Is the SCO Lawsuit a Good Thing for Linux? 422
Jack William Bell writes "The National Post is running an essay by Wynn Quon entitled 'Linux's lucky lawsuit'. In it Quon claims that (A) SCO is going to lose (saying ". . . SCO is a toad about to face a steamroller.") and (B) the Linux community needs exactly this kind of 'inoculation' as the OS moves from a hobbyist platform to a real business tool. Good analysis or unwarranted optimism?"
SCO... just another horrible thing to come from UT (Score:2, Funny)
Bad news... (Score:4, Funny)
Oh wait, are we talking about Windows?
Inoculation for Linux? (Score:2, Funny)
Then the $699 USD SCO is extorting from the users must be the co-pay. I love HMO's
Warm & Fuzzy? (Score:4, Funny)
What about the hot and bothered let's-rip-his-spine-out-of-his-back and beat-him-with-it rage that is typical of all open-source developers when some -1 troll makes a kind comment about [insert closed-source platform here]?
Speaking as an open source developer, of course.
ObSimpsons (Score:3, Funny)
Re:It's what mom used to say (Score:5, Funny)
Ewww, that's worse than that whole 'Who is Cartman's Mom?' plotline.
Alert: Conspiracy Theory!! (Score:5, Funny)
Hey, has it crossed anyone's mind that maybe IBM is bankrolling SCO's linux suit?
Ok, it's a but far fetched. But the more I think about it, the more diabolically plausible it seems:
What if some Machivellian genius at IBM is orchestrating this? Every day SCO seems more and more like some absurd character from an anti-capitalist farce. What a beautiful test case. They are absolutely unsympathetic as an antagonist. IBM has a flawless legal department. This has none of the ambiguity of the 2600 or Jon cases. How much did IBM spend painting "peace, love, linux" through NYC? How much would it take to buy of a couple of smarmy executives from a failing tech company? (or maybe it was the threat of releasing those compromising pics from the latest NAMBLA rally?)
And Boies? Maybe he's still sore at Microsoft for the de facto loss in the anti-trust case. Maybe he's deep cover for the penguinistas, out for blood in a scorched earth campaign against the Redmond giant.
Think on this: IBM didn't have to include a mention of the GPL in their counter suit. There's enough of an argument in the rest of the brief to shut SCO up and shut them down. The GPL could conceivable hurt IBM in the future if they want to pull shennanigans with the linux codebase in the future. This GPL mention has the potential of being and incredible gift to the community.
Ok. I'll go re-fold my tinfoil hat. 20 years from now when the truth comes out, remember you heard it from me first.
What worries me is.... (Score:4, Funny)
I mean, this is addictive stuff, dude! I dont wanna go cold turkey!
HELP NEEDED (Score:5, Funny)
I AM MR. DARL MCBRIDE CURRENTLY SERVING AS THE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF THE SCO GROUP, FORMERLY KNOWN AS CALDERA SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL, IN LINDON, UTAH, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. I KNOW THIS LETTER MIGHT SURPRISE YOUR BECAUSE WE HAVE HAD NO PREVIOUS COMMUNICATIONS OR BUSINESS DEALINGS BEFORE NOW.
MY ASSOCIATES HAVE RECENTLY MADE CLAIM TO COMPUTER SOFTWARES WORTH AN ESTIMATED $1 BILLION U.S. DOLLARS. I AM WRITING TO YOU IN CONFIDENCE BECAUSE WE URGENTLY REQUIRE YOUR ASSISTANCE TO OBTAIN THESE FUNDS.
