Open source software developer Samba has condemned the
patents tie-up between Linux distributor Novell and
Microsoft.
The deal means the two firms will provide each other’s customers
with patent coverage for their respective products. It will also
see Microsoft officially recommend Novell’s SuSE Linux Enterprise
platforms for users who want Windows and Linux systems.
But the team behind Samba, software that enables
interoperability between Linux or Unix servers and Windows clients,
issued a statement saying it “disapproves strongly of the actions
taken by Novell” and calling on the Linux distributor to “undo” the
deal.
The Samba team argued, “The patent agreement struck between
Novell and Microsoft is divisive. It deals with users and creators
of free software differently depending on their ‘commercial’ versus
‘non-commercial’ status, and deals with them differently depending
on whether they obtained their free software directly from Novell
or from someone else.”
The goals of the free software community and the GNU General
Public License – widely used in the open source community - allowed
for “no such distinctions”.
The Samba team argued that distributors of software under the
GPL should stand together in the fight against software patents.
“Only by standing together do we stand a chance of defending
against the peril represented by software patents.”
The deal with Microsoft meant Novell was “attempting to destroy
that unified defence, exchanging the long term interests of the
entire Free Software community for a short term advantage for
Novell over their competitors”.
The Microsoft-Novell tie-up has also come under fire from rival
Linux distributor Red Hat, which described the patents deal as “an
innovation tax”.
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