Samba Guru Dumps Novell

Jeremy Allison, part of the brain trust behind the popular Samba Linux-to-Windows bridge software, has left Novell in a very public manner.

In a statement posted yesterday (Thursday) morning to the Groklaw Web site, Allison expressed his unhappiness about the Microsoft-Novell detente announced November 2.

He wrote:

He also posted a copy of his resignation letter to Novell. A key snippet: "Whilst the Microsoft patent agreement is in place there is *nothing* we can do to fix community relations. And I really mean nothing."

It was later reported in this ZDNet blog that Allison is taking his know-how off to Google. Now that's gotta hurt.

Since Microsoft and Novell issued their statement of rapprochement, there has been a hardening of lines among open sourcers, many accusing Novell of stupidity or treachery. Google is now clearly the Anybody But Microsoft (ABM) ring leader.

Allison has been a vociferous critic of Microsoft's stance vis-a-vis the open source movement.

Samba is a popular open-source project that eases interoperability between Linux and Windows worlds. Ostensibly, part of the recent Novell-Microsoft pact was to similarly bridge those two realms.

Allison's loud exit is just the latest in a series of kerfuffles roiling the open source community. Early in December, Stuart Cohen left his position atop the Open Source Development Laboratory, home of leading Linux light Linus Torvalds.

But in what could be construed as a positive sign for Linux and Novell, former SUSE kernel poobah Hubert Mantel returned to Novell this week.

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