Reisers software company in limbo

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Oct 18, 2006 | by Jason Dearen

OAKLAND -- Before he was arrested in connection with his wifes disappearance, Hans Reiser had gained a reputation

as an innovative but controversial figure in the software development world.

An article posted on the technology news site Slashdot.org last week elicited more than

1,500 comments that mixed speculation about his role in his wifes disappearance with hand-wringing over the future of his popular software.

While the reaction may seem surprising, it speaks to Reiser and the recognition of his company -- Namesys -- in the free and open source community, a group of programmers ded-icated to developing software free for anyone to use and improve.

Within the small community, Reisers arrest has created a furor comparable to the arrest of a mid-sized companys CEO on murder charges, says Bruce Byfield, whose coverage of Reiser and the open source software community appears on the news sites NewsForge and Slashdot.

Some say Reisers a genius, some say his (software) doesnt work, Byfield said about Reisers reputation.

Reisers estranged wife, Nina, disappeared Sept. 3 after going to his house to drop off their two children, a girl, 5, and a boy, 7.

Oakland police said they found trace amounts of blood in Hans Reisers living room and his car, and arrested him after forensic tests confirmed the blood could be Nina Reisers.

As a programmer, Reiser is known for developing a computer file system, Reiserfs, that is included in the widely-used Linux operating system, an alternative to Microsoft Windows.

Reisers company employed Russian programmers who are working on the new version of his file system, named Reiser4. His arrest also has left his Russian employees in a precarious state and fueled speculation about Reiser4s future.

In general, we saw this coming, said Alexander Lyamin, one of Reisers five Moscow-based employees. We knew Hans arrest was just a question of time, knowing Oakland police. They just waited for some time so they could declare (Nina Reiser) officially missing. Speaking with Hans, I knew that he is not just one of the suspects, he is the suspect.

The open source community in which Reiser operates is a network of people and businesses who believe in free access to the source code that runs software -- thus making it possible for anyone to improve upon a working idea.

The community varies from the stereotypical hacker in a basement to employees of IBM, Red Hat or Sun Microsystems who contribute to open source, said Byfield.

But along with developing a reputation as an innovative software developer, Reiser also ruffled feathers because of his combative personality, Byfield said.

According to statements he made in online interviews, Reiser viewed his work as a war against the large, dominant software companies -- most notably Microsoft. He believed his software contributed to the erosion of their dominance.

Reisers company was partly funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, which is the research and development arm of the Department of Defense. DARPA did not return a message seeking comment about Reisers arrest.

Reisers latest controversy stemmed from his battles to have his new file system included in the newest version of Linux.

Reiser did not take well to his work being rejected and engaged in a war of words with other programmers published in online interviews.

It got very political. And Reiser is not the most diplomatic of people, said Byfield.

But Byfield said it was mostly a matter of time before Reisers newest file system gained acceptance, capping a project hed been working on for years.

Now, Reisers software project is being held up because of his arrest. Last week, Waltham, Mass.-based software company Novell announced it would stop using Reisers product as its default file system, essentially replacing Reisers product with a competing file system.

Lyamin said the five employees of Namesys want to finish Reiser4 and are scrambling to find funding through contract work so they can continue getting paid.

I do not think that just being arrested will affect anything so long as Hans is not actually convicted, Namesys employee Oleg Drokin told Linux.com.

If he is convicted, that might cause problems for Namesys (because) it is operated solely by Hans, he said.

Staff Writer Jason Dearen can be reached at jdearen@angnewspapers.com.