September 10, 2004

Apache and Debian unable to deploy Sender ID. The Apache Software Foundation and the Debian Project have both declared that the Microsoft-patented Sender ID mechanism, which helps identify the origin server of email, is incompatible with their respective licenses due to the license agreement Microsoft has attached to the idea. Any product with an implementation of the patented mechanism must have the Sender ID feature removed before being included in the Debian project. Apache's statement gets specific.