SCO Protest And Anti-Protest In Provo 865
a.ameri writes "On Friday, June 20, the Provo Linux Users Group decided to head on over to SCO's offices and hold a protest; information on the event, including pictures and press coverage, can be found on
the PLUG page. Among other things, the protesters claim that SCO employes came out and joined the event holding pre-prepared signs saying things like 'I love software piracy' and 'Try communism - use Linux.'" There are some funny shots linked here (thanks to reader lucif latum). Daddio64 points to the press covereage in the Deseret News and Provo Daily Herald.
Original LWN discussion (Score:5, Informative)
Slashdot - stealing LWN stories for fun and profit since 1998
Re:Original LWN discussion (Score:5, Insightful)
Note that I'm not a linux dork being defensive, I think it's pretty pointless to go out there and protest, I just like to point out possible hypocrisy when I see it.
Re:Original LWN discussion (Score:5, Insightful)
Indeed.
Unfortunately, actions like these take the whole point away from having the protest in the first place.
I recognize that "techies" are not particularly good at protesting stuff; that's not what they do and there is no reason why they should be. However, this action by Canopy (provide drinks for everyone, buddy-buddy with folks there and "We're all friends now!") was a calculated public relations move to diffuse the impact of the protest.
If the protest was a cold, "Screw you SCO" affair, that's a real protest and will be portrayed as such. This, however, appears to have been turned into a simple picnic on SCO's front lawn.
Which is exactly what SCO wanted.
Re:Original LWN discussion (Score:4, Interesting)
Let's face a simple fact right up front: SCO isn't going to kill a lawsuit because 50+ people picketted behind their building for 2 hours. I hope nobody has any confusion over this.
Protests are done to draw public attention to an opinion, be it for or against a certain issue. Judging by the actions of the protesters in Utah I have to say they understood perfectly well what they were doing. They notified the press before the protest, they picketted in back of SCO's building which just so happens to be the only side that fronts on a public road, and not long before 4:00pm the protesters LEFT THE AREA to go protest near the entrance/exit to I-15. If they were there to piss off SCO's upper management, they probably would have figured out a way to protest in front of the building where all the offices were (the front of the building faces a parking lot and is not visible from any public road. It would have been an intimate, easilly swept under the carpet show placed for a few SCO employees and that's it. Talk about a waste of time).
They made themselves and their opinions very visible in very public areas. In doing this, they made their protest successful. They got print coverage in a few local papers (Deseret News is actually fairly big in Utah), and rumor has it that a TV crew got some shots (I didn't see them arrive or leave, but I wasn't there the whole time).
The lawsuit seems to still be moving forward, but is that really a surprise?
Re:Original LWN discussion (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm not sure about that. Let's see theres a BILLION dollar lawsuit, linux's reputation has been tarnished, IBMs AIX licenses are now in question, Linus himself is getting threatened, and now they're hurling insults under the guise of "just kidding!"
Its like that wanna-be bully in gradeschool who insults you then says, "I'm kidding!" Its a lame attempt to bait OSS types and get them angry thus producing more negative press.
YOU'RE A DUMBASS (Score:4, Funny)
Fact : SCO is dying (Score:5, Funny)
You don't need to be a Microsoft Zealot to predict SCO's future. The hand writing is on the wall: SCO faces a bleak future. In fact there won't be any future at all for SCO because SCO is dying. Things are looking very bad for SCO. As many of us are already aware, SCO continues to lose market share. Red ink flows like a river of blood.
unixware is the most endangered of them all, having lost 93% of its core developers. The sudden and unpleasant departures of long time unixware developers only serve to underscore the point more clearly. There can no longer be any doubt: unixware is dying.
All major surveys show that SCO has steadily declined in market share. SCO is very sick and its long term survival prospects are very dim. If SCO is to survive at all it will be among OS dilettante dabblers. SCO continues to decay. Nothing short of a miracle could save it at this point in time. For all practical purposes, SCO is dead.
Fact: SCO is dying
Re:Original LWN discussion (Score:3, Insightful)
Whether they have a valid basis for a lawsuit or not, I expect companies to act like grown-ups. I've seen to many articles recently where executives, management, and l
Re:Original LWN discussion (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Original LWN discussion (Score:5, Interesting)
They went out and picketed with them. They posed for pictures. They came out and `shared laughs'.
The posters themselves were a little unclassy (but still funny.) But they made up for it in the other things they did.
They made a joke. That's more than they've done up to this part.(And I'll bet the SCO lawyers have a field day with this, and the people who did it get yelled at big time. After all, I doubt those signs were approved by legal (even though they were ready beforehand?)...)
Re:Original LWN discussion (Score:5, Interesting)
it's called 'coopting' and it's right out of Microsoft's manual.
pretty interesting in all. it seems that SCO's got some rather competent handlers... that and the "steal free music" attempted reference in SCO's signs is a rather fascinating insight to how their PR folks are going to shape this battle in the press.
I smell a Hatch...
