HP's Open Source Strategist Jumps Ship

Renowned open source advocate Bruce Perens has left his post at Hewlett-Packard, less than four weeks after announcing that his desire to become more politically active has put him at odds with company management.

Although news of Perens' departure is posted on his personal Web site, it is not clear whether the open source icon quit or was asked to leave.

No one at HP was immediately available to comment Monday.

Rocking the Boat

Perens worked for HP for two years, serving as senior strategist of Linux and open source, and he was known for pushing the envelope to further open source adoption. In fact, Perens' resume, posted on his site, says that his assignments included "challenging HP management." That task apparently became more difficult when HP bought Compaq Computer earlier this year, making the company a leading buyer of Microsoft Windows for PCs.

While Perens continued on his open source drive, he reportedly grew increasingly at odds with the new company. Speaking at an open source rally in San Francisco last month, Perens said that he was "too political to be someone else's employee."

Free Agent

The Palo Alto, California, company had been trying to limit Perens' activist tendencies. For example, last July it forced him to cancel a demonstration that would reveal software code to allow users to circumvent DVD (digital video/versatile disc) encryption, because doing so would run afoul of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Now free of HP, Perens is expected to return to his activist roots. On his site, Perens notes that he is available to any company looking to develop open source policies and processes.

Pior to working for HP, Perens served as senior systems programmer at Pixar Animation Studios and founded the Linux Capital Group.