IN THE EARLY 1970S THE AMERICAN TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH CORPORATION DEVELOPED AT GREAT EXPENSE THE COMPUTER OPERATING SYSTEM SOFTWARE KNOWN AS UNIX. UNFORTUNATELY THE LAWS OF MY COUNTRY PROHIBITED THEM FROM SELLING THESE SOFTWARES AND SO THEIR VALUABLE SOURCE CODES REMAINED PRIVATELY HELD. UNDER A SPECIAL ARRANGMENT SOME PROGRAMMERS FROM THE CALIFORNIA UNIVERSITY OF BERKELEY DID ADD MORE CODES TO THIS OPERATING SYSTEM, INCREASING ITS VALUE, BUT NOT IN ANY WAY TO DILUTE OR DISPARAGE OUR FULL AND RIGHTFUL OWNERSHIP OF THESE CODES, DESPITE ANY AGREEMENT BETWEEN AMERICAN TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH AND THE CALIFORNIA UNIVERSITY OF BERKELEY, WHICH AGREEMENT WE DENY AND DISAVOW.
IN THE YEAR 1984 A CHANGE OF REGIME IN MY COUNTRY ALLOWED THE AMERICAN TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH CORPORATION TO MAKE PROFITS FROM THESE SOFTWARES.
IN THE YEAR 1990 OWNERSHIP OF THESE SOFTWARES WAS TRANSFERRED TO THE CORPORATION UNIX SYSTEM LABORATORIES. IN THE YEAR 1993 THIS CORPORATION WAS SOLD TO THE CORPORATION NOVELL. IN THE YEAR 1994 SOME EMPLOYEES OF
NOVELL FORMED THE CORPORATION CALDERA SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL, WHICH
BEGAN TO DISTRIBUTE AN UPSTART OPERATING SYSTEM KNOWN AS LINUX. IN THE YEAR 1995 NOVELL SOLD THE UNIX SOFTWARE CODES TO SCO. IN THE YEAR 2001 OCCURRED A SEPARATION OF SCO, AND THE SCO BRAND NAME AND UNIX CODES WERE ACQUIRED BY THE CALDERA SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL, AND IN THE FOLLOWING YEAR THE CALDERA SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL WAS RENAMED SCO GROUP, OF WHICH I CURRENTLY SERVE AS CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER.
MY ASSOCIATES AND I OF THE SCO GROUP ARE THEREFORE THE FULL AND RIGHTFUL OWNERS OF THE OPERATING SYSTEM SOFTWARES KNOWN AS UNIX. OUR ENGINEERS HAVE DISCOVERED THAT NO FEWER THAN SEVENTY (70) LINES OF OUR VALUABLE AND PROPRIETARY SOURCE CODES HAVE APPEARED IN THE UPSTART OPERATING SYSTEM LINUX. AS YOU CAN PLAINLY SEE, THIS GIVES US A CLAIM ON THE MILLIONS OF LINES OF VALUABLE SOFTWARE CODES WHICH COMPRISE THIS LINUX AND WHICH HAS BEEN SOLD AT GREAT PROFIT TO VERY MANY BUSINESS ENTERPRISES. OUR LEGAL EXPERTS HAVE ADVISED US THAT OUR CONTRIBUTION TO THESE CODES IS WORTH AN ESTIMATED ONE (1) BILLION U.S. DOLLARS.
UNFORTUNATELY WE ARE HAVING DIFFICULTY EXTRACTING OUR FUNDS FROM THESE COMPUTER SOFTWARES. TO THIS EFFECT I HAVE BEEN GIVEN THE MANDATE BY MY COLLEAGUES TO CONTACT YOU AND ASK FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE. WE ARE PREPARED TO SELL YOU A SHARE IN THIS ENTERPRISE, WHICH WILL SOON BE VERY PROFITABLE, THAT WILL GRANT YOU THE RIGHTS TO USE THESE VAULABLE SOFTWARES IN YOUR BUSINESS ENTERPRISE. UNFORTUNATELY WE ARE NOT ABLE AT THIS TIME TO SET A PRICE ON THESE RIGHTS. THEREFORE IT IS OUR RESPECTFUL SUGGESTION, THAT YOU MAY BE IMMEDIATELY A PARTY TO THIS ENTERPRISE, BEFORE OTHERS ACCEPT THESE LUCRATIVE TERMS, THAT YOU SEND US THE NUMBER OF A BANKING ACCOUNT WHERE WE CAN WITHDRAW FUNDS OF A SUITABLE AMOUNT TO GUARANTEE YOUR PARTICIPATION IN THIS ENTERPRISE. AS AN ALTERNATIVE YOU MAY SEND US THE NUMBER AND EXPIRATION DATE OF YOUR MAJOR CREDIT CARD, OR YOU MAY SEND TO US A SIGNED CHECK FROM YOUR BANKING ACCOUNT PAYABLE TO "SCO GROUP" AND WITH THE AMOUNT LEFT BLANK FOR US TO CONVENIENTLY SUPPLY.
