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OSDL Answers SCO With Kernel Awareness Campaign 213

Posted by timothy from the workplace-sensitivity dept.
prostoalex writes "Open Source Development Labs announced a new initiative to increase customer confidence in using Linux in business. The initiative is launched in answer to legal claims by SCO Group. So far managers and developers around the world are supposed to boost their confidence in Linux with the help of this little poster, which explains the kernel development process."
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OSDL Answers SCO With Kernel Awareness Campaign More

OSDL Answers SCO With Kernel Awareness Campaign

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  • SCO can make LEGITIMATE money! (Score:5, Funny)

    by pridefinger ( 549632 ) <(moc.liamg) (ta) (niugnepdelkcerf)> on Wednesday November 26, 2003 @06:16PM (#7573562)
    What if they went on tour? 32 cities in 25 days...

    Make sure all the big guns are there...Darl, et al...

    And have a dunking machine...:)

    I'd pay money for that!!!

    -Pride

  • kernel smernel (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 26, 2003 @06:16PM (#7573564)
    Now why would kernel development impress decision makers? They think in terms of support, reliability, standardisation, following market trends, etc. Geek terminology only alienates managers.

    • Not the idea (Score:3, Insightful)

      by gurensan ( 259321 )
      The idea is to show that there is continuous public review of the code, and that there is no real way to add malicious or illegal code into the kernel unnoticed. It's no show managers that their systems are plenty legal with the SCO tax.

  • In wonder (Score:5, Funny)

    by Leroy_Brown242 ( 683141 ) on Wednesday November 26, 2003 @06:17PM (#7573577) Homepage Journal

    How many of you linux boy and girls hav a new desktop image now? ]:3}>

  • ...but do we really expect management, who has no idea about technology and IP rights to be swayed by a pretty poster vs. massive lawsuits that they hear about on the morning news?

    • Re:Education is great and all... (Score:5, Funny)

      by grasshoppa ( 657393 ) * on Wednesday November 26, 2003 @06:21PM (#7573612) Homepage
      ...but do we really expect management, who has no idea about technology and IP rights to be swayed by a pretty poster vs. massive lawsuits that they hear about on the morning news?

      This is the exact thought going through a management type's head:

      Lawsuit...bad.

      Poster...pretty! Sign me up!

      Now, if we wanted to really influence them, we'd put flashy things on it.

    • Re:Education is great and all... (Score:5, Funny)

      by Telex4 ( 265980 ) on Wednesday November 26, 2003 @06:34PM (#7573695) Homepage
      ...but do we really expect management, who has no idea about technology and IP rights to be swayed by a pretty poster vs. massive lawsuits that they hear about on the morning news?

      But... but... look at the arrows! There's a flow between me, the market, a funny fat penguin and even some big magnifying glasses! Now I just need a seminar to learn what it all means!
      • I can provide you and all your colleagues with such a seminar, at the very reasonable rate of 500($750) per day, plus expenses. I anticipate you will need to hire me for 3 days.
        • I anticipate you will need to hire me for 3 days.

          Your pitch for this contract was very compelling, and my company strongly favoured your tender for this lucrative and none-too-challenging work.

          Then we saw your .sig....
      • ... but if you REALLY want to educate management, go to your favourite bittorrent site and snag a copy of ^H^H^H^H^H^Hpreview Pirates of Sillicon Valley (someone put it up 2 days ago, so it downloads quickly ... enjoy) show them who the real crooks are.

    • Re:Education is great and all... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by t0ny ( 590331 ) on Wednesday November 26, 2003 @06:39PM (#7573732)
      Maybe the problem is that Management is more focused on something as petty and irrelevant as running their company/department. Lack of concern about IT issues used to bother me, but then I finally realized that IT is only a piece of the pie- it isnt the whole pie.

      My only peeve is when companies do stupid things like outsource. It's basically selling your company's soul, and it actually costs MORE than having your own department.

      Anyway, my point is that managers arent supposed to be 'clued in' to technology and IP rights. Thats why they hire IT staff and legal departments.

      • ... IT is only a piece of the pie- it isnt the whole pie....

