Earlier this week Microsoft said that it would not appeal a EC court order to immediately implement antitrust sanctions, although it still hopes to overturn last year's antitrust ruling. To comply with the ruling, Microsoft has agreed to grant licences to rival makers of server software to allow them to write applications that can "achieve full interoperability" with Windows client and server operating systems. This licence must be granted on "reasonable and non-discriminatory terms," according to an EU statement.
The proposed licence, called the WSPP Development Agreement, requires the payment of royalties to Microsoft to grant licensees the right to use Microsoft technical documentation to implement Microsoft server protocols, according to licence information on the Microsoft Web site.
But, Carlo Piana, a partner at Milan law firm Tamos Piana & Partners, which represents FSF Europe, said the agreement is not compatible with free software and it is hoping that the EC will ask Microsoft to revise it.
"The conditions are unreasonable and discriminate against free software -- it is impossible for a product under GPL to agree to this licence," said Piano. "We are trying to lobby the commission to change this."
Free software organisations cannot sign the Microsoft licence as it requires royalty payments for every copy sold and stipulates that programs which are built using the licensed information are closed source, according to Piano.
He said this will particularly affect Samba, an open source software package that allows Windows files and printers to be shared by Unix and Linux systems.
"The agreement requires a per-copy licence -- any time you sell a product you must pay a royalty," said Piano. "This prevents Samba from accessing the scheme as they have no way to control the number of copies distributed and don't know how many copies have been distributed."
If Samba is not able to license the agreement, it will be difficult for it to continue to remain interoperable with Microsoft, according to Piano.
Microsoft has been unable to provide a copy of the full licence agreement to ZDNet UK sister site Builder UK, but did say that the licence can be used by anyone. "The licence offer the same terms to all -- anybody who wants to take the licence is free to do so," said a Microsoft spokesman.
Talkback
MS bluffing as much as they can again.
Not surprised. I hope the EU will not give in like the US.
Wow, what is happening with our world!?
Microsoft needs to be back in anti-trust court again... they got a slap on the wrist the first time around and can't even live up to the easy terms that were required of them then.
I've never heard that Samba's development is based on official MS technical Documentation, nor reverse engeneering from MS product, does it mean that the Samba community (or their users) must sign any MS-Licences to respect the new effetive MS-agreement in the EU for interoperability in a Windows (or Windows-like) environment?
It is all in here, Samba, the rest.
Worth a read.
http://www.worldlii.org/eu/cases/ECComm/2004/1.html
can't ths world live without licenses?
I hope that issues such as this, and the movement from Microsoft Linux that is happening in Brasil will help chip away at the stronghold that Microsoft has.