[ale] Microsoft CIFS & SAMBA

[Kevin Krumwiede]

On Thu, 2002-05-09 at 16:18, Jim Philips wrote:
> There is an infuriating and bewildering article here:
> 
> http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=70&e=2&cid=70&u=/cn/20020509/tc_cn/microsoft_s_file_share_rule_makes_waves
> 
> It's all about the new CIFS technical reference. In order to use the document, 
> developers must sign an agreement prohibiting use of information in the 
> document for building software governed by the GPL. This could have ominous 
> implications for SAMBA. See the article and read it to the end. This whole 
> issue has become part of the nine states' challenge to the earlier anti-trust 
> settlement.

The conclusion on Slashdot was that this "technical reference" doesn't
even cover Microsoft's latest implementations of CIFS.  There's nothing
new in it.  Who knows what kind of scheme Microsoft's lawyers have
cooked up this time?  In the unlikely event that prohibiting a GPL
implementation of a "standard" actually holds up in court, the best
solution I've heard would be to call it "commercial" software and charge
something like two cents for a million-year license. :o)

Krum


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