Microsoft has opened a new chapter in its long-running dispute with open-source software developers--and it could have antitrust implications.

In late March, Microsoft published a document that outlines how third-party developers can use Common Internet File Sharing (CIFS), a protocol developed by Microsoft that specifies how Windows PCs share files with servers.

Though publishing the document should make it easier to write software that incorporates CIFS, it contains a crucial restriction that has instead handcuffed some developers.

Specifically, Microsoft requires programmers to sign an agreement that prohibits using information in the document when building software governed by the General Public License ( GPL). Among the products affected by the restriction is Samba, widely used software that competes with file sharing technology in Microsoft's Windows operating system. Samba uses CIFS to communicate with client systems.

"In brief, it sucks," said Jeremy Allison, a leader of the Samba project. He called Microsoft's agreement "a direct attack" on Samba and the GPL.

It is unclear whether Microsoft would take legal action against programmers who reviewed the document and used the information in GPL-governed code, though the implied threat is enough to cause concern.

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The dispute's ramifications also extend well beyond the group of self-appointed programming hobbyists who launched the open-source movement. Microsoft business partners IBM, Hewlett-Packard and others have embraced Samba and other open-source packages; Sun Microsystems is adding open-source efforts to its increasingly bitter struggle against Microsoft; and even Intel, a stalwart Microsoft ally, has invested in open-source Linux companies.

The issue also plays a role in the Microsoft antitrust trial. Nine states and the District of Columbia are seeking stiffer sanctions against the software giant than those found in a November settlement reached by the U.S. Justice Department and nine other states. In pursuing those harsher sanctions, lawyers for the non-settling states have raised the issue of CIFS and Samba.

Microsoft notes that releasing CIFS documentation was required under the proposed settlement with the Justice Department and nine settling states.

But critics counter that Microsoft's use of the licensing agreement could stifle one of Microsoft's "most effective competitors."

The Free Software Foundation (FSF), creator and advocate of the GPL, said Microsoft transformed the antitrust settlement into an " attack" against GPL programmers. The FSF singled out two Microsoft patents to which the license agreement grants programmers royalty-free access.

"They've turned to their patent pool as their last resort to assail us," FSF Executive Director Bradley M. Kuhn said in a statement after Microsoft posted the technical reference.

Samba software lets Linux and Unix-based servers look like Windows servers, allowing them to communicate effortlessly with Windows PCs. Because a federal judge has already determined that Microsoft has a monopoly on the desktop-computer operating system, the ability of competitors' server computers to work with Windows PCs is a central issue in whether the company is behaving anti-competitively to extend its monopoly into the server market and other areas. The desktop-server connection is also part of Sun Microsystems' private antitrust suit against Microsoft.

Though the document published in March deals with older Microsoft software, the company is expected to publish additional information this summer that could further frustrate many developers.

The March document describes CIFS in Windows NT 4.0--introduced in 1996. Microsoft plans to release details in August on CIFS in the more current Windows 2000 and Windows XP. Including the current CIFS restriction in the new document could prevent Samba developers and others from using the information in software that works with these newer products.

My license or yours?
Microsoft's CIFS license is the company's latest effort to raise legal concerns about the GPL, which underlies Linux and many other open-source projects and has been a flashpoint in the open-source debate.

Microsoft has raised the hackles of open-source advocates by calling the GPL " viral" and " Pac-man like"--arguing that using GPL-covered code in a program means the entire program must then be governed by the GPL.

"This licensing model has the effect of foreclosing a business's choice of what intellectual property to share with the community and on what terms," Microsoft has argued.

Open-source fans don't always get along well with Microsoft, but they hold no delusions that they can ignore prevailing Microsoft technologies. Samba is just one of many pieces of open-source software that enable non-Microsoft products to exist in a Microsoft-dominated world.

OpenOffice, for example, a Sun-backed effort to create an open-source competitor to Microsoft Office, boasts as a key feature the ability to read and write Microsoft Office files. And Ximian programmers are working with the assistance of HP and Intel to clone the underpinnings of Microsoft's .Net Internet software.

Samba also enjoys the support of several large Microsoft competitors.

IBM includes Samba in its marketing pitch that tries to persuade customers to consolidate multiple lower-end servers onto a single mainframe simultaneously running several instances of Linux.

HP has also translated Samba and supports the software as a way to update its decades-old HP 3000 server line. SGI offers and supports Samba for its Origin line of Unix servers.

And Quantum, which employs Samba founder Andrew Tridgell, uses Samba for its storage devices, including the new higher-end Guardian line.

Samba is also key to one of the popular uses of Linux: powering inexpensive servers that store shared files, a task Microsoft would rather see Windows handling.

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