*scoove*
Re:Original LWN discussion (Score:5, Informative)
Tuesday 17th June 2003
(emphasis mine)
SCO has made no secret in recent months that it hired high-profile attorney David Boies to spearhead its case against IBM, but the company's legal representation in Utah courts is also noteworthy. The company retained Brent O. Hatch and Mark F. James of the law firm Hatch, James & Dodge. Hatch is the son of Senator Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, a representative for SCO confirmed Monday.
SB
Re:Original LWN discussion (Score:4, Insightful)
Indeed, this despite the increasingly obvious fact that the French were right [tallahassee.com]. But hey, if we make enough clever anti-French jokes, maybe we won't have to face up to how idiotic we look now.
Re:Original LWN discussion (Score:3, Insightful)
Just ignore the little things, like our economy which shrub has put in the dumpster, or the 19-year old kids dying in the desert (more than one a day since shrub declared we "won" the war), or the lying about the quality of the intelligence of the threat of weapons of mass distruction this while mess was based on. Please leave the voting to folks who actually CARE about our country.
Re:Original LWN discussion (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Original LWN discussion (Score:4, Insightful)
This *is the* reason the world disagreed w/ the US.
Good leaders make decisions based on PRINCIPLE(!); and the "We are going to invade Iraq because we lie about trumped-up charges" is *not a reason*.
The rest of the planet didnt want to *start a war* -- you know, launch an army to INVADE another country... there is NO reason to do it. Ever.
Because USofAmerica believes it can do what it likes, on the basis of serving its percieved-best-interest is what irks the planet. We have to apply international law, freedoms, rights and responsibilities equally. Not "might-makes-right" pursuit of national interests.
Bottom line: i applaud the French for standing up refusing to legitimize the illegal invasion, slaughter, and occupation of *any* nation... its was in the USA's interest to do it to Iraq -- who else? when? The USA is a rogue nation, out of control... lead by unprincipled tyrants.
Re:Original LWN discussion (Score:3, Insightful)
Let's not forget the hundreds of iraqis now being killed by US soldiers. Let's not forget the thousands of people who are still without water, electricity or food. Let's not forget that the soldiers were supposed to leave as soon as possible.
Then again, maybe you don't get those reports on the news in your area.
Re:Original LWN discussion (Score:4, Insightful)
Lets not forget the thousands of Iraqis who were tortured on a daily basis and the thousands more abused under the Iraqi government.
Yes, I'm glad that stopped.
But that has not been a consistent good reason for invading another country.
If it were, why isn't the United States invading other countries with appalling records of human rights abuse?
PRC, North Korea, Myanmar, Zimbabwe, Congo, just about every other country in the Middle East, etc.
It's becoming clear that GWB made a mistake. If the evidence for WMD was just so compelling, then it certainly ought to have turned up by now, as American forces have free reign to look anywhere in Iraq. Many American choose to believe his warnings about WMD in Iraq. The evidence he presented months ago was not compelling, but one could always argue that he was supplied with greater evidence that he could not reveal due to concerns of national security and preserving an intelligence-gathering capability. That is, we had to trust him that he really dug deep into the evidence and knew categorically that WMD in Iraq were a problem. [The supposed tie between bin Laden and Saddam Hussein was as weak as they get. If removing bin Laden's support network were the real object, the USA would have invaded Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and not Iraq.]
I support American troops, who are dedicated men and women, and have sworn an oath to obey their commander in chief. They're great people we can ill afford to lose and they're putting their lives on the line.
Theremore, the commander in chief has an incredibly important responsibility to exercise, and he has not done it properly.
I don't believe GWB is malicious or evil, just not capable of acting as President of the United States with the dedication and thoroughness the office deserves. He's made a mistake in gullibility, believing Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, and accepting their appointments inthe first place, not willing to do the homework it takes to know what is really going on. Before you commit someone else's life to a military objective, you owe it to them to be as smart as you can, as hardworking as you can, willing question your advisors, get alternative opinions, etc.
The United States Armed Forces, the people of the United States, and the world at large, all deserve the best possible person in that position. Sadly, the best person is not there now.
Re:Original LWN discussion (Score:3, Funny)
Well, since America was made up of mostly Europeans, yes, we are exactly as stupid as you.
Re: Original LWN discussion (Score:4, Insightful)
> I know it's the in thing now to bag on "those French cowards" but...
Also "in" to ignore the fact that French troops are the only Western soldiers trying to stop the horror in the Congo right now.
Three million people have died in the Congo over the past four years, but the members of the "Coalition of the Willing" who were so eager to 'rescue' the people of Iraq are falling all over themselves to see who can ignore what's happening in Africa the best.
Re:Original LWN discussion (Score:4, Insightful)
This is something that's been puzzling me a fair bit, actually: there were couple of mid-sized countries that stood up to the only actual superpower, saying it would be wrong to attack Iraq (based on just inconclusive evidence and lots of strong words). And that's cowardice? Knowing US military, political and economic might, that seems fairly brave move on France's (and Germany's) part to me. Note that I'm not commenting on right/wrongness of those actions, just the impression on courageousness (or lack of).
