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The Almighty Buck Operating Systems Software Windows

SpecOps Labs offers $10,000 to Emulator Developers 270

Posted by CmdrTaco from the keep-em-emulated dept.
mparaz writes "SpecOps Labs, the makers of the "David" Windows emulator previously accused of ripping off WINE, are offering $10,000 to a team who can build a Windows XP emulator in 15 days. " This whole thing reads really strangely to me.
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SpecOps Labs offers $10,000 to Emulator Developers More

SpecOps Labs offers $10,000 to Emulator Developers

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  • 15 days (Score:3, Funny)

    by Spodlink05 ( 850651 ) on Wednesday September 21, 2005 @10:47AM (#13614171)
    Judging by the quality of XP, it was written in 15 days too.

  • I wonder... (Score:5, Funny)

    by ackthpt ( 218170 ) * on Wednesday September 21, 2005 @10:48AM (#13614176) Homepage Journal
    How much would the pay for a Linux emulator running on Windows XP?

    must be able to run David in it.

    • Re:I wonder... (Score:3, Informative)

      by nxtw ( 866177 )
      Nothing, if coLinux is close enough.

      Otherwise, there was a Linux emulator-like program called LINE -- it didn't get very far [sourceforge.net].

      • Hmm.. wonder why. It's not entirely useless.. I can see a use for it.

        OTOH cygwin is good enough for most people.

      • Re:I wonder... (Score:3, Interesting)

        by samjam ( 256347 )
        Yeah, line was cool.
        It was never going to "work" with many linux apps for the same reason that debian/cygwin failed.

        The windows file system semantics are too kack and too much software is written with unix-style sematics assumed, i.e. case-sensitive, delete or rename in-use files, etc.

        I got really excited when I first saw it but it is plain why they stopped after proof of concept.

        Sam

    • Re:I wonder... (Score:3, Funny)

      by Whyzzi ( 319263 )
      How much would the pay for a Linux emulator running on Windows XP?
       
        must be able to run David in it.

      Hey! I have a brother named David! If I take a movie of him repeating saying "i am a linux emulator" while he runs in place ontop a retail box of Microsoft XP, do I get $10,000?

  • MS v.s. Linux? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 21, 2005 @10:48AM (#13614181)
    Microsoft dev time making Windows: 10 years.

    Linux dev time making Windows: 15 days.
     

  • Maybe.. (Score:3, Funny)

    by Sir Pallas ( 696783 ) on Wednesday September 21, 2005 @10:49AM (#13614184) Homepage
    ..it'll run on this [slashdot.org] optical laptop.

  • In Unrelated News... (Score:5, Funny)

    by flyingsquid ( 813711 ) on Wednesday September 21, 2005 @10:49AM (#13614186)
    SpecOps Labs insists that this has nothing to do with the fact that they have told their investors that the company will have a completed Windows emulator product fifteen days from now...

  • Hrm (Score:2)

    by papasui ( 567265 )
    So if I compile Bochs in less than 15 days I win?

    • Re:Hrm (Score:3, Informative)

      by AKAImBatman ( 238306 ) *
      So if I compile Bochs in less than 15 days I win?

      From the requirements:

      1. System has no proprietary software imbedded / required.

      Loading a copy of Windows XP would be considered "proprietary software".

  • I'll give $5... (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 21, 2005 @10:50AM (#13614199)
    I'll give $5 to the first team to write an X-Box 360 emulator for Windows, but you have to have it finished in 3 days.

    Any takers?

    • Re:I'll give $5... (Score:3, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Man, you guys got it lucky. In my day, we got $2 and 12 hours to write a Playstation 3 emulator in Visual Basic for use on a SNES.

      • Re:I'll give $5... (Score:3, Insightful)

        by niteice ( 793961 )
        God damn that's a huge bonus. I had to write a Revolution emulator for a 286 in 45 minutes using Microsoft Fortran. And I got paid 50 cent for it.

