Will Shai Agassi speaking at Churchill Club influence the direction of SDN?

[Former Member]

Hi SDN Team, Hi SDN Fellows,

will Shai Agassi speaking at Churchill Club influence the direction of SDN? Here you find an Article about that toppic:

- English: <a href="http://www.pcmag.co.uk/vnunet/news/2145809/sap-dismisses-open-source">SAP dismisses open source innovation</a>

- German: <a href="http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/66062">SAP-Vorstand wettert gegen Open Source</a>

I hope not. Especaly because SDN is starting it's first Open Source Development project. Have a look at <a href="/people/sap.user72/blog/2005/11/14/sdn-and-open-source">SDN and Open Source</a>.

Best regards

Gregor

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

/people/sap.user72/blog/2005/11/11/i-love-open-source--really

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

hi Craig,

does this blog convince you? isn't it maybe just an effort to limit damage?

as shai pointed out himself, everyone is free to listen to the recordings. i did and i am still confused.

what is the intention of those statements?

currently we're at a point of time, where venture capital starts going into OS businesses(sic!), where one of the busiest and most respected SDNers - you - starts an os project on SDN and the SDN itself probably does gain a lot of attraction just due to Netweaver's attitude of openness.

and just at this point of time shai agassi goes to california and coins the dubious term 'ip socialism'(actual google count 18.700)in connection with open source. he must have known that using such a term at that place, he raised a lot of negative primary associations in people's minds (i think it's a little bit different here in europe; people don't start to panic if they just hear the word socialism).

apart from the psychological implications of such a statement I think it lacks any factual basis. has he been thinking of efforts in europe concerning software patents? do those initiatives try to deprive anyone of his reasonable claims on ownership of intellectual property? what I understand, they don't. To simplify it they just try to keep algorithms patent-free. '1+1=2' should not be patentable.

I very much respect what Shai made of Netweaver the last couple of years(although I can't see those great innovations of the IP based company he was talking of, except the innovative assembly of innovative components, lots of which coming from innovative communities outside IP based companies) but I still don't know what to think of his latest comments.

Therefore I consider it to be a good idea, that this community starts the first bigger <a href="/people/sap.user72/blog/2005/11/14/sdn-and-open-source target="_blank">OS community project</a> outside of SDN on <A HREF="https://sourceforge.net/projects/sdn-kmweblog/">Sourceforge</A>.

Regards,

anton

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi Anton,

I certainly understand your concern, and if it was not for all of the other comments, pieces of information and various movements of SAP as well as Shai - reading a comment such as that attached to our weblog announcing we are moving forward could have hade a rather drastic effect on my morale. When the comments were first posted I hesitated to answer, not because I didn't have an answer just simply because I felt that perhaps it would be better coming from the person who was quoted out of context.

However, the interview which I listened to 3 times to ensure I did not miss anything as well as Shai's follow up weblog which he did in direct response, in my opinion do set the record straight.

I'm still somewhat new to the world where what the big guys in the big companies say get twisted and distorted just to cause chaos, not something I enjoy and I hope I never have the displeasure of; but I can say that the blog does convince me. What I can't say is does it convince me alone or is it because of the numerous other events and speeches that all tie together?

The activities of <a href="http://www.sap.com/company/sapventures/index.epx">SAP Ventures</a>, epsecially in terms of <a href="http://www.zend.com">Zend Technologies</a> and <a href="http://www.socialtext.com/weblog/050927sapinvest.html">SocialText</a> add to my understanding that SAP is OS friendly as well as supportive. Then we have <a href="http://www.mysql.com/products/maxdb/">MaxDB</a> as well as <a href="http://www50.sap.com/linux/">Linux on SAP</a>.

As for the specific comments made at this specific event, each of us will in turn interpret them differently regardless of what everyone else says. I look at them in terms of all the pieces of the puzzle together as well as the fact that I've not been told <b>not</b> to start the first OS <a href="/people/sap.user72/blog/2005/11/14/sdn-and-open-source">project</a> together with the community, I think that if SAP did view OS as many of these blogs relating to the interview depict then I would not have been supported in this project or as we move forward with other potential projects.

Just my two cents, and as much as I wish I could just make you see it the same way I do but I would rather not try I would rather you come to that conclusion on your own. There is enough information out there on it and I've spent about 3 days reading English and German blogs and articles about what Shai has said in this regard and what he has not, kind of nice having him here on SDN so open and up front with us as many of the blogs I've come across on the internet are simply the authors intrepetation of what they have read or heard and many do not have a 1st person account.