Date: Sat, 6 Nov 2010 10:16:36 -0600 From: Chad Perrin <perrin@apotheon.com> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: ZFS License and Future Message-ID: <20101106161636.GD12418@guilt.hydra> In-Reply-To: <4CD4D8A9.8030900@too1337.com> References: <AANLkTi=EKpVrX2xc7oq%2Bp=RCVtUMUmcVYefj7G20yr-O@mail.gmail.com> <4CD45A11.7060002@stillbilde.net> <20101105213433.GC8648@guilt.hydra> <4CD4D8A9.8030900@too1337.com>
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--GyRA7555PLgSTuth Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On Fri, Nov 05, 2010 at 11:25:13PM -0500, Steven Susbauer wrote: > On 11/5/10 4:34 PM, Chad Perrin wrote: > >Will Oracle start using patent suits to try to stop people > >who aren't paying for ZFS or who are using it on platforms other than > >Solaris from using it? > > > >Whether you think concerns like these will prove reasonable in the long > >run, they make a lot more sense than assuming that Alejandro just wonders > >if the CDDL is "dangerous" somehow. > > >=20 > I would be surprised. Oracle (real Oracle, not Sun) is still the primary= =20 > developer of btrfs on Linux. They are pretty much going for feature=20 > parity with ZFS and want people to actually use it. If they start suing= =20 > over ZFS patents which are certainly applicable to btrfs, it will have=20 > repercussions on that side. Perhaps. On the other hand, Oracle could offer some kind of "patent covenant" protecting btrfs while going after a ZFS fork as a way of "focing" people to migrate from it to btrfs, as a more hostile way of achieving what Microsoft does when it ends support for an older OS to get people to buy the newer Windows release. =2E . . or maybe Oracle will decide it doesn't need the open source community's help any longer at some future date, and shut down *both* open source filesystem development projects. Oracle is known to be at least intermittently hostile toward open source software, in ways that are sometimes more frightening than Microsoft's hostility. This is scaring people, and I don't blame them. The uncertainty about Oracle's future position on everything it has acquired with Sun is something that will need to be tested and observed to see how it shakes out in the next few years; in the meantime, I do not blame anyone for being cautious about committing to use of open source software under the Oracle umbrella. --=20 Chad Perrin [ original content licensed OWL: http://owl.apotheon.org ] --GyRA7555PLgSTuth Content-Type: application/pgp-signature Content-Disposition: inline -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.14 (FreeBSD) iEYEARECAAYFAkzVf2QACgkQ9mn/Pj01uKVlIACgmDIXhdirg6PX/hWafIMsYVZS pUYAnArQ31V6ivPM9mPlTLr0Ndud9Vuu =cQQz -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --GyRA7555PLgSTuth--
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