| Ubuntu founder solicits openSUSE list, irritates developers |
Nov. 25, 2006
There has been a great deal of heat in open-source circles over the Novell/Microsoft patent deal, but Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth, took it to a whole new level when he went to the main openSUSE list to invite openSUSE's developers to abandon Novell SUSE for Ubuntu.
In his openSUSE list note, Shuttleworth opened by slamming the Novell/Microsoft agreement, writing, "Novell's decision to go to great lengths to circumvent the patent framework clearly articulated in the GPL has sent shock waves through the community. If you are an OpenSUSE developer who is concerned about the long term consequences of this pact, you may be interested ... [in] a series of introductory sessions for people who want to join the Ubuntu community -- in any capacity, including developers and package maintainers."
These sessions are part of Ubuntu Open Week. This is a series of IRC (Internet Relay Chat) discussions with leading Ubuntu figures covering every aspect of the popular Linux development. The Week runs from Nov. 27 through Dec. 2.
Shuttleworth continued: "There are a couple of sessions that would be particularly interesting for folks familiar with OpenSUSE. The Kubuntu team is hosting some events during the week to look at KDE and Ubuntu and to discuss the roadmap of their project. There are also a few events being hosted by the Ubuntu Desktop team."
Then, Shuttleworth moved back to criticizing openSUSE's parent company, Novell. "If you have an interest in being part of a vibrant community that cares about keeping free software widely available and protecting the rights of people to get it free of charge, free to modify, free of murky encumbrances and 'undisclosed balance sheet liabilities,' then please do join us."
"I know that posting this message to an OpenSUSE list will be controversial. I'm greatly respectful of the long tradition of excellence in the SuSE product and community and have no desire to undermine that with this post. That said, I think the position taken by Novell leadership in their contract with Microsoft is hugely disrespectful of the contributions of thousands of GPL programmers and contributors to SuSE, and I know that many are looking for a new place to get involved that is not subject to the same arbitrary executive intervention. Ubuntu is one option, as are Gentoo, Debian and other communities."
Many openSUSE developers, however, saw Shuttleworth's note to be anything but respectful. Pete Connolly, director of the UK's Open Consulting Group, a network of Linux engineers, noted that Shuttleworth sent his message, "On a Friday evening (European time), presumably to avoid 'official' comment or rebuttal. That way you get at least two days of discussion without any retort."
Leading Novell Linux desktop developer, J.P. Rosevear took a far more hostile view of Shuttleworth's "invitation," writing, "You can try and dress it up all you want, but you're an intelligent person and you knew exactly what you were doing when you sent this and I doubt the motive was not pure."
As for Ubuntu being free of "arbitrary executive intervention," Rosevear said, "Are you seriously saying you have no arbitrary executive power over ubuntu? You could seriously damage the project at least in the near term by withdrawing your monetary support."
Shuttleworth's company, Canonical Ltd., supports much of Ubuntu's paid development.
Rosevear then gives a laundry list of what he sees as Ubuntu's anti-community activities. This includes, "Preventing the Debian GNOME maintainer from updating GNOME packages until after Ubuntu LSO [story] had shipped because you had hired him," "Not releasing any source code for launchpad/rosetta/malone to maintain a competitive advantage,..." and "Trying to simultaneously supplant Debian's community with 'Ubuntu' while relying heavily on the Debian community to be successful."
Novell SUSE Linux project manager Andreas Jaeger took a calmer view of the situation in his blog, but he's still not happy about it. "Ubuntu's open week sounds like a really good idea. I'm just surprised that it is done to get users away from openSUSE," Jaeger wrote.
Jaeger continued, "Mark, let me reiterate that the openSUSE community and the Ubuntu communities share the same goals." Instead, Jaeger suggested that "The Open Week targeted at Microsoft users and developers would be a great idea! Mark, I'd like to invite you to discuss what possibilities we have to work together against the domination of Microsoft on the desktops and servers -- instead of fighting against each other. I would prefer to see more users switching from Windows to Linux than just Linux users switching distributions."
Well-known SUSE programmer Anders Johansson also touched on this theme , writing, "It is interesting how everyone in the community seems intent on dividing it, committing suicide by infighting. Congratulations, Mr. Shuttleworth. You are doing a fine job of doing Microsoft's FUD work for them."
It's not just SUSE developers who are peeved at Shuttleworth. KDE developer, and recent Kubuntu convert from openSUSE, Daniel Molkentin blogged, "I don't think it's a good strategy to go on a hunt for OpenSUSE developers that way. Saying that Novell did wrong is one thing, but this kind of PR leaves a bad taste."
After looking over the first wave of public comments to Shuttleworth's message, it would be fair to say that most observers are finding it distasteful.
-- Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols
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