      • Re:I'll give $5... (Score:5, Funny)

        by Hogwash McFly ( 678207 ) on Wednesday September 21, 2005 @12:41PM (#13615170)
        You whippersnappers, thinking you've got it hard. Back in my day, we had to write a Dreamcast emulator in Win95 Solitaire (with fully working audio) each and every day using keyboards with only Q, 8, ) and Scroll Lock on 'em. And our mice didn't have fancy multiple axes on 'em like you young punks have, we had to make do with just X! After a 16 hour shift the only reward we got was a slap round the face with a huge trout, on both cheeks, but we were glad for it! Visual Basic? Luxury!
        • You had *X* and *mice*?? *We* to program entire RPG's with ascii-only ADM3 terminals, and they didn't even have cursor control! But that was a huge improvement over graphical output on teletype printers... (All true)

        • Re:I'll give $5... (Score:3, Informative)

          by scovetta ( 632629 )
          Here in Soviet Russia, we used Beowulf clusters of quantum-optical [slashdot.org] laptops, Windows 2009 (which will be released in 2012). And that was in 1976! Of course, since we're in Russia...
              Our Emulators Emulate YOU!

        • Re:I'll give $5... (Score:4, Interesting)

          by EllisDees ( 268037 ) on Wednesday September 21, 2005 @01:29PM (#13615592)
          Lazy asses! Back when I was a teenager, I for one welcomed my Natalie Portman overlords as they demanded that I write a Deep Blue emulator on an abacus using nothing but hot grits! If it wasn't completed in 15 minutes, I wasn't allowed to look at the goatsex man with my one good eye.
    • Yes, send me the $5 and I'll email you the code.

  • cheap labour (Score:5, Insightful)

    by kamikazejay ( 824744 ) on Wednesday September 21, 2005 @10:51AM (#13614218)
    from TFI: 4. System becomes the property of SpecOpS Laboratories.
    I doubt many people will be willing to build their product for them, for just $10,000 anyway
    • So, they're asking for a system that's built on Wine, which is obviously GPL [winehq.com]ed ... yet they expect to own the new system?

      What the hell?

      • Re:cheap labour (Score:3, Informative)

        by AKAImBatman ( 238306 ) *
        When you make changes to GPLed software, you still own the changes you make. (Though it can be difficult to weed out the precise ownership when it comes down to minor changes.) You only are forced by the GPL license to provide those changes to others if you distribute a binary to users not internal to your organization.

        Note that copyright ownership *does not* automatically revert to the original author unless you explicity transfer the rights.
      • Wine is LGPL'd.

  • you knew it was coming... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Viper Daimao ( 911947 ) on Wednesday September 21, 2005 @10:52AM (#13614220) Journal
    System.out.println(bsod.gif);

    Do I win?

  • A from-scratch implementation in 15 days? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by defile ( 1059 ) on Wednesday September 21, 2005 @10:52AM (#13614228) Homepage Journal

    That's totally impossible. Even if you had a trillion dollars it'd be impossible.

    Whoever made that offer doesn't understand software or, more likely, is trying to encourage someone to spend 15 days obfuscating WINE to deliver it to him so he can start selling and then plausibly deny it when it comes up.

  • 15 days!?!?!? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Spy der Mann ( 805235 ) <spydermann.slashdot@gmail . c om> on Wednesday September 21, 2005 @10:55AM (#13614252) Homepage Journal
    This is *RIDICULOUS*. Assumming the Wine team only worked 2 hour per day, they've been at least 5 years working on it, which means 3650 hours.

    Working 24 hours-a-day, 15 days would only mean 360 hours. Assumming they're not the EA-slavery kind of guys and give decent schedules (12 hours a day), that'd be 180 hours.

    It's impossible, period. I say we bring the whole GNU community and investigate them.

  • Obg. Star Trek: (Score:5, Funny)

    by Skadet ( 528657 ) on Wednesday September 21, 2005 @10:57AM (#13614272) Homepage
    Geordi: We can do it! Picard: Good! Geordi: It'll take 15 years, and an engineering team of 100, but we can do it. Picard: ....

