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SpecOps Labs offers $10,000 to Emulator Developers
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.
See Bruce Schneiers article on The Fallacy of Cracking Contests
1. System has no proprietary software imbedded / required.
This is important to the contest, because WINE *can* use Windows DLLs. If you patch in a Windows DLL to get the code working, then that's considered cheating.
2. System is stable.
Whatever.
3. MS-XP compatible modules / functions are working as expected.
i.e. The program doesn't have oddities like unimplemented dialog boxes, or images that don't get loaded. The complete API used by the program must function.
4. System becomes the property of SpecOpS Laboratories.
They will take your changes and make them their own, but you get the $10,000. Whatever.
extremely vague.
I agree. Anyone looking to take up this challenge should contact SpecOps Labs and first verify the details of the contest. It would suck to pick something like Microsoft Calculator to implement only to have SpecOps say that it doesn't count. Of course, maybe nothing counts. Maybe they'll reject all entries on some technicality expecting to pick up the code when the developers give up and give their changes to the WINE project. *shrug*
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
.. so you have to actually go to the Phillipines on spec, in the hope they'll accept it and pay you?
I have been a user for about 10 years. This ends Feb 2014. The site's been ruined. I'm off. Dice, FU
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".
Please correct me if I got my facts wrong.
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
ALT-F2, konsole, (so we can watch), cd
Where's my ten grand?
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, it doesn't go away." - Philip K. Dick
As I read it, it sounds like they are looking for a cutout.
This bit in the contest terms caught my attention:
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...
Read my blog.
SpecOpS Labs slaims in 1 year time-lapse...
The VC's who put their money into SpecOpS Labs are probably itching to get their ROI by now. They probably burned through their capital funding and now the VC's want some returns, or at least a product that can be marketed. These guys are desperate now. $10,000 is probably the only money they have left and the VC's won't give them anything more unless they come up with something.
I always thought these people were just VC fishers.
See also their previous page with buzz-word laden spiels, and outlandish claims.
The summary of this story is a misunderstanding or fabrication. The offer appears to be for an XP application installer solution for Wine, not for an XP emulator. Then again, maybe the Full Text post and mirror are fabrications, but from what I read, they just want the installer, not a full XP emulator.
end of line
Send/track messages to 100K people: www.xPressAlert.com
Not that you guys didnt have it hard, but in the old days it was a nightmare.
We used to port calenders and astronomical applications on big stones pilled around in clusters with nothing but slaves and ropes as devtools. Not even an abacus or metal tools.
All we got offered was "not to get our bowels ripped out by some angry druid".
Retep Vosnul.
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.
-- Give me ambiguity or give me something else!
if you can come up with a reasonable alternative explanation for why SpecOpsLabs is offering this bizarre contest with such an absurd deadline, I'd love to hear it.
I just posted the link to this press release in a sibling post.
I think that both are related.
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
blog.sam.liddicott.com