Samba gains legal access to Microsoft network file protocols

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

________________________________________
From: Kurt Albershardt [kurt () nv net]
Sent: Monday, December 24, 2007 8:35 PM
To: David Farber
Subject: Samba gains legal access to Microsoft network file protocols

<http://www.linux-watch.com/news/NS2144022549.html>

Samba gains legal access to Microsoft network file protocols
Dec. 21, 2007

On Dec. 20, the Samba Group and the Software Freedom Law Center announced a deal with Microsoft that places all of 
Microsoft's network protocols needed for programs to work with Windows Server into the hands of the newly formed 
Protocol Freedom Information Foundation.

The PFIF is a U.S.-based nonprofit corporation. It will make Microsoft's server network protocol documentation 
available to open-source developers such as The Samba Group, which creates programs for Windows Server 
interoperability, and private companies. This information is provided under an NDA (nondisclosure agreement) and 
developers must agree to the NDA before gaining access to the documentation.

This revolutionary deal came about because of the European Union's decision that Microsoft had been acting as a 
monopoly in Europe. After Microsoft failed in its appeal, the software giant not only had to pay a $613 million fine, 
it also had to open up some of its proprietary protocols to competitors, including open-source ones.

In the deal, the PFIF gets the actual documentation. Samba or other developers can then access the documentation if 
they agree to the NDA and pay 10,000 euros. There are no other charges or royalty fees. However, the source code free 
software developers produce from this documentation can be fully open-sourced under the GPLv2 (GNU General Public 
License) or GPLv3 and will not be covered by the PFIF/Microsoft NDA.

Microsoft is also required to keep this documentation up-to-date. For example, if Microsoft were to change AD (Active 
Directory) authentication, its PFIF programming documentation would have to be updated within 15 days to reflect these 
changes. The PFIF Microsoft documentation already contains some protocol information from Microsoft's still unreleased 
Server 2008.

The Microsoft/PFIF agreement (PDF Link) explicitly does not cover Microsoft patents. It does, however, cover the rest 
of MLIP (Microsoft Licensed Intellectual Property).

For example, the MLIP includes Microsoft's CIFS (Common Internet File System), AD, group policies and Microsoft's 
proprietary additions to the Kerberos authentication protocols. In short, as Jeremy Allison, co-creator of Samba and a 
Google developer, said in an interview with Linux-Watch, "It's not everything we wanted, but it's close."

"The lack of patent coverage is a bit disappointing, but to give Microsoft credit, they negotiated in good faith," 
Allison said. "There may be a bear trap in there, but with Moglen [Eben Moglen, well-known open-source attorney and 
director of the SFLC] looking over the contract, we feel pretty safe."

As for what this means to Samba, he said, "We'll be able to develop complete drop-in AD servers and the like. 
Samba-powered Linux, on both the desktop and the server, can fit right into a Windows network." First, though, before 
implementing any changes from the documentation into Samba, "we'll be implementing test suites using the documentation 
and testing them on real networks to see what the differences are between how things are supposed to work and how they 
really work. We'll then give our
results to the PFIF," he said.
...

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