Jeremy Allison (SAMBA) Resigns from Novell

According to a post on groklaw.net, Jeremy Allison has turned in his resignation at Novell. "The legendary Jeremy Allison (of Samba fame) has resigned from Novell in protest over the Microsoft-Novell patent agreement, which he calls 'a mistake' that will be 'damaging to Novell's success in the future.'"

This post made it to Slashdot here:
Slashdot | Jeremy Allison Resigns From Novell In Protest
http://linux.slashdot.org/linux/06/12/21/167258.shtml

walterbyrd writes to alert us to word from groklaw.net that Jeremy Allison has turned in his resignation at Novell. "The legendary Jeremy Allison (of Samba fame) has resigned from Novell in protest over the Microsoft-Novell patent agreement, which he calls 'a mistake' that will be 'damaging to Novell's success in the future.' His main issue with the deal, though, is 'that even if it does not violate the letter of the license, it violates the intent of the GPL license the Samba code is released under, which is to treat all recipients of the code equally.' He leaves the company at the end of this month. He explained why in a message sent to several Novell email lists, and the message included his letter to management."

Groklaw - Jeremy Allison Has Resigned from Novell to Protest MS Patent Deal
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20061221081000710

From his original post (contained in the Groklaw site):
"Do you think that if we'd have found what we legally considered a clever way around the Microsoft EULA so we didn't have to pay for Microsoft licenses and had decided to ship, oh let's say, "Exchange Server" under this "legal hack" that Microsoft would be silent about it - or we should act aggr[i]eved when they change the EULA to stop us doing this?"
(end of quote from groklaw)

I have to agree with some of the Slashdot posters, that there might be some Linux developers who will split or try not to provide their code to different companies, like Novell, because they do not agree with the "Microvell" agreement. These people seem to think that this "divide and conquer" tactic is exactly what MS had (or has) in mind. I agree with that sentiment.

I do not see how an agreement between TWO COMPANIES can provide good for all of the companies, individuals, developers, users, hobbyists, and others who cannot be named, who have some interest in Linux. That interest can be of a financial nature, or could be mere curiosity. Novell cannot, and Microsoft WILL NOT "indemnify" all of the folks that have interest (monetary or otherwise) in Linux.

When was the last time that you could LEGALLY "try out" Microsoft Windows, honestly, completely, for as long as you wanted without having to buy a licensed copy. No, you can't LEGALLY go down to the local cyber-cafe or library or computer store and say, "Gee, let's see what happens if I do this...". Sure, you might try to get away with it, but if the OS is hosed by your tricks, you will end up having some very irritated people. If you want to do it with your own computer, you must LEGALLY PURCHASE a copy of Windows (if you don't already have one). And if you mess it up, that's your choice.

I have decided not to use SuSE Linux any longer. I have not decided whether I will examine OpenSuSE or not. But probably not since I am already familiar with how the SuSE OS works. I used in on some of my older computers going back to rev 7.something (before SuSE was owned by Novell). The last PURCHASED copy was of 9.3.

I know this has been mentioned on this site before, and it is probably off-topic, but I felt the need to mention it.

Jon