Thanks to Kragen Sitaker
for forwarding this.
Doug Miller, CEO of Softway Systems, Inc. writes:
Linux for Windows
We have been *selling* our UNIX on NT product, Interix, using a
fairly traditional software licensing model for the past few years.
While we have been successful, many of the people we are currently
running into now are fans of an Open Source model as used by the
Linux vendors. We have also seen a lot of requests for more Linux
features in Interix. So, to address both these factors, we have
been “secretly” working for a number of months on a Linux-friendly
release of Interix that has most of what you would find on a
popular commercial Linux distribution (e.g. rpm, Gimp, Apache,
sendmail etc. etc.). We have also added the rest of the real UNIX
features that are required to make Interix truly UNIX capable
(dynamic libraries, sym links, single rooted file system, setuid,
real XPG I18N etc.).
We are looking for feedback on releasing this beast to the
world. We are planning to use an Open Source model but have the
usual concerns about how we make money. Can we use a model that
makes the product and source available to non-commercial and
educational users at no cost but have a small fee per copy for
commercial use? Will potential users rebel because this runs on top
of a Microsoft operating system or will the Linux / UNIX crowd see
this as the first truly open, cross platform API for Windows? (We
obviously believe the latter).
Thanks
Doug Miller
CEO
Softway Systems, Inc.
--- Douglas Miller douglas_miller@interix.com Softway Systems, Inc. http://www.interix.com 185 Berry St., Suite 5514, San Francisco, CA 94107 Tel: +1-415-896-0708 x106 Fax: +1-415-896-0709