developing,
> maintaining, supporting, or licensing the FourGen software which forms
> the foundation of the Gillani Global Enterprise SolutionsTM. An owner
> of copyrights, trademarks, patents or trade secrets can stop
> supporting or licensing the intellectual property (i.e., software), or
> "put it on the shelf" in other words, and still own all rights and
> title to that intellectual property.
> The few former VARs that acquired a paid-up, royalty-free license to
> the FourGen software never "bought complete rights" to the software.
> These were limited licenses with restrictions and obligations (such as
> the requirement to obtain, written license agreements signed by its
> customers).
>
> Gillani's "FourGen® PassportTM" Program
> Gillani welcomes all FourGen, Endura, HK, and Irista software users
> to the growing Gillani community. Many of your fellow users are
> already active members.
> To welcome these users, Gillani presents the FourGen Passport
> program. For the next six months, users with lapsed support can renew
> support by paying a lapsed support fee of 25% of the current license
> fees plus one year of the annual support fees (18% of current license
> fees) to receive the current version of the software plus one year of
> support and maintenance. All users will be required to execute a new
> license agreement with Gillani.
> The benefits of the FourGen Passport program include:
> • A substantially lower lapsed support fee than that charged by most
> other software vendors;
> • Upgrades to the latest versions and to currently-supported ports;
> • Special provisions granting a basic system configuration for those
> users which may no longer be able to locate their licensing agreements
> (or other documentation) or may have acquired their software under
> questionable circumstances; and
> • Access to professional services for assistance with customization,
> implementation and training.
> For complete details on the FourGen Passport program, please visit
> http://www.fourgen.com/FourGenPassport.htm
>
> Current Status
> Gillani continues to license, develop, support, port, and provide
> training for and create new FourGen CASE Tools as part of the
> GillaniTM Tools. Version 8.1 of the Gillani Tools now includes:
> FourGen® iDeskTopTM
> FourGen® Archive and Purge
> FourGen® CASE Tools
> FourGen® Report Generator
> FourGen® Generic SCCS Utilities
> FourGen® C&I Generator
> FourGen® Featurizer
> FourGen® Screen Painter
> FourGen® rpt_demo
> FourGen® Screen Demonstration Programs
> FourGen® Screen Generator
> FourGen® Product Packaging
> FourGen® Make/Compile Tools
> FourGen® Upper Level Libraries
> FourGen® License Library
> FourGen® Menus
> FourGen® Dbmerge Utilities
> FourGen® Security
> FourGen® Generic bin Utilities
>
> In addition to the FourGen Business Accounting Software and EnduraTM
> Enterprise Software, Gillani also licenses, develops, supports, ports,
> and provides professional services and training for Version 8.1 of the
> Gillani Global Enterprise SolutionsTM, including:
> GillaniTM iDistributeTM
> GillaniTM Order Management
> GillaniTM eSCM
> GillaniTM Inventory Management
> GillaniTM Replenishment Management
> GillaniTM Purchasing Management
> GillaniTM RF
> GillaniTM Marketing Campaign
> GillaniTM Transportation
> GillaniTM EDI
> GillaniTM Financials
> GillaniTM Accounts Receivable
> GillaniTM Accounts Payable
> GillaniTM Fixed Assets
> GillaniTM General Ledger
> GillaniTM Credit Manager
> GillaniTM Budget Manager
> GillaniTM Financial Report Writer
> GillaniTM Multicurrency
> GillaniTM Human Resources
> GillaniTM Payroll
> GillaniTM Hiring
> GillaniTM Administration
>
> Note:
> FourGen, Gillani, Endura, iDeskTop, "Modifiability-By-Design", Gillani
> Global Enterprise Solutions, and FourGen Passport are registered
> trademarks or trademarks of Gillani, Inc. in the United State and
> other countries.
>

--

Atte,

Jesus Antonio Santos Giraldo
-----------------------------------
jean...@myrealbox.com
jean...@netscape.net

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