Following several years of public disagreement more than guaranteeing interoperability between their respective software,
microsoft Office 2010 License, Microsoft and Samba have appear to terms. Rather than astonishingly, each and every vendor is providing really a various spin about the licensing agreement they unveiled on December twenty.It took an intermediary, the Protocol Freedom Details Basis (PFIF) — a non-profit organization created by the Software Flexibility Law Center — to hand off the Microsoft protocol documentation that Samba said it needed to make its Unix/Linux file/print sharing products work properly with Windows.According to a press release issued December twenty,
Office Home And Business 2010, Samba is paying Microsoft a one-time sum of 10,000 Euros, soon after which the PFIF will make available to the Samba Team, under non-disclosure, “the documentation needed for implementation of all of the workgroup server protocols covered by the European Union decision.” (The EU decision to which this refers is the Microsoft;s loss of its appeal to overturn the European Commission;s 2004 antitrust decision against the company.)Not remarkably, Samba and Microsoft had fairly several spins on today;s news.Samba and the PFIF characterized the agreement as a victory for free software projects. They also reminded observers that Microsoft was required by the European Commission to provide this protocol info as part of the terms of the EU antitrust case. Samba also emphasized that the agreement with Microsoft does not mean Samba is acknowledging that it was or is in violation of any Microsoft patents.Jeremy Allison, co-creator of Samba,
Office 2007 Ultimate Key, was quoted in the press release as saying:“We will be able to use the facts obtained to continue to develop Samba and create even more Free Software program. We are hoping to get back to the productive relationship we had with Microsoft during the early 1990;s when we shared data about these protocols. The agreement also clarifies the exact patent numbers concerned so there is no possibility of misunderstandings about this issue.”Microsoft, meanwhile, portrayed the protocol agreement with Samba in a far more congenial way.In a post to the Microsoft Port 25 blog, entitled “If you;re surprised,
Windows 7 Enterprise, you;re not paying attention,” Microsoft Director of Platform and Technology Strategy Sam Ramji,
Windows 7 Ultimate, emphasized recent cooperation between Samba and Microsoft.Ramji noted that Microsoft recently donated Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) Premium subscriptions to the core Samba team; built a test bed with them; started sharing testing tools; and worked to preserve the Unix Extensions in CIFS to ensure continued compatibility with Microsoft;s software program.Ramji said he worked with Samba;s principals to hammer out an agreement that would fulfill Microsoft;s protocol-sharing obligations and make Samba happy. From his December twenty blog post:“The terms were good, but the Samba team wanted Microsoft to make some changes to fully conform with the existing practices of the Samba developer community …. Attorneys and technologists (always an odd combination) on both sides worked hard to refine the language and do so in a clear and cooperative way. …“I expect that this (Samba licensing agreement) will significantly improve the process of Samba development, and produce better quality interoperation between Windows and Linux/UNIX environments…. “What this process has shown me is that if we focus on technology, and patient, diligent execution, we can make real progress together.”However you spin the deal, Microsoft is now doing what the European Commision stipulated three many years ago: Sharing protocol data in a way that does not discriminate against the open-source/free-software community.For significantly more details on today;s Samba licensing announcement, check out the post from News.com;s Stephen Shankland.