From: "Elliot Spencer" Subject: ILook - the end, and the beginning.
Hello All,
I have some news to share with you about the future of the ILook project, the products within the project and the availability of those products to you from now on.
As many of you experienced ILook-hands will know, ILook started in the 1990s as part of my personal tool-set, it evolved from a different tool named "Seer." I originally distributed it to a few friends and colleagues but, as time went on, the distribution spread and spread. By the turn of the millennium, ILook was being distributed to several thousand users in over 30 countries and was rapidly outstripping my personal ability to fund it. In 2001, a company named Perlustro was established to develop ILook and this company formed a contractual relationship with a US Federal agency. This contractual relationship provided sufficient financial assistance to continue the distribution of ILook, IXImager and other tools to you.
I originally started distributing ILook because I respected and valued the important forensic work conducted by you and your counterparts, and I understood how little support you had at that time. That's why my colleagues and I committed many years - and countless hours - to the development of forensic tools to the people who need them most - you! In return, your feedback and help have allowed us to make a much more effective and efficient toolset.
We have contributed our efforts to help thousands of investigators examine crimes that might otherwise have been ignored. Today, we are used in over 60 nations by Police, Military and Government Agencies. We are very proud of the contributions that our partnership has made to forensics over the years.
Unfortunately this now has to end.
That federal funding solution always had a finite life, and it ceased some weeks ago. Consequently, the ILook project as it has existed for nearly a decade is now at an end. Further development work on ILook v8 and IXImager v2 has ceased, as has work on the replacement projects for these products.
Perlustro will use its own resources to continue licensing for existing users for as long as we are able. However, there will be no further licenses issued for new users.
On a brighter note, we have exciting plans for Perlustro. Later this year we will release a series of eight exciting new forensic and e-discovery tools, incorporating substantial features not found in any other tool. Some of these tools will be capable of handling legacy ILook v8 and IXImager v2 image formats, so your existing forensic data will still be easily accessible to you into the future.
Further announcements about our new products and features, and our technology tie-ins with other companies, will appear over the next few months on our website www.perlustro.com. It's important to note that, for the first time, Perlustro will be developing and distributing tools that will be available to everyone - both public and private sectors.
Please feel free to cross-post this announcement to other lists as appropriate.
