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SAP Slouches Towards Bethlehem
,----[ Quote ]
| Readers with a taste for high comedy may
| remember my post âWhy SAP is Such a Sap
| over Software Patentsâ, which rather took
| to task a certain large German software
| company over its stance on software
| patents. Now, to be fair, SAP has done some
| good things for free software â not many,
| but some â and Matthew Aslett has produced
| an excellent summary of these on his 451
| CAOS Theory blog, which I urge you to read.
|
| [...]
|
| The other problem is the reference to RAND.
| As the quotation notes, RAND for open
| source projects means royalty-free â but
| not for traditional software companies. In
| that case, RAND means a âreasonableâ
| licence fee â which may be small, but is,
| as SAP must know, completely incompatible
| with free software licences like the GNU
| GPL.
`----
http://www.computerworlduk.com/community/blogs/index.cfm?entryid=2789&blogid=14
SAP as a case study for open source engagement
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| Of course some issues remain. On a related
| issue, one of the most significant for free
| and open source advocates is the companyâs
| attitude towards software patents. A good
| explanation as to why this is the case is
| provided by Glyn Moody.
|
| I asked Claus and Erwin for their
| perspective on SAPâs stance on software
| patents and how that impacted the
| perception of SAP. Part of the response was
| the expected position that as SAP exists in
| a world where there are software patents it
| has no choice but to engage in patenting
| software itself if it is to retain a strong
| position against competitors. The other,
| with specific reference to open source, was
| as follows:
|
| âSAP actually is a big proponent
| of strong and concise IPR
| licensing regimes for all
| standards and open source
| initiatives we participate in.
| Whatever claims of patents and
| patent applications that
| essentially need to be infringed
| to implement a standard or use an
| open source component should
| always be licensed in a
| reasonable and non-discriminatory
| manner by the individuals and
| organizations that have
| contributed to the project
| (obviously, in open source
| projects RAND means royalty-
| free). SAP does participate in
| open source projects particularly
| in order to drive adoption of a
| certain technology. There may be
| SAP patents in that very domain
| and they may be essential, but we
| require ourselves to freely
| license those patents to
| everybody. But we expect the same
| from any other project
| participant. And thatâs actually
| why we prefer governance models
| like the one from the Eclipse
| Foundation (that also comprises
| contribution analyses in order to
| minimize unintentional copyright
| infringements).â
`----
http://blogs.the451group.com/opensource/2010/02/11/sap-as-a-case-study-for-open-source-engagement/
Recent:
Open Source at SAP in 2009
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| In June SAP moved up its membership level at
| the Eclipse Foundation from Strategic Consumer
| to Strategic Developer, meaning that SAP
| commits to having at least 8 full-time
| developers on the project. However, what is
| more important than the membership level, is
| that SAP contributed a lot more code than in
| the past. SAP now has 13 active contributors
| at Eclipse and contributed more than 1.8
| million lines of code in 2009 which makes SAP
| the third largest corporate contributor to
| Eclipse. In 2009 SAP even initiated or co-
| innitiated two new projects at Eclipse, i.e.
| the Eclipse Pave project and the Eclipse EGit
| project.
`----
http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/weblogs?blog=/pub/wlg/17151
Why SAP is a Sap
,----[ Quote ]
| The real reason SAP's call is hypocritical
| is this document [.pdf], essentially a
| love-letter to software patents, submitted
| as an amicus curiae brief to the European
| Patent Office. Software patents are simply
| incompatible with free software, because
| they are government-granted monopolies
| designed to stop people sharing stuff.
| They also prevent hackers from writing new
| code because they represent an ever-present
| digital sword of Damocles hanging over
| them.
|
| SAP simply cannot claim to be a true friend
| of openness while it also supports software
| patents in any jurisdiction, in any form -
| the same applies to other companies, too, I
| should note. They can share as much code as
| they like, but until they repudiate
| software patents - for example, by placing
| their patent portfolios in the public
| domain - that's little more than window-
| dressing.
`----
http://opendotdotdot.blogspot.com/2009/11/why-sap-is-sap.html
Freedom for Java
http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/weblogs?blog=/pub/wlg/16648
SAP wants an open Java process (pot, meet kettle)
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10394123-16.html?tag=twitter
SAP and open source: it's about Oracle
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| SAP has been trying to get the influential
| SAP Mentor group onside with open source.
| Thatâs probably one of the easiest tasks it
| has. Geeks love open source and care little
| for commercial issues. And the Mentors are
| extremely good geek advocates for what SAP
| does. Marketing wise itâs an internal SAP
| community slam dunk for SAP. ButâSAP has
| also made clear that IT doesnât believe
| open source means âfree.â Mentors may not
| be concerned about that from a development
| viewpoint but Iâm pretty darned sure theyâd
| get antsy if the license bills came at
| deployment time.
|
| As an aside, I have practical experience of
| running the SAP IP gauntlet. If SAP is
| truly committed to open source then this
| will relieve a lot of the pressure on
| developer groups. However, thatâs not a
| certainty.