KINDLY TREAT THIS REQUEST AS VERY IMPORTANT AND STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL. I HONESTLY ASSURE YOU THAT THIS TRANSACTION IS 100% LEGAL AND RISK-FREE.
OUTRAGE!!! (Score:2, Funny)
On behalf of the International Association of Toads I have to file a complaint regarding the comparison between Toads and SCO.
Does this man? [yerhost.com]look like a toad to you?
An irresponsible slur (Score:2, Funny)
It's true that many species of toad are poisonous and cause hundreds of deaths in the USA every year. But compared with SCO, they are harmless, benign creatures which have an unfairly bad image.
Comparing toads with SCO will worsen the already-negative image which people have of toads. Let's not forget that some toad species are endangered. They don't need the hostility by association which this irresponsible article will provoke.
Microsoft =wants= it to be about the GPL... (Score:5, Funny)
Well, ya got trouble, my friend.
Right here, I say trouble right here in Silicon Valley
Why, sure, we're a software company
Certainly mighty proud to say,
I'm always mighty proud to say it
I consider the hours we spend with code on our screens are golden
Help you cultivate horse sense and a cool head and a keen eye
Didja ever take an' try an' give an iron clad leave
to yourself from Scalable Multiprocessing?
But just as I say it takes judgement, brains and maturity
to test and debug Enterprise Software with full Code Review
I say that any boob can take and shove C source in the GCC compiler
And I call that sloth,
the first big step on the road to the depths of degreda-
I say, first- medicinal wine from a teaspoon,
then beer from a bottle
And the next thing you know your son is hackin'
Distributed Denial of Service Attacks.
and listenin' to some big pseudonymous script kiddie
Hear him tell about mp3 downloadin'
Not a wholesome CD, no, but a compressed
format where the entire _player_ can be smaller than the smallest disk.
Like to hear some disposable Ko-rean hardware playin' Mozart?
Make your blood boil, well I should say
Now, folks, let me show you what I mean
You got zero, through twelve - that's THIRTEEN terms and conditions in the 'Public License'.
Terms that mark the difference between a gentleman and a bum
With a capital 'B' and that rhymes with 'G' and that stands for 'GNU'
And all week long, your Silicon Valley programmers'll be fritterin' away
I say, your coders'll be fritterin'
Fritterin' away their noontime, suppertime, WORKtime, too
Run the code through the compiler
Never mind gettin' Digital Rights Management implemented or the security holes in Outlook patched
or Total Information Awareness connected
Never mind filing for any patents 'til the software industry is caught
with an IP portfolio empty and no one to sue and that's trouble
Oh, ya got lots and lots o' trouble
I'm thinkin' of the kids in the cargo pants,
young ones learnin to install Linux on their Game Boys after school
Ya got trouble, folks, right here in Silicon Valley
with a capital 'T' and that rhymes with 'G' and that stands for 'GNU'
Oh, we got trouble
Right here in Silicon Valley
Right here in Silicon Valley
With a capital 'T' and that rhymes with 'G'
That stands for 'GNU'
We surely got trouble
We surely got trouble
Right here in Silicon Valley
Right here
Gotta figure out a way to keep customers
paying dues
. . .
Re:SCO is committing seppuku (Score:3, Funny)
I thought they were playing Russian roulette with an automatic...
Re:Warm & Fuzzy? (Score:3, Funny)