It's bit like people calling 9/11 terrorists cowards; I mean, they were scumsucking evildoing asswipes and all, but still; doing a kamikaze attack like that isn't your every day coward would really do. I guess it's just using word "coward" as a general derogatory term, and/or applying different criteria for different people (as in "if they weren't such cowards they'd had attacked US army forces directly").
As to France specifically; I know, I know, it is/was just "sore loser's syndrome"; the problem wasn't who's brave who's not, but who is with us or against us. But still... it is scary how sometimes politics get close to Orwell's new world, where war is peace, lies are truth, and bravery is cowardice.
Re:Original LWN discussion (Score:3, Insightful)
I had a number of friends in college and high school who smoked pot regularly. Many of them were perfectly functional in their work lives, and were generally talented and intelligent people. Almost all of them, however, tended to let their social lives revolve around getting high. Everyone's experiences differ, but I've lost several friends this way, and now avoid the stuff as a
Yup, Provo LUG were sucked in good and hard (Score:5, Interesting)
Copy of a post to LWN in answer to someone else who applauded the humour:
The Who's down with Other People's Intellectual Property sign [kuwan.net] is major chutzpah. The IP which TSG (not the original SCO, The SCO Group) is laying claim to is code written by IBM which belongs to IBM according to the terms of the AT&T agreement.
For an example of such code, turn to SMP. TSG's own SMP implementation sucks so badly that all of their licencees, past and present, have written and are using their own implementation instead. TSG is claiming ownership of those implementations.
The short story is that the IP in contention does not belong to TSG even if it was originally developed (by IBM) for use with SCO UNIX or UnixWare sources and is not a part of the BSD codebase or otherwise public domain or copyright (e.g. GPL) by others. To put it in the same terms that TSG are applying to IBM and Linux TSG are using barratry to steal the rights to code that they did not write and do not own.
It's worse than that. If you read what Chris Sontag said in the BYTE article [byte.com], you will see that TSG are trying to leverage their barratry to steal ownership of every significant OS in the world.
You know how annoying parking meters are? In asserting that everything else descends at least in principle from their UNIX codebase, TSG are trying to install a meter on every CPU in the world, starting with the USA. They are trying to encumber everybody with a licence agreement, but instead of using Microsoft's attrition method, they're aiming for one fell swoop.
To show you how brazen this is, consider the same scenario in another industry. The Canopy Group buys Ford, then claims that since every production-line car in the world was derived in one way or another from Henry Ford's system. They start with General Motors but have an eye on an unexpectedly thriving kit-car industry. Is the analogy clear, and good enough?
While TSG employees might be fine and friendly to deal with, TSG management is trying to stage one of the biggest ripoffs in software history. If they succeed, it will undermine the livelihood implied in tens of thousands of Linux-related job in the USA and greatly slow Linux deployment worldwide. They even have the gall to hint about taxing the BSDs! If they fail, TSG and these guys' jobs, pensions etc will be a scorched memory.
This (to say nothing of much other lying and prevarication) makes those posters a lot less funny than you hope. Ha, ha, and all, but meanwhile they're trying to throw the IT world over a barrel.
And suddenly Boise' actions make sick sense. In the unlikely event of him winning this one, he'll be first in line for the next one, and the next, and the next... and if TSG's licence works out to something of the order of $100 a CPU a year, their income will easily exceed Microsoft's. Are you reading me, Bill?
The penny evidently hasn't yet dropped for Sun. The $100M they've already paid is a drop in the bucket compared with what TSG will get out of them if they win.
Re:Yup, Provo LUG were sucked in good and hard (Score:3, Insightful)
Yes, and no. The problem is that SCO's case rests on the details of contracts that many of these companies signed in order to license the original code. You're entirely correct that SCO has done fuckall to develop these technol
IBM have the rights to derivations they make (Score:5, Insightful)
TSG (as distinct from the original SCO, now called (IIRC) Tarantella) seems to be claiming just about everything, probably working on the idea that the worst outcome is the judge saying no. The common-language term for this is "trying it on".
As I read the contract docs, IBM unquestionably retains the rights to any derivatives they wrote, the only thing they can't distribute is the original source. In their last Exhibit, TSG are implicitly including those derivatives in "SOFTWARE PROGRAMS", trying to eliminate a distinction carefully drawn in the original contract.
Re:IBM have the rights to derivations they make (Score:3, Insightful)
A = SysV
B = RCU, NUMA, JFS
C = AIX
IBM licenses A, independently develops B, combines A + B to produce C.
C is a derivative of A,
C is also a derivative of B.
B is not a derivative of A. Although TSG (The SCO Group) wants B to be a derivative of A. They are trying to reinterpret their contracts to imply that B is a derivative of A.
IBM has the right to do what it wants with B (including contributing it to Linux). If SCO got B through Project Monte
Uh, note to SCO (Score:5, Insightful)
Earth to SCO. SCO come in now...I think we lost 'em.
Re:Uh, note to SCO (Score:5, Funny)
Ouch! Ok, ok, so I lied.
pro-linux sco employees (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:pro-linux sco employees (Score:4, Informative)
Re:pro-linux sco employees (Score:4, Funny)
Does SCaldera have any employees left who aren't lawyers?
