Open-Source Guru Fingers New Linux Foes

SAN FRANCISCO -- The greatest threat to Linux may not come from known foes like Microsoft and The SCO Group, but from its strongest supporters, says open-source advocate Bruce Perens.

The co-founder of the advocacy group the Open Source Initiative singles out three companies in particular with his comments: IBM, Red Hat, and his former employer, Hewlett-Packard. He spoke at a LinuxWorld Conference and Expo event here Wednesday

Standard Threats

"SCO is nothing beside the threat that open source developers face from software patents, a fight that we are losing badly," Perens said. He cites pending legislation in the European Parliament to allow software patents in the European Union for the first time. The U.S. has permitted software patents since the 1980s.

SCO claims Linux source code violates its intellectual property rights, and is suing IBM for more than $3 billion in relation to those claims. The company also threatens to sue Linux users if they keep running Linux without paying SCO a licensing fee.

Perens is concerned that by implementing standard technologies--such as protocols defined by the Internet Engineering Task Force, the Internet's standards body--Linux developers expose themselves to lawsuits over patented technology in those standards.

The open-source guru is calling on companies with large software patent portfolios like IBM and HP to give written assurance they will not sue open-source developers.

"I'd like to have a covenant not to sue," Perens said. "We have really great friends and these great friends can still hurt us in significant ways."

Peace Talks Urged

A blanket agreement from IBM and HP not to sue open-source developers seems unlikely, Perens acknowledges. But he says he hopes his statements start a dialogue with patent-holders.

"We should at least start talking about how IBM can protect us," he said. "I'd like to know a little bit more about what they can offer."

IBM e-Business on Demand General Manager Irving Wladawsky-Berger seemed surprised to hear of Perens' comments.

"The question has never come up with Linux," Wladawsky-Berger says. IBM's history of working with open communities like the World Wide Web Consortium should reassure developers, he adds, but he encourages Perens to contact IBM to discuss the issue.

HP's Linux business strategist Mike Balma had no comment on the company's software patents.

"We're supporting Linux," he says. "We're supporting it as our customers want to see it."

Lobbying Launched

Perens also announced he has recruited an old IBM foe, the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA), to help with his cause. The CCIA was created 30 years ago, partly as a voice for small computer vendors during the Justice Department's antitrust investigation into IBM.

The CCIA is helping Perens form an open-source lobbying group. The Open Source And Industry Alliance will represent the interests of open-source developers and companies in Washington, D.C.

"We believe that it is important for a group to take on open source as its core agenda," says Jason Mahler, CCIA General Counsel. "We hope to play a part in combating bad legislation and bad decisions in government."

Perens' criticism of Red Hat centers on its support policies for Red Hat Advanced Server, which he says lock customers into receiving support from Red Hat only.

Finally, Perens had harsh words for former employer HP for its "Premier" sponsorship of the SCO Forum user conference. The company is "tarring" itself by sponsoring SCO's event, Perens says.