  • No Such Thing as a Free Lunch (Score:4, Insightful)

    by ultrafastneal ( 894807 ) <fastmusicNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Wednesday September 21, 2005 @10:57AM (#13614274) Homepage

    They are just trying to get something for nothing, and they have a deadline. They obviously need to get this done quickly, and cannot afford to pay a developer team to write it.

    Do they really think anyone in the open source community will be their personal slave for a few thousand dollars? Nice try, but anyone talented and fast enough to write this thing in 15 days doesn't need their money.

  • Schneier (Score:3, Interesting)

    by kevin_conaway ( 585204 ) on Wednesday September 21, 2005 @10:57AM (#13614279) Homepage
    See Bruce Schneiers article on The Fallacy of Cracking Contests [schneier.com]

  • An Installer, rather than emulator (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 21, 2005 @10:58AM (#13614291)
    This reads (or skims, the way I read it) more like they want an intaller than an emulator. Doesn't it say needs to run on WINE?

  • Don't feed Spec Op Labs (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    This offer is so ridiculous, why even give them publicity???

  • Full text (Score:5, Informative)

    by mparaz ( 31980 ) on Wednesday September 21, 2005 @11:08AM (#13614361) Homepage
    I made another copy of the text [pinoytechblog.com]:

    SpecOpS Laboratories

    $10,000 Open Challenge

                            SpecOpS Laboratories (SpecOpS Labs) invites the Philippine ICT Community to participate in the DAVID Project. We are seeking a highly talented Consultant or Consulting Team that can contribute to the DAVID Project.

                            SpecOpS Labs is searching the Philippines for Systems-Level Hacker/s to serve as Development Consultant to the DAVID Project. As proof or our sincerity, we are offering US$10,000.00* to the first Consultant or Consulting Team who can take our challenge and prove their capabilities. Our challenge requires the delivery of a solution that will allow an MS-XP compatible application to install and run under Linux using x.org and open source WINE by October 5, 2005.

                            So, take the challenge now!

    Criteria to Award and Conditions:

    1. System has no proprietary software imbedded / required.

    2. System is stable.

    3. MS-XP compatible modules / functions are working as expected.

    4. System becomes the property of SpecOpS Laboratories.

    Registration Procedure:

    1. Send us an Email indicating your intent to take up the challenge at ablang@specoplabs.com. Attach your CV(s) or company profile (if applicable).

    2. SpecOpS will Email you the Challenge Registration Form and further instructions.

    Challenge Activities:

    1. Present the running solution at SpecOpS Labs office before October 5, 2005.

    2. Validation of solution using SpecOpS Labs's criteria.

    3. Award immediately.

    * All monies in this challenge are subject to tax. The decision of SpecOpS Labs for the award is final.
    • .. so you have to actually go to the Phillipines on spec, in the hope they'll accept it and pay you?
    • Windows emulator and

      "2. System is stable." ... not very accurate emulator.

      Tom

    • Re:Full text (Score:4, Funny)

      by amcnabb ( 682951 ) on Wednesday September 21, 2005 @12:07PM (#13614882) Homepage
      2. System is stable.

      Wait. Do you want this to emulate Windows XP, or do you want it to be stable? :)
    • So is this a request for a generic WXP emulator, for any WXP binary, or for a specific WinXP application?

      The first is technically impossible, even with the WINE codebase to work with. The second is theoretically possible, with a large enough staff, and given the application - and might even be worth the effort. But it doesn't appear to be the case.
    • "Our challenge requires the delivery of a solution that will allow an MS-XP compatible application to install and run under Linux using x.org and open source WINE by October 5, 2005."

      So theoretically if I can get any one MS-XP compatible application to install and work on Linux I get $10000. The easiest would probably be a screensaver. Who's with me?
    • The contractual language is utterly vague:

      System is stable. - Defined how? What criteria will be used to judge stability?

      ... functions are working as expected. - As expected? By Bill Gates? By my grandmother? By the developer? By SOL?

