Despite the facts pointing otherwise

Apr 8, 2010 09:11 GMT  ·  By

IBM wants to be an open-source software supporter, but only when it suits it. The giant tech company was accused of breaking its pledge to not pursuit open-source companies and projects that might be infringing on some of its many patents. Yet, earlier this week, it did just that, sending TurboHercules, a company that makes an open-source mainframe emulator, a list of 100 patents on which the software might be infringing. Among those were some that IBM has said it won't use against open-source projects, but the company is now claiming that this doesn't mean it's breaking its promise.

"In 2005, when IBM announced open access to 500 patents that we own, we said the pledge is applicable to qualified open-source individuals or companies," an IBM spokesperson told eWeek. "We have serious questions about whether TurboHercules qualifies. TurboHercules is a member of organisations founded and funded by IBM competitors such as Microsoft to attack the mainframe. We have doubts about TurboHercules' motivations."

There is no doubt that two of the patents listed by IBM are part of the 500 the company pledged not to use. However, Big Blue is trying to turn things around by basically saying Hercules, the software in question, doesn't qualify because it competes with IBM's products. There was no mention of a project need to 'qualify' in the original 2005 pledge. TurboHercules is determined to stand up against IBM and has already filed an anti-trust complaint with the European Commission. It wouldn't be the first time IBM's practices come under scrutiny.

The real issue here is that Hercules allows companies to run software created for IBM's System Z and other of its mainframe platforms. This would eliminate the requirement to buy one of IBM's very expensive mainframes, something that the giant really doesn't want. Big companies that have developed software for IBM mainframes are reluctant to throwing it all away and are locked into buying new IBM hardware when they need to upgrade. This lock-in has proven a veritable cash cow for IBM, so it's easy to see why it wouldn't want its customers to have a real choice.

It is becoming quite fashionable for large companies to support open source. Sometimes out of necessity, sometimes because they don't want to look like the bad guy. But when 'the going gets rough,' most suddenly lose their lofty ideals and go back to their tried and trusted ways of doing business, squashing the competition. Unfortunately, IBM looks like a perfect example of this.