        Well, yeah, that's true, but management wants to pretend that management is the whole pie. Despite the fact that the tech people have a lot to contribute to the qualitative running of a business, tech people are treated like line workers (who also need to be treated better, but that's a whole other post) because of the two distinct worldviews of corporate culture and IT culture.

        IT culture is open and flexible, based on "what happens if we do thi
      • My only peeve is when companies do stupid things like outsource. It's basically selling your company's soul, and it actually costs MORE than having your own department.

        Well, if it's not an IT company, there's no reason not to do it. Why deal with having your own IT department, where you might not be able to hire the best people, when you could let someone else, with more infrastructure to deal with that kind of thing, do it?
        • Well, if it's not an IT company, there's no reason not to do it. Why deal with having your own IT department, where you might not be able to hire the best people, when you could let someone else, with more infrastructure to deal with that kind of thing, do it?

          The problem is that a cultural disconnect occurs between the employees of the main company and the employees of the out-sourcing company. The main company employees should be focused (at whatever level) on the products and services offered by the m
    • A message told to you by someone you employ to know these kinds of things is going to be more powerfull then crazy ranting on TV...

      This assumes managers don't automaticaly assume they are smarter then those they manage...

  • Business model of OSDL (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 26, 2003 @06:18PM (#7573582)
    1. Make poster with pictures of penguin
    2. Randomly connect the lines
    3. Draw stick figures.
    4. ???
    5. Profit!

  • Mirror (Score:5, Informative)

    by rf0 ( 159958 ) * <rghf@fsck.me.uk> on Wednesday November 26, 2003 @06:18PM (#7573586) Homepage
    Mirror here [jvds.com]

    Its very managment speak with a few differenet coloured tux's

    Rus

    • Re:Mirror (Score:5, Funny)

      by EverDense ( 575518 ) on Wednesday November 26, 2003 @06:23PM (#7573625) Homepage
      IE6 scaled the picture so that the words "ongoing peer review of code", looked like
      they read "ongoing poor review of code". ;-)
      • Same thing for me and I'm using Firebird.
      • Ah, only now do we see Microsoft's no-expense-spared booby-traps in IE come out to bite us :-)
      • Why that just proves what evil geniuses those programmers at Microsoft are, to have planned that so far in advance!
      • IE6 scaled the picture so that the words "ongoing peer review of code", looked like they read "ongoing poor review of code". ;-)

        Sadly, it looks like the press release [osdl.org] was written on Windows. In the second paragraph, Konqueror displays:

        Among the

        Lab?s first steps...

        Mozilla on Linux shows the same thing. Did no one notice that? Or do most Slashdotters use Windows these days?

        The '?' really is the ASCII value for a question mark (0x3F), so maybe it was just a typo. Or maybe some other software tran

  • Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Wednesday November 26, 2003 @06:22PM (#7573617)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • Unless you happen to be a subsystem maintainer, a contributer, or Torvalds himself, then I'd guess you fall into the "Marketplace" category.

  • Exploding kernel (Score:3, Funny)

    by mezron ( 132274 ) on Wednesday November 26, 2003 @06:23PM (#7573622)
    The only thing that stands out to me in the picture is the red penguin sitting next to... what? a little volcano? Is that supposed to signify that the development kernel can blow up at any time or something? *confused*

  • Add to list of things never to do. Mirror here (Score:3, Informative)

    by Camel Pilot ( 78781 ) on Wednesday November 26, 2003 @06:29PM (#7573659) Homepage Journal
    Never link a big uncropped jpg image from slashdot.

    Mirrored here [sammcgees.com]

  • Linus?!? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 26, 2003 @06:30PM (#7573674)
    Which penguin is Linus???

  • Good freaking Lord! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Otter ( 3800 ) on Wednesday November 26, 2003 @06:31PM (#7573678) Journal
    OK, the next time someone spouts off about "Joe Sixpack", "marketdroids" or "lusers", keep this helpful bit of highly technical documentation in mind:

    A diagram explaining how Linux code is written by humans, approved by two layers of penguins (one with a briefcase) and then passed on to human users.