Re:pro-linux sco employees (Score:3, Interesting)
Slightly OT - The SCO dog ;) (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Slightly OT - The SCO dog ;) (Score:4, Insightful)
And the readers see it and go, "Hey, I use Linux! And I know about SCO! And I know the original cartoon!"
Image Problems? (Score:5, Informative)
It this really the image these people want to project?
Too bad I'm not an SCO shareholder. Maybe I could sue SCO management for permitting such stupid childishness on company time.
Re:Image Problems? (Score:2)
Re:Image Problems? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Image Problems? (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, right. What planet are YOU on?
- The right of free speech is a restriction preventing the government from limiting your speech. It is standard practice for companies to tell their employees what they should and shouldn't say to the press.
- Do you think for an instant that SCO would allow any of their employees to keep their jobs if they stood out their and SUPPORTED the protestors? That would be a MEANINGFUL test of their right of free speech. If the company didn't want them to come "out of the SCO building with pre-prepared posters for the protest" do you think they would allow them to? Their lawyers would most certainly have sent memos around telling the employees exactly how they were expected to behave.
In short, the notion that these folks aren't supported by SCO or that SCO wouldn't stop them if they didn't support such activities is ludicrous and absurd. Anyone who would harbor such delusions should seek professional help.Re:Image Problems? (Score:3, Insightful)
DUH! The protest is happening in the U.S., so I'd think it obvious to everyone that the laws of the U.S. are applicable. Apparently you aren't familiar with the idiomatic expression "What planet are YOU on"--here in the U.S. it can be interpreted as "Are you as clueless about U.S. law as a
Re:Image Problems? (Score:5, Interesting)
Hmm.. well is was Caldera riding on high on the capitalistic Linux
IPO craze of the late 90s that allowed them to purchase SCO thus
any usable IP left in SystemV code base. It was the promise of Linux
who bank rolled the whole thing. I think that anyone who bought
into their IPO because they thought they were investing in a Linux
company should get their money back.
Re:Image Problems? (Score:5, Funny)
Naughty by Nature promptly treatened to sue SCO for unauthorized use of it copyrighted material. When asked what matereal exactly was copied, Naughty by Nature refused to say claiming if they disclosed they risked others also using it without their permission.
Re:Image Problems? (Score:3, Funny)
Its called baiting (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Its called baiting (Score:4, Insightful)
At this stage, ANY coverage that SCO gets directly benifits them. This is precisely why they have chosen to "dribble" out little bits of information, escalate their rhetoric and claims and generally try this case in the media BEFORE getting to court.
The best thing the Linux community could do is to start shaping the "language" of the case in the court of public opinion, making sure that the language is centered on "where's the evidence?"....
The burden is on them to show where copying took place...do NOT allow them to start making this a case about "Linux helps terrorists" or "Linux is for criminals"....they will attempt to shift the argument to this, baiting us to defend our "non-criminal" status....if it gets that far, they've won...
The best answer is to follow IBM's lead..."we've done nothing wrong, so there's no need for comment"....followed by media blackout. This would hurt SCO more than a few signs and protesters.....keep them out of the spotlight, and every time they announce another increase in damages or whatnot, they will appear more shrill....
Shun them completely!....and DONT BUY THEIR PRODUCTS!...but most importantly, stay away from this rabid dog....stay far away....
You sir, are very wrong. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Image Problems? (Score:5, Funny)
Now to all hawks, rejoice!
Hail Bush!
More images and mirrors (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.kuwan.net/scotesters/index.html [kuwan.net]
http://www.karlrees.com/sco/scotesters/index.html [karlrees.com]
http://www.normanfam.org/sco/scotesters/index.htm
I should note that Ralph Yarrows, head of the Canopy group which owns 46% of SCO, was the one to organize the anti-protest and was the one who had the posters made.
Re:When you think about it... (Score:3, Insightful)
Really? Which ones did you think were funny? What did you think was funny about them?
Why is it that some people from the Linux camp are all about free speech... that is, when the free speech is not targeted against them.
Dunno, but thankfully a righteous supporter of free speech like yourself obviously won't object at all to my pointing out the possibility that you must be retarded if those posters were your idea of humorous?
Re:When you think about it... (Score:3, Interesting)
Sorry, but I just don't get it. Which bit do you find hilarious? The amateurishly drawn, not at all funny signs, or the fact that the CEO of the company can direct his under-employed staff to go out and pretend to be participants in a demo against the company?
Perhaps it appeals to something about the American sense of humour that just slips we British by...
Woah. (Score:2)
Ryan Fenton
actionable? (Score:3, Interesting)
Read this before bashing SCO (Score:5, Informative)
Ok, I read it. (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Read this before bashing SCO (Score:5, Insightful)
There are times for fun, and there are times for seriously defending what you think is important.
This is a time to take up a rigid position, and this isn't an appropriate area for feel-good games. Put plainly: The world's single most important piece of free software and the future of free software's acceptance are at stake.
