Hi all,,, I found this at www.pmail.com I thought you all might like to comment on it. _________________________________________________________________ Pegasus Mail and Linux As discontent with Microsoft's "business practices" grows, we have seen unprecedented interest in alternative solutions for operating systems and applications. As a natural consequence of this, I have received numerous, or maybe even innumerable requests for a Linux version of Pegasus Mail. Although I would love to produce such a version, there are some practical difficulties associated with the project. Firstly, it's important to understand that I cannot port the Windows version of Pegasus Mail to Linux - in computer terms, a "port" is a process of taking an existing program to another platform, making minimal changes, then recompiling it; this is not possible in this case, because the differences between the two operating systems are too great. I would have to rewrite the bulk of the program in order to produce a Linux version, and that's too great a job for the resources available to me. When I explain this to people, the immediate reaction I usually get is "go open source"... If you are unfamiliar with this term, it means taking the original human-readable program as I wrote it and making it publicly available, inviting other people to work on it. Now, while I'm quite enthusiastic about the idea of a Linux version of Pegasus Mail, I'm much less enthusiastic about the idea of open source. To me it is an unproven concept, with the obvious potential to produce low-quality applications - this is not to demean existing open source initiatives, many of which are quite good; it's merely an observation about team programming in general, especially when the team members are widely-spread, and constantly changing. At this point, I am not willing to consider making Pegasus Mail an open source project, but I am willing to keep an open mind about the idea. At present (February 2000), we see two possible ways of producing a version of Pegasus Mail for Linux: 1: Via a porting layer A porting layer is a piece of software that takes Windows function calls and translates them into equivalent Linux calls: this allows a Windows application to remain largely unchanged at the source code level, which speeds the development process. There are some porting layers available for Linux - most notably one called WINE - but they are still rather incomplete. I am watching developments in this area with considerable interest - I believe that in the long run, using a good porting layer when one is available will give me the greatest likelihood of realizing a Linux version of Pegasus Mail. 2: Via a private licensing arrangement While I am not willing to make Pegasus Mail an open source project, I would be willing to license the source code at no cost to a suitably-constituted development team who would be willing to take on the redevelopment process. This would have to be done under well-defined non-disclosure terms, by a competent, sincere and dedicated team, and I would have to retain ownership of the source code and the Linux version derived from it. I do not know if an initiative like this is possible, but welcome approaches from anyone interested in discussing it with me. David Harris Owner/Author, Pegasus Mail and Mercury Systems, February 18th 2000. _________________________________________________________________ -- Jim Hatridge Proud Linux User #88484 Owner -- beowulf-newbie list I didn't vote for his daddy either! Libertarian Party www.lp.org ------------------------------------------------------- BayerWulf Jim's Beowulf Project Looking for giveaway computers and parts Email Jim for details on how you can help build a poor man's super computer.