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CANOPY PROVIDES OPEN SOURCE CODE FOR FORMER WILLOWS TECHNOLOGY

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Ralph Yarro

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Jun 17, 1997, 3:00:00 AM6/17/97
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CANOPY PROVIDES OPEN SOURCE CODE FOR FORMER WILLOWS CROSSBPLATFORM TECHNOLOGY: WINDOWS API/ABI

Usage Requires No License Fee

OREM, UTCJUNE 17, 1997CThe Canopy Group Inc. today announced the immediate Internet availability of a crossBplatform,
Windows compatible Application Programming Interface (API) and provisional Application Binary Interface (ABI).This
technology was formerly known as the ATWIN API@ under the company name of AWillows Software@ (a division of the Canopy
Group) and requires no license fee. The source code and provisional binary license allows for the rapid continuation of
the technology with increased support for small and large ISVs.
The TWIN API is a crossBplatform Windows Application Programming Interface
(API) and provisionally, an Application Binary Interface (ABI). The API allows developers and companies to port and provide
Windows applications and utilities for operating system platforms other than Windows. The ABI allows Windows applications
to run unmodified on many diverse platforms including but not limited to: Novell NetWare, Apple Macintosh and Caldera
OpenLinux.
The TWIN API also provides Windows API compatibility, supplying interfaces for
16 and 32 bit Windows APIs. Other popular Windows interfaces such as WinSock, Shell, Registry, Common Dialogs and Common
Controls are also provided.
"APIs should belong to the community at largeCno one entity should control
them," said Ralph Yarro, general manager of The Canopy Group, Inc. "We want users to have the freedom to choose the
platforms that best serve them and not be limited by the lack of applications that run on them. That=s why we support not
only this action, but other developments like the Wine Project and Java as well. We greatly appreciate the investment of
time and money that developers have made to the Windows API. It is our intention to give them a free and efficient
alternative for moving their products to other platforms without further investment."
CmoreC
Canopy Provides Source Code for Windows API/API Page 2
Rob Farnum, the inventor of the Willows technology, is under contract with
The Canopy Group to oversee the Internet development of the technology and resulting product direction and evangelization.
"After watching the development of Linux over the last couple of years, I have become convinced that the Internet
development community will keep the Willows technology moving forward with the best solutions possible,@ said Mr. Farnum.
AThis bold move by The Canopy Group will allow the technology to benefit from the worldwide contributions of the best that
the development community has to offer.@
The Canopy Group=s original intent for the Willows technology was to support
their Caldera, Inc. Linux offering. However, this opportunity will now benefit the entire Internet community.
"This action by the Canopy Group is a good one for us and the industry." said Bryan Sparks, president and CEO of Caldera,
Inc. "The TWIN API/ABI broadens the scope of solutions that Caldera can provide on our OpenLinux platforms. It also
provides resellers with an alternative for providing their custom solutions on other platforms. It gives them and
their customers increased freedom-of-choice and better overall solutions."
"We have watched the Wine group=s Internet success closely, and believe that the
Willows code will help them be even more successful," continued Ralph Yarro of The Canopy Group. AThe Wine project is a
free Windows emulator currently being developed by volunteers on the Internet. The publication of the Willows source code
means that both Willows and Wine will be able to benefit from each other's work, and build an even better emulator by
combining the strengths of both products.@
Alexandre Julliard, leader of the Wine project concurs. "This is very exciting for usC being able to share code and ideas
with Willows. It will be a huge help to fulfill our dream of a free Windows environment. It is a great day for the free
software world!"
The Source code is available for download via FTP at: ftp.willows.com. Two email groups have been created for
developers and users at: twi...@willows.com and twin...@willows.com. For all other information you may contact Ralph
Yarro at (801) 229-2223 or visit the Willows web site at: www.willows.com.
CmoreC
Canopy Provides Source Code for Windows API/API Page 3
The Canopy Group is a division of NFT Ventures, Inc. based in Orem Utah. Its mission is to grow the industry by supporting
and developing emerging companies and technologies that foster choice, offer strategic alternatives,
and demonstrate industry leadership and vision. For more information visit www.canopy.com.