      SpecOpS will Email you the Challenge Registration Form and further instructions. - Which tells us that the text we're reading isn't the true offer.

      Validation of the solution using SpecOpS Lab's criteria - Again, we don't know what the criteria are, and if they don't stip

  • Done (Score:4, Funny)

    by gov_coder ( 602374 ) on Wednesday September 21, 2005 @11:10AM (#13614382) Homepage
    I put the windows xp emulator here [albinoblacksheep.com].

    Now show me the money!
  • They earlier claimed that they will come out with project David which is supposedly NOT WINE -- now they can't deliver, and they want someone else to do a proof of concept for them. Pathetic. They want to hire the best people in the Philippines but they can't even deliver even with the original team which claimed that they can do it. Now they will pay someone who thinks can come up with something which is *almost exactly* what they promise. Pathetic indeed.

  • Poor Westley (Score:5, Funny)

    by mblase ( 200735 ) on Wednesday September 21, 2005 @11:14AM (#13614411)
    SpecOps Labs are offering $10,000 to a team who can build a Windows XP emulator in 15 days.

    And what are our assets?

    Your brains, his beowulf cluster, and my codebase.

    That's it? Impossible. If I had a month to plan, maybe I could come up with something, but this?

  • What? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by RAMMS+EIN ( 578166 ) on Wednesday September 21, 2005 @11:24AM (#13614486) Homepage Journal
    So what does an "Windows XP emulator" do? If it's supposed to be a full implementation of the functionality in Windows XP, their "offer" is probably best classified as a publicity stunt. If they mean an emulator that can run Windows XP (you know, like Dosemu is (not) a DOS emulator), then it's probably just about doable.

    Of course, knowing the recent quality of Slashdot summaries and headlines, it's probably something completely different; probably "extend WINE (or the company's fork) to be fully Windows XP compatible".

  • I win! (Score:4, Funny)

    by Quiet_Desperation ( 858215 ) on Wednesday September 21, 2005 @11:25AM (#13614497)
    Yeah, yeah- I know it looks like I just installed Windows XP on a cheap PC. That's the beauty of it. It's *perfect* emulation. You simply cannot tell it's an emulator. Even the install disk looks *exactly* like a Windows install disc. Gimme money!

  • We've seen these folks before...Serious Vaporware! (Score:4, Interesting)

    by karlandtanya ( 601084 ) on Wednesday September 21, 2005 @11:28AM (#13614523)
    These are the guys that claim that...
    DAVID is Windows compatibility middleware, which enables all major Microsoft Windows applications to run on the free and open source Linux OS.


    Except, David (what they're promoting above) doesn't exist. Never has. Never will.


    OK, fine. Here's your app. It's notepad.exe, and you can find it on your Win95 CD. Extract it from the cabfile and rename it. Throw dat sucker onto a FAT16 formatted floppy.


    Stick the floppy in your XP box. a:\notepad.exe. Did it run? Awesome. First criterion settled. an MS-XP compatible application


    Now, boot knoppix. Stick the floppy in your (currently) linux box. mount -t vfat /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy. BAM! Second criterion to install settled.


    ALT-F2, konsole, (so we can watch), cd /mnt/floppy, ls (yup, it's there; verifying our install), wine notepad.exe. Did it run?


    Where's my ten grand?

    • SpecOpS Labs slaims in 1 year time-lapse...

      1. We are developing our own "technology" to run Windows apps under Linux. [osviews.com]
      2. Oops! Urm... Yeah, Wine. It turns out our developers lied to us and took shortcuts. But we are using only parts of Wine and "optimizing" those parts to be able to run Windows apps.
      3. Uhm... Yeah. We're still working on Project "David". Talk to you later...
      4. Err... (shifts gaze left and right) We're stuck with this teeny-tiny problem that Pagemaker still has a few glitches in it. But honest and

  • Looking for a cutout (Score:5, Interesting)

    by jalefkowit ( 101585 ) <jason@nOsPAm.jasonlefkowitz.com> on Wednesday September 21, 2005 @11:49AM (#13614715) Homepage

    As I read it, it sounds like they are looking for a cutout.

