SAP's Agassi denies anti-open source remarks

Below are selected excerpts from some blog postings based on both vnunet.com's original report and Agassi's reply.

Jeff Nolan, SAP Ventures 
"I'm certainly not going to pretend that I can speak for Shai, but his comments in the full context of the interview were certainly not as hostile to open source as the pull quotes that I have seen [in the vnunet.com story].

"The IP issues surrounding open source are legitimate but I would not go as far as equating them with socialism because even in open source IP is treated as property that is owned and licensed.

"The industry is evolving hybrid licensing models that accomplish much of what open source set out to do while also rewarding companies for investing in real development."

Dave Rosenberg, principal analyst with the Open Source Development Labs 
"Shai Agassi responded on his blog and in the media to my post (and others) last week regarding his comments about open source. I took his advice and went back and listened to the ZD podcast to make sure I wasn't overreacting. I was able to find all of the quotes I used from the VNUnet article and they weren't out of context enough to alter their meaning, contrary to what Agassi stated.

"SAP runs on Linux, uses MySQL, and invested in Zend, and yet fought for the EU patent directive. Is SAP a study in contrasts, or opportunistic? Hard to say.

"I think the point Agassi was trying to make is that software or any IP based commodity needs to have a leader (a commercial entity) guiding and supporting it. That notion has been proven right by SAP and wrong by Apache.

"I should have chosen another word than fool for Agassi. He's a really smart guy and someone future business leaders should learn from. I just think his perspective is skewed and one-sided. Oh well, I am over it."

Anti-software patent activist Florian Mueller at NoSoftwarePatents.com 
"After listening to the MP3 recording of that Churchill Club meeting, I think the vnunet.com story is accurate. The recording vindicates the reporter, not Shai Agassi.

"You can't love open source and lobby for software patents at the same time. Loving open source and lobbying for software patents simply doesn't mix."

Jason Brooks, analyst, eWeek Labs 
"I know it's popular to point to the free and open source software trend as a new red menace, but can anyone explain to me what open source or free software actually has to do with socialism or communism?

"Developers, or the firms that employ them, are free to license their works in any way they see fit. If these individuals or groups use the code of others in their works, they're required to abide by the licences under which the developers of those borrowed works released their code.

"Did the writing of that sentence just evoke a Karl Marx cackle from beyond the grave? Is Lenin now grinning underneath his waxy coating?"

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