Re: Samba gains legal access to Microsoft network file protocols

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

________________________________________
From: Richard Stallman [rms () gnu org]
Sent: Wednesday, December 26, 2007 4:26 PM
To: David Farber
Subject: Samba gains legal access to Microsoft network file protocols

As far as I know, what PFIF has licensed is some secrets about
protocols.  In other words, probably nothing to do with copyrights.
Probably nothing to do with trademarks either (since they would be
irrelevant).  And certainly nothing to do with patents.  When
Microsoft calls this "Intellectual Property", that is just propaganda.

So let's avoid repeating their propaganda when we talk about this.

(The term "intellectual property" spreds confusion whenever it is
used.  See http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/not-ipr.html.)


From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
To: "ip" <ip () v2 listbox com>
Date: Tue, 25 Dec 2007 04:36:06 -0800
Subject: [IP] Samba gains legal access to Microsoft network file protocols

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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