Taking aim at what it terms "proprietary thinking," Novell revealed plans on Thursday to release an open-source LDAP Software Developer Kit (SDK) to encourage development of more directory applications.
Because it is based on the LDAP standard, Novell's SDK will work with the LDAP-compliant Novell Directory Services (NDS) eDirectory as well as with third-party directories.
"The SDK is the preferred access mechanism for programs and services written in the C language to access the NDS eDirectory," said Kris Magnusson, open source architect at Novell. "The SDK is a Version 3 compliant specification, so it will help Novell and its customers by providing a programmatic access to NDS eDirectory from applications and services that consume LDAP."
The SDK is based on open source code from OpenLDAP, a foundation dedicated to promoting open source LDAP development. Novell is a "first-class" partner of OpenLDAP and licenses its client libraries for the Novell LDAP SDK.
"Part of the promise of the Internet was to lower education costs for companies by providing Internet standards that will work across all products, and this SDK is actually providing that capability," said Leif Pedersen, Novell's director of product management for NDS and directory-enabled applications. "Not only is this a very, very good SDK for NDS, but it can primarily be used against any other directory as well."
Kurt Mounteer, assistant systems manager at Marriott Guest Services, in Salt Lake City, Utah, said he believes the move into open source territory will be good for Novell.
"It seems to me that [the open source model] makes [solutions] more available for different operating systems or for people running a variety of systems. I think that's a positive - especially if you're in a mixed environment," Mounteer said.
Mounteer also noted that Novell, whose products run in several environments, has an advantage over companies that are more focused on running their products on a single platform.
By using standards to create infrastructure pieces, Magnusson believes there is no need for each company to have their own proprietary version of infrastructure parts that could, instead, be compatible with multiple devices so as to make things easier for developers.
"[The Novell SDK] is definitely an attack on proprietary thinking," Magnusson explained.
Pedersen went a step farther. "It is a direct attack against any proprietary nature, which Microsoft is a part of," he said.
Magnusson said that Novell is "definitely trying to drive directory innovation with our SDK," adding that developers, partners, and customers will be able to get their hands in the code itself and understand how it works.
"We're using open source practices to further the capabilities and the reach of the OpenLDAP client SDK. We're calling it our own, we're providing commercial support behind it, and because it is open source, everybody including our competitors and our partners and our developers and our customers are invited to work with us in enhancing this code," Magnusson added.
Novell will not charge anyone wanting to download and use the SDK for their applications, sticking to the open source trait of keeping code open to all users.
"The open source community has kind of a slogan: 'Free speech, not free beer.' This is free speech and free beer," Magnusson explained. "We intend to make this client SDK as widely accepted as possible by basically getting out of people's way, and enabling people to bring this in without incurring financial penalties or financial obligations to Novell. We're creating our own repository so that Novell partners, customers, and developers will be able to participate in engineering this code out in the open."
Users will be able to get the official, supported SDK binaries in the Novell Developer Kit, with an expected release date in early March. After the code is tweaked and enhanced, Novell will return the SDK to OpenLDAP to be included in the foundation's core reference LDAP implementation.
Novell also took a few potshots at Microsoft on a Web site launched Wednesday entitled "The Novell Advantage over Windows 2000". The Web site is located at www.novell.com/advantage/w2k.html.
The site contains a daily "Did You Know" feature revealing alleged shortcomings of Windows 2000, documents comparisons of NDS with Active Directory, and rebuts a Microsoft NetWare 5.0/Windows 2000 comparison article which is said to have "contained a series of false statements about NetWare and NDS." Microsoft removed the article from its Web site after Novell brought in legal counsel, according to Novell.
Microsoft representatives said they did not want to comment on the Novell Web site. Novell-user Mounteer, however, welcomed Novell's aggressive attitude toward Microsoft.
"Right on! That is a whole new change for them," Mounteer exclaimed, adding that he is glad to see Novell move away from their usually quiet marketing stance.
"That's one of my biggest complaints with Novell; that they don't market as aggressively as I have always thought they should," Mounteer continued. "I went and got my Certified Novell Engineer credential, and I've been running their operating systems for years, and I've just always been concerned that I haven't ever seen the marketing that, in my personal opinion, I think they should provide."
However, the tit-for-tat skirmish between Microsoft and Novell will likely heat up further as Windows 2000 nears its Feb. 17 shipping date.
"With Windows 2000 finally about to ship, Microsoft's marketing machine has turned into high gear, launching what is expected to be the most expensive marketing campaign in software industry history," states the Novell Web site. "On this site, Novell will help you separate the hype from the reality, and give you compelling reasons why Novell's networking solutions fulfill today's business needs more effectively than Microsoft's."
Novell Inc., in Provo, Utah, is at www.novell.com.
This story from Infoworld.com Copyright © 2000 InfoWorld Media Group, Inc.
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