    This bit in the contest terms caught my attention:

    1. System has no proprietary software imbedded / required.

    So why would you set up a contest that you know nobody could win by following the rules?

    Let's say that you represent an organization whose Windows emulation solution was to rip off someone else's solution (in this case, Crossover Office).

    The owners of that original solution find out and you're busted. So now you're back to square one.

    You could, of course, try to roll your own Windows emulator. But as others have pointed out, that's way more than fifteen days of work.

    You could also license Crossover Office from Codeweavers. But for purposes of our discussion let's assume that you're a cheap SOB and won't do that.

    So what you might do is decide to continue using ripped-off software, but this time, to do so using a cutout -- a third party standing between you and the code. In this case the cutout is the person who submitted the entry that won.

    That way, when Codeweavers (or whoever) comes calling, you can say "But we're victims too! We were assured that the product didn't contain any proprietary IP! Look, it's right in the rules for submission!" And so the liability shifts from you to whover "fooled" you by submitting the ripped off software.

    (Of course, if I were Codeweavers in that situation I'd argue that you should have inspected the software to ensure it met your rules before paying out the $10K. But maybe these guys haven't thought that far...)

    By setting a ridiculously short deadline, you can be sure that any takers are going to be giving you exactly what you want -- someone else's ripped-off IP -- instead of trying to actually solve the problem from scratch.

    Now you've got what you wanted without getting your hands dirty -- you have a fall guy to pass the buck to.

    That's the only reasonable explanation I can come up with for why you would construct such a ridiculous contest, anyway...

  • Deadlines... (Score:3, Funny)

    by tongue ( 30814 ) on Wednesday September 21, 2005 @11:49AM (#13614725) Homepage
    Well, that's ONE way to hit your deadlines before you meet a VC rep...

  • Heh, this is ridiculous... (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    In other news, the SpecOps guys seem to have been busy signing contracts lately. This one out just today:

    Turbolinux Signs Exclusive Agreement with SpecOps
    Labs to Distribute DAVID Software - Software
    Allows Windows Applications to Run on Linux OS

    TOKYO, Japan - September 21, 2005 - Turbolinux, a
    global provider of Linux solutions, today
    announced that Turbolinux has signed an exclusive
    distribution agreement with SpecOps Labs, Inc.,
    headquartered in the Philippines, to distribute
    DAVIDTM software, a middleware th

  • This whole thing reads really strangely to me.

    Yes, yes it does. Specially that phrase. Thanks for the lovely grammar lesson, Taco.

  • What goes around... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by sstidman ( 323182 ) on Wednesday September 21, 2005 @12:49PM (#13615237) Journal
    Ha...it looks like someone tried to pull a fast one on SpecOps Labs. From their Investor Relations page [specopslabs.com]:
    PUBLIC WARNING


    The website listed at domain name http://specops.jeff.net.ru/ [jeff.net.ru] is no way affiliated with Specops Laboratories, Philippines; the unscrupulous owners of the aforementioned website are infringing on our copyrighted material and have no authorization to represent our company in any fashion.

    We believe that the purpose of this web site may to mislead the public and to defraud unsuspecting persons. We are now conducting an investigation to determine the person(s) behind this fraud and we will be seeking assistant from legal authorities in the appropriate jurisdiction. If you have any information about the person(s) involved in this fraud please contact us at info@specopslabs.com
    The website they mention is gone, but you can still see most of it using Googles cache [64.233.161.104] or via using Archive.org.

  • $10,000 (Score:3, Insightful)

    by NitsujTPU ( 19263 ) on Wednesday September 21, 2005 @05:54PM (#13617703)
    $10,000 for a finished project, eh? This doesn't strike anybody as a "complete ripoff" rather than a competition.

    If, in 15 days, I write such an emulator, I will be selling it, rather than giving it away for $10,000.

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