From:	geneb AT web DOT wa DOT net
Date:	Mon, 16 Jun 1997 08:18:54 -0700 (PDT)
Reply-To:	geneb AT web DOT wa DOT net
To:	opendos AT delorie DOT com
cc:	caldera-opendos AT caldera DOT com
Subject:	Official word
Message-ID:	<Pine.LNX.3.93.970616081412.1521A-100000@web.wa.net>
MIME-Version:	1.0

Members of the opendos and caldera-opendos lists:  
It was requested that I post this message to the lists to clarify what is
going on with Arachne and WebSpyder.  This should end those silly
arguments once and for all.

--
Gene Buckle
The Deltasoft Group


Message from Roger Gross:
-----------
Clarification of the Arachne WebSpyder relationship.

I have been forced to post a clarification of the relationship between
Caldera and Arachne following some misunderstandings in emails I have
seen. 

WebSpyder is based on Arachne by Michael Polak of XChaos Software. Caldera
has partnered with XChaos to produce a version of Arachne that will
address OEM market opportunities. 

According to Michael, without Caldera's investment he would have
considered giving up further development of Arachne. Instead Michael is
expanding his team to enhance Arachne based on the undisclosed sum we paid
him and continue to pay him. We decided not to acquire XChaos software
(which was an option) but in stead to invest a substantial sum of money
into XChaos to ensure it continued to move forward whilst remaining a
private and independent company. Caldera has a vested interest in ensuring
that Commercial DOS companies survive independent of us. 

Michael needed to partner with someone to ensure Arachne didn't die and
Caldera needed a browser.  Arachne is simply the best DOS browser
available so a deal was struck - a no brainer. 

All credit goes to Michael and his new team for producing an excellent
browser. Caldera is doing a lot of engineering work behind the scenes to
productize Arachne as WebSpyder and to make it a commercial proposition
for OEMs. We added keyboardless operation for Kiosk systems, an
Installation program, ODI Networking for Intranets, a Dialler for Internet
and animated and scaled GIFs. Plus a lot of customization for set-up and
operation in diskless embedded systems. Hardly just a rip-off of Arachne
as has been suggested. Many of these feature enhancements will be fed back
into Arachne.

Michael Polak knows the shareware and retail channels but he does not have
access to large scale distribution and OEM markets. Michael is the first
to admit that he cannot handle OEM opportunities. Flying to Taiwan at
short notice to solve a problem is not practical for Michael - for Caldera
it is and we have done it - twice already! Rather than exclude Arachne
from those channels he partnered with Caldera so that together we can
address them. He's a smart guy and he has demonstrated a very mature
attitude in that respect. 

If anyone thinks we are ripping off Arachne, they should first talk to
Michael Polak who is VERY pleased with the arrangement. 

Roger Gross
General Manager
Caldera UK Ltd.

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