All products, services, companies and publications are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

CendC

Mailing lists: twi...@willows.com and twin...@willows.com
FTP: ftp.willows.com
URL: www.willows.com

Press Contact:
Ralph Yarro
ra...@nft.com
Tel: (801) 229-2223
Fax: (801) 229-2458

Technical Contact:
Rob Farnum
ro...@willows.com
Tel: (408)867-5009
Fax: (408)366-0344


Rick Richardson

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Jun 18, 1997, 3:00:00 AM6/18/97
to Ralph Yarro

Ralph Yarro wrote:
>
> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
>
> CANOPY PROVIDES OPEN SOURCE CODE FOR FORMER WILLOWS CROSSBPLATFORM TECHNOLOGY: WINDOWS API/ABI

I tried this package out. There were a few hassles during the make,
but I got it compiled. sol.exe ran. I followed the instructions in
the FAQ for setting it up to run winword. The splash screen appeared,
and then xwin segfaulted.

I ran write.exe under xwin. It displayed proportional fonts,
but appeared to be using fixed width spacing for the cursor.
So I'd type a letter at the cursor. It would appear there and
then would move left to its proper place as soon as I typed the
next character. The more I typed, the farther to the right the
cursor skewed. I did try printing and was pleasantly surprised
that the printing was far more advanced than the printing in Wine.

So what is the direction here? Are WINE and TWIN going to be
merged? What is the strategy behind the gracious donation of
TWIN to the free software effort?

-Rick

Kim G. Frei

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Jun 19, 1997, 3:00:00 AM6/19/97
to

Rick Richardson wrote:
>
> Ralph Yarro wrote:
> >
> > FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
> >
> > CANOPY PROVIDES OPEN SOURCE CODE FOR FORMER WILLOWS CROSSBPLATFORM TECHNOLOGY: WINDOWS API/ABI
>
> I tried this package out. There were a few hassles during the make,
> but I got it compiled. sol.exe ran. I followed the instructions in
> the FAQ for setting it up to run winword. The splash screen appeared,
> and then xwin segfaulted.

Anybody got the original announcement or a pointer to a web page?
Please reply also by e-mail.

-kim
--
----------------------------------------------------------------
Kim Frei Tel: +45 45 99 95 99 AVS A/S
ki...@avs.uniras.dk Fax: +45 45 99 95 00 Blokken 15
DK-3460 Birkerod
Opinions are mine(TM) Denmark

Rob Penrose

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Jun 19, 1997, 3:00:00 AM6/19/97
to

Kim G. Frei wrote:
>
> Rick Richardson wrote:
> >
> > Ralph Yarro wrote:
> > >
> > > FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
> > >
> > > CANOPY PROVIDES OPEN SOURCE CODE FOR FORMER WILLOWS CROSSBPLATFORM TECHNOLOGY: WINDOWS API/ABI
> >
> > I tried this package out. There were a few hassles during the make,
> > but I got it compiled. sol.exe ran. I followed the instructions in
> > the FAQ for setting it up to run winword. The splash screen appeared,
> > and then xwin segfaulted.
>
> Anybody got the original announcement or a pointer to a web page?
> Please reply also by e-mail.

http://www.willows.com/
<or>
http://www.canopy.com/
--
Rob***
.........
':::' o
::: .::: .::.:::. .::: :::. :::.:::
::: .:::. .::: :::. '::::' :::^:::
.::::::::::. Choice of a GNU Generation!

Sid Boyce

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Jun 19, 1997, 3:00:00 AM6/19/97
to Kim G. Frei

Kim G. Frei wrote:
>
> Rick Richardson wrote:
> >
> > Ralph Yarro wrote:
> > >
> > > FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
> > >
> > > CANOPY PROVIDES OPEN SOURCE CODE FOR FORMER WILLOWS CROSSBPLATFORM TECHNOLOGY: WINDOWS API/ABI
> >
> > I tried this package out. There were a few hassles during the make,
> > but I got it compiled. sol.exe ran. I followed the instructions in
> > the FAQ for setting it up to run winword. The splash screen appeared,
> > and then xwin segfaulted.
>
> Anybody got the original announcement or a pointer to a web page?
> Please reply also by e-mail.
>
try http://www.willows.com
Regards
--
... Sid Boyce...Amdahl(UK)...44-121 422 0375
-----------------------------------
Any opinions expressed above are mine and do not necessarily represent
the opinions or policies of Amdahl Corporation.