Re:Read this before bashing SCO (Score:5, Informative)
And none of our protesters touched their anti-protest signs. The writer of this comment must have mistaken them for our people because the signs were being marched around.
Sure, everyone had a great time, but I don't feel like the SCO people were very respectful, except for McBride who talked to us in a political not-actually-answering-any-questions way.
Re:Read this before bashing SCO (Score:3, Interesting)
If you'll recall, in the past Microsoft has acted this way in reponse to Pro-Linux protestors as well.
Basically it's a not so subtle way of saying, "You're protest is meaningless. It does not matter as it accomplishes nothing more than making you feel better about yourself. Enjoy the discussion on Slashdot, but until then have some milk and cookies on us."
I know that's harsh, but it's the truth of the matter. This protest will not result in any meaningful public outcry, nor will it effect the upcoming l
Commie Scare (Score:4, Funny)
Nostalgia isn't what it used to be !
it's hard not to feel a little sentimental when you see good old Commie Scare posters.
Guess the employees protesting felt akin to the Iraqs cheering Sadam at his strolling casual thru streets of Baghdad TV shows.
SCO employees (Score:4, Funny)
And it doesn't matter whether SCO wins or loses. They seem to be an IP (not that they ever created any) only company now and would probably not need many employees, except for lawyers.
Don't jump to conclusions about the SCO people... (Score:3, Insightful)
It's the people who don't have a shred of humor left and, more importantly, weren't even there who seem to be take everything SCO employees touch as being an insult.
I work across the street from SCO. I was at the protest. At one point, I was one of the people carrying a SCO-produced sign (as a JOKE. At one point I even saw picketters holding SCO signs). If you were there you'd know that the entire event -- albeit serious in its message -- was taken in good spirits by pretty much everyone. I'd be surprised if anyone seriously though the SCO signs were meant to be anything but fun.
You remember FUN, don't you?? It's like when you're in a bar watching a football game and there are folks rooting for the other team in the bar with you; friendly "traitor" jabs are tossed back and forth, joking insinuations are made, and in the end you all laugh together and say "bye" when you leave.
You may want to read the rest of that message as well, and just give it a rest... Not if Slashdot hasn't dumped enough vitriol on SCO already lately.
Re:Don't jump to conclusions about the SCO people. (Score:5, Insightful)
I'd reached the conclusion a long time ago that Linux was grossly overrated, but it's also done great things for my workplace and my research field, and it's a shame to see another sleazebag IP holding company try to hijack that. I don't condone IP theft or DDoS attacks on SCO's website, but I also wouldn't speak to the likes of Darl McBride except through a lawyer.
Oh, by the way, the Communism thing isn't funny any more. It's not McCarthyism, but it's pretty fucking stupid and offensive. Most of us in The Real World use and like Linux because it helps us do our jobs and make (and save!) money, not because it fits our half-baked socialist ideals.
Re:Don't jump to conclusions about the SCO people. (Score:3, Interesting)
The ranting of a few delusional leaders in the FSF does not represent the opinion of the many professionals who use, develop, or promote Linux. Particularly not IBM or Linus (who is on record as saying that everyone should be able to choose whatever license they please for the software they write). I haven't even heard RMS weigh in on the SC
Wow (Score:3, Insightful)
Darl McBride? (Score:4, Informative)
http://mirror.lug-nut.com/mcnabb/med/IMG_0057.JPG [lug-nut.com]
This will NOT help SCO's... (Score:3, Insightful)
Analogizing drugs and Open Source is 13-year-old crap, and I'm sure ESR and others will have a ball with this.
Nice going SCO. Thanks for proving (in "graphic" detail) what kind of corporation you truly represent.
This really is pointless for all parties. (Score:5, Insightful)
SCO will be soon be a shell company. They might as well be making buggy whips. I think this is the ultimate agenda of the leadership, they just hope to cash out with the settlement from IBM.
It was interesting to me how the PR folks tried to associate Linux with software piracy and communism. I don't think this is because of a real misperception on their part, it seems much more likely to be spin-directed FUD. It's more pathetic than enraging to me.
It really all seems like a legal strategy to exploit the fact that our IP laws have not really caught up with the PC revolution. They might get some money from IBM, if they do, they leverage their legal victory and liquid revenues to bump the stock price and sell the company. It won't fool Warren Buffet or Peter Lynch, but there are still plenty of fools with money in the world.
This type of business strategy--utterly bereft of moral values--has not yet entirely faded from view. The real tragedy is not the threat to Linux, but the threat to SCO employees and investors. I don't see this working out well for them in any way. Some lawyers will get rich, though.
So, follow the money. SCO is now a lawsuit machine. IBM will survive this no matter how it turns out. SCO won't.
Pretty busy those SCO people (Score:3, Funny)
I can't help but wonder how much coding thy do and how much drawing.
If their people did as much coding as drawing they would not be in this position right now.
