Mark Klein wrote me privately:

> HP really can't prohibit one from the building an emulator - there is
>  enough public documentation available to do it with or without
>  support from HP. The primary issue is being able to obtain a license
>  (or transfer a legitimate existing license) for MPE such that one
>  could legally run something on the emulator.

Let me say that commencing the construction of the emulator, with or without
HP's help, is something that I *would* give money to. It would be a concrete
step forwards, wholly within our control, and if HP should later deny any
possibility of licensing MPE to run on emulated systems, I would like to see
the lawsuit in 2007 where HP states that it absolutely prohibits the use of
MPE but rather only wants to bury it.

As others have said, there's really not much that needs to be changed on MPE
as it is now, thus it would be possible to get along without access to the
original source code. And as for the POSIX shell, that too could seemingly
rather easily be relinked to a "real" Linux, thus it would never become
obsolete.

Having the source code would only make all of this easier. But it's otherwise
not necessary in a mathematical sense. Having permission is similarly only
nice. HP would have a tough time convincing a reasonable judge to allow it to
"take its toys and go home" and bury MPE rather than let it be used. After
all, HP will have no financial stake in MPE after 2006, thus whatever damages
HP would claimed to be harmed by MPE's "illegal use" are obviously going to
be relatively small.

The advantage of starting an emulator now are the antitheses of those that
have been listed as to not starting it now (users drifting away, etc.). I
personally am of the opinion that the time has come to tell HP, "Goodbye, and
thanks for all the fish."

Wirt Atmar

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