Webs’ Random Ideas

… which is some pretty big news. Well, we already knew they lost the original case, but now they have lost their appeal and have agreed to hand over documents to a group called the Protocol Freedom Information Foundation, (PFIF).

[Samba] Developers will have to sign nondisclosure agreements and will not be allowed to redistribute Microsoft’s documentation, but they will be able to write open-source software that implements the Windows protocols. The deal will also clarify which patents Microsoft believes are related to this technology, making it easier for open-source developers to avoid patent violations.

Antitrust rulings forced Microsoft to set up protocol-licensing programs in the past, including the Microsoft Communications Protocol Program (MCPP) and the Work Group Server Protocol Program (WSPP), but these efforts were not compatible with open-source software licenses.

That is apparently not a problem with the PFIF agreement.

“They’re giving us all the documentation to make everything work,” said Jeremy Allison, co-author of Samba. “We will have no more excuses to suck … if we don’t have something, we won’t be able to say it’s not our fault we don’t know how to do it.”

Which is pretty exciting news as Samba in general kinda sucks. It’s seems to be one of those things where when it works it rocks, and when it doesn’t it really sucks.

For those of you out of the loop, Samba is the program in Linux that allows Linux systems to talk to M$ systems. It also allows Linux to be able to read NTFS and FAT partitions. Samba has always worked fine for me, but I am just a simple users. The real issues with Samba arise from server platforms.

The other thing that excites me about this, is if Samba does a good job of implementing their new system maybe it will help jump start other vendors to play nicely with Linux. Maybe they will see there isn’t much to lose in allowing Linux to interface with their systems. For example, hardware manufacturers like Broadcom and others that refuse to develop for Linux. There are plenty of developers waiting to write drivers for Linux, but the companies wont let em.

I know I’m a little late on posting this news, but it is still exciting and I will post updates when new information develops.