I'm sorry, but this is not enough. (Score:5, Interesting)
Take it from me - I work for a Fortune 500 company (no not microsoft ;-)) that gets protests pretty much *weekly* and the upshot of it is that company email gives logistical directions on where and how to avoid the protests. (ironically, I think that the protesters are *dead on* but believe me, its not going to change the company's practices. Nothing but an act of god is going to do that.)
Anyways, don't get me wrong. I think that SCO is a borderline illegal company, but to *really* hurt them where it counts, we need to organize online. Hurting them where it counts means presenting the SEC with a well-thought out case on why they need to be investigated.
I posted the following proposal to slashdot (it was rejected, probably because it was too controversial) and the gist was that SCO's share price (ticker symbol SCOX) has gone up 1400% on rumors and FUD. Now SCO may have a case, they may not have a case, but the least that should happen is an investigation by the SEC into the facts surrounding this incident.
Here's a SEC link [sec.gov] that lets you enter a complaint. Hell, if SCO gets enough heat from this, they may divulge all. We deserve, as a community, to be able to evaluate their gripe objectively, and that requires full disclosure by SCO of what their gripe is. SCO's failure to do so is *hurting our livelihood* - and at the least it is libelous.
Anyways, below is the text of the original submission. I'm hoping to get it on the head Slashdot page, so if you could submit it as a story, I think it would do us all a favor. (Note to slashdot editors - a 'soapbox' icon would be very nice... something which allows users to post controversial stories like this whilst having a disclaimer so slashdot can keep its nose clean)
original submission:
I just read the vaguely demeaning forbes article [forbes.com] describing the complacency of the linux community, and believe me, this "crunchie" wasn't pleased, at either a) being called a crunchie for having the ethics to be upset about what SCO is doing, or b) for being labeled as ineffective and powerless. The truth is, the open source community isn't powerless. The whole SCO incident has a very bad smell to it, and what they are doing (and the consequent effect on their stock price) is in my opinion highly unethical if not illegal. I am not a lawyer (or SEC official for that matter) but their stock price has jumped from 60 cents to $11 per share, in dubious circumstances... so in my opinion at the very least the SEC should be notified about the unsavory aspects of it and other pieces of background info so they can do an investigation and find out the facts for themselves. So - I think the open source community should take a stand. If you don't like what SCOX is doing, here is the sec complaint form [sec.gov] where you can submit evidence, background facts, personal knowledge, and - if you think so - your opinion about how malfeasant SCOX's actions are and the damages that they are doing. (Any info about how SCOX insiders are capitalizing on the stock price would be especially helpful.. personally, its the element I find most distasteful of all, and if they find manipulation, its information the SEC can directly use.) How many people read slashdot? How would the SEC handle 500,000 complaints? Only time would tell - but I think at the minimum it would warrant an investigation, possibly even a class-action suit. Anyways, if you are going to submit, please be civil about it. The worst thing possible would be for the SEC to get lots of long-winded rants - they want courteous dialog and accurate information they can use, not a vitriolic screed of profan
Re:I'm sorry, but this is not enough. (Score:4, Interesting)
No way!
The purpose of the protest was to show normal everyday people, through the media, what is really going on in the peaceful town of Lindon. And you know what? We were successful. Two major Utah newspapers covered our protest, and we had a front page article with one of them.
After the "chat" we had with McBride, it was obvious that he didn't care at all about what we thought, but as long as the public is a little more aware of the issues, we feel we were successful.
And besides, we had a lot of fun.
SCO really does want to own Linux (Score:5, Insightful)
"Linux could still be used; it just wouldn't be free," Stowell said. "These people are upset because they've been enjoying a free ride for some time. They're upset their free ride will potentially be gone."
I think that this pretty much puts to rest the question of whether or not SCO wants to own Linux.
Part of the problem is that this wouldn't work. Under the GPL, if you can't distribute it for free, you can't distribute it at all. To relicense Linux as an SCO-0wned product, you'd have to get the agreement of all the contributors. I doubt that that would happen.
Friendly? (Score:3, Insightful)
Conversation between SCO and AIX (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Conversation between SCO and AIX (Score:4, Informative)
However you forgot to mention it.
Humor or no, SCO signs are wrong (Score:5, Insightful)
Whether it was intended for humor or not, SCO owes Linus and the OSS community a formal appology.
Re:Humor or no, SCO signs are wrong (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Humor or no, SCO signs are wrong (Score:5, Informative)
1) Russia sought to invade Finland
2) No one else would help
Re:Humor or no, SCO signs are wrong (Score:4, Insightful)
Most strategic alliances are based on self-interest rather than ideology.
Re: Humor or no, SCO signs are wrong (Score:3, Informative)
Stalin refused to allow this. What the world didn't know back then was that Stalin and Hitler already had a secret pact diving Europe between them, and Stalin considered Finland and her resources to be his.
Churchill was pissed when Stalin attacked Finland (having even the nerve to claim at the time that it was Finland who s
ironic (Score:3, Insightful)
Contra protest totally understandable (Score:5, Funny)
Blake Stowells Comments... (Score:3, Insightful)
Maybe he needs to be reminded about GPL and what it stands for. I hate to tell you this Blake, but you and your bullshit company will get annhilated by IBM.