Dave Muran-de Assereto

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Jun 19, 1997, 3:00:00 AM6/19/97
to Kim G. Frei

Kim G. Frei wrote:
>
> Rick Richardson wrote:
> >
> > Ralph Yarro wrote:
> > >
> > > FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
> > >
> > > CANOPY PROVIDES OPEN SOURCE CODE FOR FORMER WILLOWS CROSSBPLATFORM TECHNOLOGY: WINDOWS API/ABI
> >
> > I tried this package out. There were a few hassles during the make,
> > but I got it compiled. sol.exe ran. I followed the instructions in
> > the FAQ for setting it up to run winword. The splash screen appeared,
> > and then xwin segfaulted.
>
> Anybody got the original announcement or a pointer to a web page?
> Please reply also by e-mail.
>
> -kim
> --
> ----------------------------------------------------------------
> Kim Frei Tel: +45 45 99 95 99 AVS A/S
> ki...@avs.uniras.dk Fax: +45 45 99 95 00 Blokken 15
> DK-3460 Birkerod
> Opinions are mine(TM) Denmark

Try http://www.willows.com

Kim G. Frei

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Jun 20, 1997, 3:00:00 AM6/20/97
to

Kim G. Frei wrote:
[snip]

> Anybody got the original announcement or a pointer to a web page?
> Please reply also by e-mail.

Thanks to all who responded.

The information can be found on Willows web site:
http://www.willos.com/

Mikko Rauhala

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Jun 20, 1997, 3:00:00 AM6/20/97
to

On Wed, 18 Jun 1997 10:55:48 -0500, Rick Richardson <ri...@dgii.com> wrote:
>So what is the direction here? Are WINE and TWIN going to be
>merged? What is the strategy behind the gracious donation of
>TWIN to the free software effort?

I guess (and note that I said _guess_) that Noorda is a major player in
the background (if that is in fact the case, many thanks to him, and also
of course to anyone who actually is involved in the matter).

Anyway, merging might be a bit difficult licensing-wise, though I would
_really_ hate it if things couldn't be resolved between TWIN's LGPL
licensing and Wine licensing. I don't know how willing the TWIN copyright
holders would be to release their product under a more liberal license,
but at least wine developers should in my view consider dual-licensing
their code so that it could be merged with TWIN. This is, of course, all
IMHO and YMMV.

--
Mikko Rauhala, sivari - m...@iki.fi - http://www.iki.fi/mjr/

us...@yellow.submarine.pla

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Jun 20, 1997, 3:00:00 AM6/20/97
to

In article <slrn5qlio...@laulujoutsen.pc.helsinki.fi>,
Mikko Rauhala wrote:
>Anyway, merging might be a bit difficult licensing-wise, though I would
>_really_ hate it if things couldn't be resolved between TWIN's LGPL
>licensing and Wine licensing. I don't know how willing the TWIN copyright
>holders would be to release their product under a more liberal license,
>but at least wine developers should in my view consider dual-licensing
>their code so that it could be merged with TWIN. This is, of course, all
>IMHO and YMMV.
>
Does anyone have a quick summary of any differences in direction,
capabilities, or matureness between TWIN and Wine. I personally
like the licensing on Wine, but for many situations LGPL libraries
meet my own personal needs.

I am curious about the implications of an LGPL'd library which
implements someone eles API, but this is probably not the place to
discuss that.

Isaac

Jeffrey B. Siegal

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Jun 25, 1997, 3:00:00 AM6/25/97
to

In article <slrn5qlio...@laulujoutsen.pc.helsinki.fi>,

m...@iki.fi wrote:
> I guess (and note that I said _guess_) that Noorda is a major player in
> the background (if that is in fact the case, many thanks to him, and also
> of course to anyone who actually is involved in the matter).

Canopy Group is the technology ventures arm of NFT (Noorda Family Trust).
Canopy is behindCaldera (who recentely released source code for an MSDOS
clone) and a few other ventures who seem to share a primary motivation of
annoying Microsoft.

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