Network Appliances ("NetApp") and Sun Microsystems ("Sun") are in a battle to the death over the Z Filesystem. Sun recently released ZFS open source (with a deliberately GPL-unfriendly license, c'est la vie, but I can at least get SGI's XFS on Linux, and use ZFS for my home datastore under BSD) and NetApp is suing them, claiming that Sun's using ZFS for anything other than Sun's own closed-source workstation operating systems is a violation of NetApp's patents and licences.

You don't have to understand the concept of the patent war portfolio to get this joke, though. Sun has filed its response, and there's one heck of a giggle buried in there:

COMPLAINT IN PARAGRAPH 3: "NetApp is a pioneer in the design of data storage systems marketed throughout the United States and abroad and continues to innovate new advances in data storage technology."

ANSWER TO PARAGRAPH 3: "Sun denies the allegation in paragraph 3."

D'oh!

And yes, when it comes to anyone versus NetApp, I've got a dog in that fight.

Tags: geek
Current Mood: amused
Current Music: Black Sabbath, Rusty Angels