It sickens me that companies (and people) like this feel that potential threats to their business can potentially be converted into revenue streams simply because they have (in the short term at least) money to throw away on lawyers and big threats.
I hope IBM leave the judicial equivilant of a smouldering crater where the SCO office stood.
They don't care (Score:4, Insightful)
They aren't the same company as Caldera once was - even Ransom Love is gone. I'd seriously doubt if any employees of the company from 2 years ago are there, and most of those from a year ago are probably gone.
The only thing that exists of the Caldera we once knew are the records of its past. It's just a bunch of lawyers at this point, and maybe a few remaining techies.
It is now a purely parasitic organization - and we can all just hope that the remaining IP around Unix is either opened (as being "generic" now) or that the IP is bought by a company that (like AT&T) allows its free use.
I wonder if we are looking at this the wrong way (Score:5, Insightful)
I have seen tons of comments about how what SCO is doing is very odd
At this point they are only damaging their reputation and making people question the reputation of linux. They have destroyed any semblance of a "corporate image". They company that will potentially benefit the most from this whole scandal is MS. I mean look at how quickly they sent funds to SCO. By paying SCO they were trying to "legitimize" SCO's claims in the public eye. I wouldn't be suprised to see a MS buyout of SCO in the neer future.
The anti-protest was overreported (Score:5, Informative)
I was at the protest. I saw it pre-announced on /. and decided to show up. Sadly, from the world's perspective, it becomes what was reported.
In some of the media, the SCO signs are shown larger than life. In reality, they were 1. devoid of intelligent comment, 2. quite small, 3. sitting off to the side on SCO property for most of the time. They were mostly insignificant except for to those taking pictures. If individual pictures had been taken of the protester signs, there were 10 good protester signs for every stupid SCO sign, and real stakeholders/protesters circulating them.
It WAS obviously a waste of time to protest in front of SCO for any significant amount of time, and after the first hour the protesters went to a very busy nearby intersection and carried on their protest in complete absence of SCO, and brought hundreds to some degree of awareness of the issues surrounding the case, and what a bunch of scum-sucking lawyers in their community with no technical merit were trying to do to community-developed free software.
Maybe Utah is not unique in giving the establishment much better press than they deserve. Maybe we bring it upon ourselves. I could not say. But regardless, I will be there again next week.
Hmmm...interesting little tidbit from the article (Score:3, Informative)
Um, I think I have paid for every distro of Linux that I've used in the past 3 years. RedHat, Club Mandrake, Suse. I've either bought them from CrapUSA or paid for the direct from the company (in the case of Mandrake).
So how have I been getting a free ride? I've paid for an OS that I sometimes use.
The only freedom that I've had has been that which is like speech, not that which is like beer.
This could have been solved much easier (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:This could have been solved much easier (Score:3, Insightful)
More images and mirrors (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.kuwan.net/scotesters/index.html [kuwan.net]
http://www.karlrees.com/sco/scotesters/index.html [karlrees.com]
http://www.normanfam.org/sco/scotesters/index.htm
I should note that Ralph Yarrows, head of the Canopy group which owns 46% of SCO, was the one to organize the anti-protest and was the one who had the posters made.
Anti-"anti-protest" Protest (Score:3, Insightful)
Let us consider the following facts:
- Linux user cannot be characterized, by and large, as music or software pirates -- there is no precedent to label them as such any more than Microsoft Windows users
- Not paying for Linux is not a piracy issue, Linux is, by it intent and modus operandi free of licensed and proprietary code
- Presuming that IBM has placed illegitimate, license bearing code into the Linux source tree this does not necessarily reflect poorly on Linus Torvalds, Linux kernel developers, Linux users or the OpenSource community
- Linux usage != stupidity. (I can only assume that this was meant to be farsical. In the realm of debate the tactic of argumentum ad hominim, "argument against the man," (In this case: "You're stupid!") is generally abandoned in grade school.
- "Ya Vol!"[sic] (Intended, correct me if I'm wrong, to be "Jawoll!" a characterization of Nazi adherence to orders popularized by "Hogan's Heroes" [imdb.com].) is a crude characiture of nazism not communism. But hey! To the culturally illiterate, what's the difference? Besides, IBM is an oligarchy.
- And... Well I could go on but that would be a full scale rant.
I'm reasonably certain that these posters (A) do not characterize all of the "anti-protesters" and (B) do not characterize most SCO workers. It does reflect poorly on SCO managment who allowed their employees to present the above image at the SCO Lindon facility. In all fairness I have no idea what the "anti-SCO" protesters were carrying. It may have been equivalently malevolent drivel.SCO should've taken the high road like Apple. (Score:4, Interesting)
Is it just me or are SCO's actions truly surreal? I mean is someone smoking crack over there?
Black Parody (Score:5, Interesting)
The obvious answer to this is to organise a pro-SCO demonstration, lauding all the worst aspects of that company. "Litigation is better than innovation," and so on. Just make it funny for goodness sake. That's the beauty of satire which the SCO posters miss.
