Jeremy Allison, a prominent open source 
software developer and Samba
project cofounder, announced last week that he would be leaving Suse Linux vendor
Novell (Nasdaq: NOVL) over the company's patent pact with Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) .
The November interoperability and patent agreement between Novell and Microsoft has upset a number of free and open source software (FOSS) community members who argue that the deal -- legitimate under the open source General Public License (GPL) -- goes against the license's spirit of equal sharing, since only Suse Linux users are protected from Microsoft patent claims.
"I believe that even if it does not violate the letter of the
license, it violates the intent of the GPL license the Samba code is
released under, which is to treat all recipients of the code equally,"
Allison wrote in a letter explaining his resignation.
He also cited his letter to Novell management regarding his concerns and the need for the company to withdraw from its Redmond engagement.
"Whilst the Microsoft patent agreement is in place, there is *nothing* we can do to fix community relations. And I really mean nothing," Allison wrote.
Vilified as Violators
The Novell-Microsoft deal, described as "clever" by some software legal experts because it skirts GPL requirements for sharing, has upset and angered a substantial portion of FOSS developers and supporters.
Soon after it was announced, Samba project leaders lobbied
Novell to back out of the deal, pointing to Microsoft's history of
embracing and then exterminating its competition, which now includes Linux
vendors such as Novell and Red Hat (NYSE: RHT) .
Allison, who likened the patent protection agreement to finding a "legal hack" around Microsoft's software licensing, indicated Novell will be known as a GPL violator as long as its patent deal with Microsoft is in place.
"The Microsoft patent agreement has put us outside the community, and there is no positive aspect to that fact, and no way to make it so," Allison wrote. "Until the patent provision is revoked, we are pariahs."
Missed Opportunity?
Although Allison is far from alone in his reservations about Microsoft's
patent-sharing arrangement for only some Linux users, the
software developer would likely have been a key figure on the
interoperability end of the Novell-Microsoft, Linux-Windows partnership,
Gartner (NYSE: IT) Vice President George Weiss told LinuxInsider.
"To leave at this stage would seem to be premature," Weiss said, indicating that Allison's departure means he will miss out on a collaboration with the potential to benefit users.
"Those datacenter management people don't have time to come down on the side of passionate this, passionate that," Weiss said. "They have problems to deal with."
Google's Gain
Allison signaled he would move to Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) , which uses and supports open
source software, although most of its technology remains proprietary.
The departure of Allison does not bode well for Novell, which cannot back out of its deal with Microsoft, but faces hardship in its relationship with the community, Interarbor Solutions Principal Analyst Dana Gardner told LinuxInsider.
"You have to take his comments with some examination," Gardner said
of Allison. "His position isn't entirely neutral. He's going to a
Microsoft competitor."
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