Microsoft Puts C#, CLI Under No-Lawsuit Umbrella
By newsadmin at 9 July, 2009, 4:24 am
By Jack M. Germain
LinuxInsider
Part of the ECT News Network
Microsoft stated Tuesday that it will not pursue legal action against open source software developers using C# and CLI programming languages. This will likely make some developers much more confident in using the technologies.
However, the promise does not include the non-ECMA parts of Mono. Devs for that project may have to choose between what’s safe and what’s powerful.
Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) made good Tuesday on a promise it made months ago to the open source community that it would not sue software developers who use its EMCA C# programming language and Common Language Infrastructure, or CLI.
This announcement aims to calm growing fears that Microsoft might restrict open source projects by going after program developers for patent or other intellectual property infringements related to to these two standards.
Microsoft made the announcement on its community blog through comments by Peter Galli.
“The announcement is critical to maintaining an open standard, and I’m sure that Microsoft is also doing it to appease government regulators,” said Jim McGregor, chief technology strategist for In-Stat.
“Please, note, however, that Microsoft placed some very specific restrictions,” he told LinuxInsider. “Solutions must adhere to the specs in order to avoid reprisal.Setting Standards
Under its Community Promise, Microsoft is, in essence, letting all developers freely use the EMCA C# specifications and CLI standards within their own technology, code or solutions, Galli said in his blog post.
“You do not need to sign a license agreement, or otherwise communicate to Microsoft how you will implement the specifications,” he wrote.
The Community Promise spells out Microsoft’s assurances that it will not file “necessary claims” against anyone using, selling, importing or distributing any covered implementation under distribution models including open source licenses such as the LGPL and the GPL .
Microsoft’s Motives
Microsoft agreed to this special promise license in response to a request from Miguel de Icaza, founder of the Gnome and Mono projects, and vice president of developer relations at Novell (Nasdaq: NOVL) .
“The issue was that ECMA required that the standards be ‘reasonable and non-discriminatory,’” de Icaza told LinuxInsider, “but even when Microsoft had been on record saying, ‘We will have a royalty free license,’ there was a debate about what the license was and what ‘reasonable’ meant — 10 cents a copy, $100 a copy?”
In the end, Monday’s announcement clarified that the price was zero, he said.
Eases Concerns
Microsoft’s decision is significant because it clarifies what the open source community can expect with future code development.
“There was a concern in open source circles that without a clear statement from Microsoft, the increased used of C# and the CLI in Linux could one day become Linux’ Achilles heel,” said de Icaza.
The fear was that Microsoft would remain silent — and in later years, when everyone used C# and the CLI, Microsoft would come after every Linux user, he explained.
“The announcement eliminates this source of fear,” he said.
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