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Howlett/?p=1514
SAP: Open Source's Friend or Foe?
,----[ Quote ]
| For example, the European Commission organised seven workgroups looking at
| various aspects of European software policy. One of these was on open source.
| Among the groups taking part in this was the Free Software Foundation Europe,
| and SAP. At the end of their joint report (PDF, HTML), there are a number of
| appendices that represent the particular views of participants. SAP's is by
| far the longest, running to some 17 pages.
|
| Most of that space is used to bolster the following statements through
| supporting comments of various kinds (mostly links to news items):
|
| A number of key open source projects depend on the contributions by mixed
| source / hybrid model companies
|
| Hybrid / mixed source models seem to be a key element of the larger open
| source ecosystem
|
| Open source development like closed source development has its pros and cons
|
| It is very difficult to discriminate between open source and non-open source
| vendors any longer
|
| Open source software is proprietary as well
|
| Different business models and business interest lead to different positions
| regarding IPR, standardization and interoperability
`----
http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/sap-open-sources-friend-or-foe
Interop: SAP CTO backs open source for the cloud
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| "SAP is a big fan and supporter of open source," Sikka said.
|
| Now Sikka did not detail any specific open source project or efforts that SAP
| may be involved in, but it's still interesting to note how supportive his
| comment are of open source.
`----
http://blog.internetnews.com/skerner/2009/05/interop-sap-cto-backs-open-sou.html
Open Source Business Intelligence Scores Another Channel Win
,----[ Quote ]
| openbiForgive The VAR Guy if he sounds like Yogi Berra today, but our
| resident blogger has deja vu all over again. The reason: The folks at OpenBI,
| a systems integrator in Chicago, have scored yet another win promoting
| Pentahoâs open source business intelligence software to customers. This is
| becoming a familiar story for OpenBI and Pentahoâs channel. Hereâs the scoop.
`----
http://www.thevarguy.com/2009/05/19/open-source-business-intelligence-scores-another-channel-win/
SAP Teams With HP, IBM For Business Software Appliances
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| SAP, as part of its effort to lure more midsize business customers, will
| introduce appliance-like systems pre-loaded with its ERP software, a
| database, and a Linux operating system, running on hardware from
| Hewlett-Packard or IBM.
`----
http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/erp/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=207501412
Options increase as giants open up
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| IN a move to boost the growing demand for SUSE Linux Enterprise, Novell says
| it has extended its partnership with SAP to offer enhanced options for
| customers who choose to run open source.
`----
http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,23501582-24169,00.html
Novell, SAP Work to Attract SMBs to SUSE Linux
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| Novell and SAP are out to get even the smallest SAP user running
| mission-critical applications on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server.
|
| Novell and SAP have announced that they will customize SAP's enterprise
| applications to work even more efficiently with SUSE Linux Enterprise and its
| associated virtualization and identity management technologies.
`----
http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Linux-and-Open-Source/Novell-SAP-Work-to-Attract-SMBs-to-SUSE-Linux/
Related:
SAP announces new partners for SME offerings
,----[ Quote ]
| The hardware for the prototype SAP is showing at CeBIT is provided by
| open-source software specialist Novell's SUSE Linux Enterprise.
`----
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUKL0386293220080304?rpc=44
SAP Contributes New Tool to Open Source Eclipse Developer Community
,----[ Quote ]
| As part of its commitment to support the open-source developer community, SAP
| AG today announced that for the first time it will contribute software
| development capabilities to the Eclipse community.
`----
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/prnewswire/AQW04517102007-1.htm
The end of the proprietary database?
,----[ Quote ]
| While Packer does not believe that proprietary databases are doomed, he does
| see the writing on the wall in emerging markets and that the increased use of
| open source will eventually surround proprietary databases in established
| markets. Unless the proprietary suppliers respond they risk losing business
| in the long-term.
`----
http://blogs.the451group.com/opensource/2007/12/17/the-end-of-the-proprietary-database/
SAP Backs SUSE
,----[ Quote ]
| SAP is recommending SUSE as its preferred Linux platform, the stuff of which
| stacks are made, and Novell is going start being the first line of defense
| for people running SAP applications on SUSE.
`----
http://www.sys-con.com/read/378047.htm
SAP certifies Netweaver for Red Hat Linux
,----[ Quote ]
| SAP's certification helps ensure full interoperability of Red Hat systems
| with all modules of SAP Netweaver, said Red Hat.
`----
http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2007/07/30/225867/sap-certifies-netweaver-for-red-hat-linux.htm
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