Samba Team Blasts Novell-MS Deal

The development team behind Samba, open source software that connects different operating systems and provides file and printer sharing functionality, has published an open letter calling the patent agreement between Novell and Microsoft "divisive."

Samba is the latest open source group to ask that Novell rethink its decision to partner with Microsoft, with much of the outcry stemming from Novell's apparent acceptance of software parents. As part of the agreement, the companies made a covenant not to sue each other over their respective patents.

"Only by standing together do we stand a chance of defending against the peril represented by software patents. With this agreement Novell is attempting to destroy that unified defense, exchanging the long term interests of the entire Free Software community for a short term advantage for Novell over their competitors," the Samba team wrote.

"For Novell to make this deal shows a profound disregard for the relationship that they have with the Free Software community. We are, in essence, their suppliers, and Novell should know that they have no right to make self serving deals on behalf of others which run contrary to the goals and ideals of the Free Software community."

Open source advocate Bruce Perens echoed a similar sentiment in a statement to The Register in which he said Novell was violating the GPL.

"It's up to the Free Software Foundation, which owns the copyright, to pursue this. But the FSF owns the C library and the compiler outright. There isn't much Novell can do without either." he said. "Coming just as the SCO case is winding down, the timing is interesting. Novell is the new SCO."

"Using patents as competitive tools in the free software world is not acceptable. Novell, as a participant in numerous debates, discussions and conferences on the topic knew this to be the case. We call upon Novell to work with the Software Freedom Law Center to undo the patent agreement and acknowledge its obligations as a beneficiary of the Free Software community," the Samba team concluded.