John,

        To answer your "Second" below, Yes the OpenMPE Board had significant input
during the process and we did have a chance to review and comment on the
statement prior to its release.  There are some areas that have been changed
as a result of that review cycle.  While the statement is not "perfect" (a
mythical concept), we do believe it is a significant step forward for the
OpenMPE community.  One of our early next steps is to facilitate discussion
between the potential emulator companies and the Independent Software
Vendors.  Stay tuned for this and other advocacy efforts we are working on.

Thanx,
        Jon Backus

-----Original Message-----
From: OpenMPE Support Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of
John Burke
Sent: Saturday, February 22, 2003 3:40 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [OPENMPE] MPE/iX Licensing and Distribution for an Emulated
Environment (very long)


Apparently most members of the OpenMPE list must have lives since this has
been dangling in the ether for almost 12 hours now with no comments.

Luckily for all of you, I have no life, so I will start the ball rolling
with my $0.02.

First, let me thank Mike Paivinen and all the members of vCSY who have
contributed to this document. I know it has been a difficult process, made
more so I suppose by those of us criticizing your every move or non-move.
All-in-all I think it is a good start on something we can live with (note,
please refer back to this sentence after reading my criticisms below). Mike
calls it a draft and my hope is that he means it in the sense that there is
negotiating room on some of the stickier points.

Second, I assume (hope) the Board of OpenMPE has had a chance to review and
comment on this proposal already, though I'm surprised it was not
accompanied by a statement from the Board.

That said, let's proceed.