Apologies in advance (Score:4, Funny)
<SCO> w00t! i bought unix! im gonna b so rich!
<novell>
<novell> whoops. was that out loud?
<atnt> rotfl
<ibm> lol
<SCO> why r u laffin at me?
<novell> dude, unix is so 10 years ago. linux is in now.
<SCO> wtf?
<SCO> hey guyz, i bought caldera, I have linux now.
<red_hat> haha, your linux sucks.
<novell> lol
<atnt> lol
<ibm> lol
<SCO> no wayz, i will sell more linux than u!
<ibm> your linux sucks, you should look at SuSE
<SuSE> Ja. Wir bilden gutes Linux fr IBM.
<SCO> can we do linux with you?
<SuSE> Ich bin nicht sicher...
<ibm> *cough*
<SuSE> Gut lassen Sie uns vereinigen.
* SuSE is now SuSE[UL]
* SCO is now caldera[UL]
<turbolinux> can we play?
<conectiva> we're bored... we'll go too.
<ibm> sure!
* turbolinux is now turbolinux[UL]
* conectiva is now conectiva[UL]
<ibm> redhat: you should join!
<SuSE[UL]> Ja! Wir sind vereinigtes Linux. Widerstand ist vergeblich.
<red_hat> haha. no.
<red_hat> lamers.
<ibm> what about you debian?
<debian> we'll discuss it and let you know in 5 years.
<caldera[UL]> no one wants my linux!
<turbolinux[UL]> i got owned.
<caldera[UL]> u all tricked me. linux is lame.
* caldera[UL] is now known as SCO
<SCO> i'm going back to unix.
<SGI> yeah! want to do unix with me?
<SCO> haha. no. lamer.
<novell> lol
<ibm> snap!
<SGI>
<SCO> hey, u shut up. im gonna sue u ibm.
<ibm> wtf?
<SCO> yea, you stole all the good stuff from unix.
<red_hat> lol
<SuSE[UL]> heraus laut lachen
<ibm> lol
<SCO> shutup. i'm gonna email all your friends and tell them you suck.
<ibm> go ahead. baby.
<SCO> andandand... i revoke your unix! how do you like that?
<ibm> oh no, you didn't. AIX is forever.
<novell> actually, we still own unix, you can't do that.
<SCO> wtf? we bought it from u.
<novell> whoops. our bad.
<SCO> i own u. haha
<SCO> ibm: give me all your AIX now!
<ibm> whatever. lamer.
* ibm sets mode +b SCO!*@*
* SCO has been kicked from #os (own this.)
Software Government (Score:4, Interesting)
Linux = Multiparty Democracy to Monarchy at times
Oracle, Sun = Monarchy
Unix = Anarchy with various flavors being multiparty democracies
Windows = Single Party State Authoritarian Regime which occasionally morphs into a Military Junta, and occasionally pretends to be communistic to improve public image
Re:Lets all join Hands (handles) (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Mad? (Score:2)
Re:Mad? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Mad? (Score:5, Insightful)
And in a few months he (or she, you goddamn PC assholes) will have a lot more time to read /. SCO has not just filed suit against IBM, they have declared war against the rest of the IT world. (Linux = Communism?!?!)
These people better start thinking towards the post-SCO world, much like the concentration camp guards started making nice towards the end of WWII.
You see, even if they win their lawsuit against IBM and everybody else, they will be a pariah in the tech community. Nobody will do business with them, and eventually they'll spend their $3 billion on operating expenses and tacos and go bankrupt.
And most of the OSS community will be saying goodbye good riddance.
Re:Buy SCO, fire everyone (Score:4, Insightful)
In the end game: suit or no suit, settlement or no settlement, SCO has little to sell and nobody to sell it to. If IBM takes a hardline attitude (and they win), SCO will be unable to deploy their executive golden parachutes. If McBride & associates actually want to continue their careers, then it becomes interesting.
Absolute worst-case scenario? (Score:3, Funny)
The Linux kernel is found to be a willful violation of SCO's UNIX copyright. In the US, the statutory penalty for willful infringment of copyright is $150,000US per infringment (in this case, every installed Linux kernel would be an infringment) Suddenly, the business community owes SCO $150,000 per Linux server. Most home users owe more than their life's savings. Many will go bankrupt. Google (with 10s of thousands of Linux machines in it's data center) disa
Re:Communist Nazi's? (Score:3, Insightful)
Why? Point out an example of communism that wasn't or isn't evil.
In the United States a person will soon be defenseless against corporations. Is this a failure of capitalism or of the government?
The government. Sometimes I wonder if corporate power isn't a way around the constitution. Corporations should never have been declared to be "people."
Re:Communist Nazi's? (Score:3, Insightful)
"Why? Point out an example of communism that wasn't or isn't evil."
That's very hard, but my point was that Marx would probably not agree with the things those countries are doing. And I repeat, I don't think communism can work. However, I do think that some of the ideals are worth striving for. But perhaps socialism would be a better word.
"The government. Sometimes I wonder if corporate power isn't a way around the constitution. Corporations should never have been declared to be \"people.\""
That's