So let's use our heads hear why would actually IBM benefit from releasing the API's? For example I know of customers that still uses OS2 and actually during this last week I got several e-mails from corporates that where asking for help to find information and solutions to problem they've had. The question would rather be asked why would IBM's customers need the API's. As IBM points to their local service representatives; that's a joke. I mean during the last couple of years IBM Sweden have forwarded OS2 requests to Swedish OS2 User Group! Oh, how much money did we get for that from IBM... nada, zero, null. IBM are actually leeching on the community now.
Yes, I am aware of that. IBM's answer like someone inside IBM support knows what is OS/2. At IBM Brazil, IBM's support says "OS/2 is dead" since 1997. Local service representatives do nothing regarding OS/2. But it seems IBM-US thinks they really do something... or they are really cynic guys.
This is the problem: it looks it's not possible to reason with IBM, because IBM support and answers seems to live in some kind of dreamland, where their support system really works and we are just a bunch of bums asking for free beer. I hate the way they despise us with generic non-sense answers.
Then are there anything in the code that we would like to get; or to turn it around; we've asked and said that we would like to get IBM to open source the kernel, wps, ans som code. With the dialogue with MenSys and Netlabs we've earlier said that we should either point out certain portions or patents that we would like to get information about. This information could either be delivered out to a group of people to handle and my suggestion would be either Netlabs or our self, OS2 World Foundation. So the question again; what specific are we in the need of being able to peak and poke around in? I'm not a developer, so please help me out here!
I don't know, I had never developed an entire Operating System. But I had done myself a lot of reverse engineering and I would say the base OS API (and kernel?) docs would help a lot. Also, the release SOM 3.0 (fully CORBA compatible) and WPS classes code would help A LOT.

The real thing for WPS is SOM engine. And I believe there is not any third-party patents involved in this code, since I never read anywhere something like that. Also, I had already read somewhere that once IBM licensed SOM 3.0 to another company... I believe its name was Tandem or something alike.
What specific rights would that be; lots of posting claims the same; but where is the facts? What about trying to figure out what Microsoft would be totally against getting out in the wild. Where are the links, info, etc?
It is hard to say, but although many things changed, some of actual OS/2 kernel and much of base API *is* from 1.x version, which was fully developed by Microsoft.
"Looking in the right places", one can find the sources for a really old version of OS/2 and see that almost all of it is copyrighted by Microsoft.
True, they want to but they can't since they still have customers depending working systems. Problem is that we don't have any large or customers standing behind this petition; not as corporation but sure as single individuals within an organisations.
They want these systems do not work anymore (unless the owner pays a really big amount of money) so these users pays them to develop a migration plan.

It seems the only language they talks now is money language.
Well, guess that we have tried and manage to get our fair share of hits with the petition. But, what we really need now is the facts regarding code needed.
Well, I really don't know, but I suppose the base API/kernel docs (since the source cannot be released) and SOM/WPS is a very good start. It'll be a lot of work, but would help *a lot* the guys working on osFree and Voyager.
Sure no problem; there are already quite a lot of bounties where some of them should be joined together into one project.
But, to take a really bad quote from Hollywood; help us to help you...
Hehehe... My only need is a decent OS to play around. I cannot stand the way Linux/Unix deals with the user. And I cannot stand the bugs, bloats and never-stop upgrading life in Windows.
