MESSAGE
| DATE | 2003-08-20 |
| FROM | From: "Inker, Evan"
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [hangout] SAMBA News (19th Aug, 2003) SCO use of Samba code under the GPL
|
(19th Aug, 2003) SCO use of Samba code under the GPL
Over the past few months, the SCO (Santa Cruz Operation) Corporation
(formerly Caldera International, Inc. a Linux distribution vendor) has been
complaining about violations of its Copyright works by the Linux kernel
code.
Recently, Darl McBride, the Chief Executive Officer of SCO has been making
pejorative statements regarding the license used by the Linux kernel, the
GNU GPL. In a keynote speech he recently said:
"At the end of the day, the GPL is not about making software free;
it's about destroying value."
In light of this it is the depths of hypocrisy that at the same event SCO
also announced the incorporation of the Samba3 release into their latest
OpenServer product. Samba is an Open Source/Free Software project that
allows Linux and UNIX servers to interoperate with Microsoft Windows
clients. The reason for this is clear; Samba3 allows Linux and UNIX servers
to replace Microsoft Windows NT Domain Controllers and will add great value
to any Operating System which includes it. However, Samba is also developed
and distributed under the GNU GPL license, in exactly the same manner as the
Linux kernel code that SCO has been criticizing for its lack of care in
ownership attribution.
We observe that SCO is both attacking the GPL on the one hand and benefiting
from the GPL on the other hand. SCO can't have it both ways. SCO has a clear
choice: either pledge not to use any Open Source/Free Software in any of
their products, or actively participate in the Open Source/Free Software
movement and reap the benefits. For SCO to continue to use Open Source/Free
Software while attacking others for using it is the epitome of hypocrisy.
The strength of Open Source/Free Software is that it is available to all
without restrictions on fields of endeavor, as the Samba Team believes the
ability to freely use, modify and learn from software code is one of the
grounding principles of computer science, and a basic freedom for all.
Because of this, we believe that the Samba Team must remain true to our
principles and our code must be freely available to use even in ways we
personally disapprove of.
Even when used by rank hypocrites like SCO.
Jeremy Allison, Marc Kaplan, Andrew Bartlett, Christopher R. Hertel, Jerry
Carter, Jean Francois Micouleau, Paul Green, Rafal Szczesniak, Jelmer
Vernooij.
Samba Team.
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