Re: What's the formal line on source

[Doug333@xxxxxxx]

>From Harry Debes:

There is a lot of confusion about Geac's position on source code for System
21.
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  Source code is our Intellectual Property.  It has cost us hundreds of
millions of dollars  to develop this IP and our policy is designed to
protect that property.  It has nothing to do with the financial performance
of our System 21 business unit - which, in the USA, has had a very
successful business turnaround from the JBA days. (In the USA our System 21
business is now profitable. We were always successful in Europe and
Asia-Pac and that continues.)  It also has nothing to do with our long-term
commitment to System 21.  This financial year we are investing more than
$30m in R&D for S21 and we expect to continue the development and support
this solution set for many years.

While we are not going to engage in a public debate regarding the merits of
our position on source code, let me at least clarify the position so that
people do not misunderstand what we are doing:

1. Geac are abiding by the contracts signed with System21 users.  Customers
who have source code rights in their agreements will continue to receive
source for the latest release of those products covered by their contract.
2. Customers who do not have contractual rights to source code rights will
not receive source.
3. We are no longer offering source code to new accounts.
4. We are no longer offering source to existing customers for new or
additional modules.
5. We will continue to make some file definitions available to customers n
order that customers may use report writers etc.
6. We will put source code into escrow - so that customers will have access
to source in the unlikely event that Geac is no longer able to provide
software support.  While this is highly unlikely, we understand that
customers may want this protection.  We have a standard Escrow Agreement
and customers who wish to have source placed into escrow should discuss
this with their Account Managers.

During the Customer RoadShow events in March of this year this position was
announced and we took questions from customers.  Now we are simply
implementing our stated plan.

We still have a lot of work to do to regain the long-term confidence of ll
our customers.  They key issue is delivering value for money. We are aware
of this and we are working on the various issues one customer at a time.
If are not making progress on your account, please let us know.

Harry Debes
President,
Geac Enterprise Solutions Americas
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