Justin's Blog

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April 15, 2004

MS and Sun

Well, it looks like Sun has been bent over a table and been shafted by Microsoft good and hard. I just got this email in my inbox from Sun:

"In a landmark settlement, Sun and Microsoft have forged a broad agreement that fundamentally redefines the enterprise computing landscape. It signals a new relationship between Sun and Microsoft that promises greater product interoperability, technology innovation, and ultimately greater choice and flexibility for you, the customer."

This reminds me of the poison partnership between MS and Apple year back, and if you have seen the file "Pirates of Silicon Valley" you will remember the menacing look of Bill Gates over Steve Jobs on the stage. Doesn't matter whether you think MS is good or evil, they always get there way, one way or another. The EU has help MS with the "license your code" decision, which everyone thought was great, but spare a thought for the Samba team. IT means that if MS releases portions of the CIFS code under a license, then they will have to license that code or be taken to court. Once way or another my friend.....

Posted by justin at April 15, 2004 06:56 PM

Comments

Samba - CIFS license -hmm..... my understanding is that they'd only have to license it IF they actually want to use it, or probably look at it (have it, possess it), but not necessarily to develop and release their own stuff.

If you're wondering, I know a couple of the samba guys and might be able to get a comment out of them about it.

Posted by: jon johnston at April 16, 2004 01:19 AM