    What is the target audience supposed to do, go to their legal division and say, "No, there's no problem with Linux! See this explanatory document? All code is approved by a penguin. And yes, the GIMP is a perfectly suitable professional replacement for Photoshop. Notice the beautiful use of the select and fill tools?"

    Am I the only one who thinks this diagram looks like an outtake from a Troy McClure film? "Mr. McClure, SCO says Linus stole their code!" "Not true, Timmy! As this diagram indicates, all code in Linux is approved by two levels of penguins!"
    • "What is the target audience supposed to do"

      The target audience are CIOs. This is a perfectly good chart for CIOs except of course for the fact that's it's not written in powerpoint.

      Note to people who make charts for CIOs: You must make liberal use of RED and YELLOW in your diagrams. If your charts do not contain red or yellow your products probably suck real bad. Also make sure all lines are large and bold it's hard to see dotted lines on your palm pilot when you are out on the golf course.

    • Re:Good freaking Lord! (Score:4, Insightful)

      by bfields ( 66644 ) on Wednesday November 26, 2003 @07:06PM (#7573896) Homepage
      What is the target audience supposed to do, go to their legal division and say, "No, there's no problem with Linux! See this explanatory document? All code is approved by a penguin...."

      Well I suppose the hypothetical target audience has a legal department that takes a sheaf of press releases backed up by no evidence whatsoever as adequate support for a claim of copyright infringement. So maybe it's understandable if the OSDL comes across as a little condescending....

      • Re:Good freaking Lord! (Score:5, Funny)

        by Otter ( 3800 ) on Wednesday November 26, 2003 @07:25PM (#7574002) Journal
        In fact, that probably _is_ the logic, fighting stupid with stupid. I'm just wondering if it's maybe targeting a little too low -- press releases are one thing, but a cartoon penguin with a magnifying glass may be seen as insufficient legal advice.

        Still, Malcontent is right. You need to send this out as a 3 meg .ppt file (ideally with each round of penguins or humans sliding in from the side with a car crash noise) if you expect your technology to be taken seriously.

    • Mod parent differently!

      YM "Insightful". HTH, HAND.

      Seriously, I even kinda understand how the linux development process works, and that poster doesn't make any sense at all.
    • "No, there's no problem with Linux! See this explanatory document? All code is approved by a penguin."

      No, man! The penguin is just a metaphor! All code is actually approved by a nun.

  • Son of Tsarkon Reports - What the ??? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 26, 2003 @06:35PM (#7573703)
    Does anyone else find this disturbing?
    OSDL (comprised of arguably some of the best minds in the industry) have a strategy whereby they release a jpeg image !?!

  • Since OSDL is kinda slow... (Score:3, Informative)

    by bruns ( 75399 ) <bruns.2mbit@com> on Wednesday November 26, 2003 @06:36PM (#7573712) Homepage
    Since OSDL is kinda slow and lagged, heres the image:

    http://www.sosdg.org/images/linux_dev_process.jpg [sosdg.org]

  • Why do I have this horrible feeling... (Score:4, Funny)

    by Trolling4Dollars ( 627073 ) on Wednesday November 26, 2003 @06:46PM (#7573771) Journal
    ...that someone with WAY too much time on their hands is going to take this and animate it to do something obscene in Flash or something?

  • duck and cover (Score:2, Interesting)

    by fermion ( 181285 )
    I think the poster is somewhat reasonable from an educational point of view. I question whether anyone other than experienced developer can understand it. It took me a minute to understand it. I wonder if the people who make OS decisions will even take the time.

    It kind of reminds me of those posters with instruction on surviving the nuclear holocaust the US government distributed ages ago. They kind of fulfilled a moral need, and made people feel like they could survive, but I doubt they would actuall

    • fermion, I think that may be because you haven't wsted your time learning to interpret shitty management diagrams. To those who have (PHBs) these are probably very understandable.... Good to know our top business minds can be so easily pleased, eh?

  • No QA step? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by CaptKilljoy ( 687808 ) on Wednesday November 26, 2003 @06:52PM (#7573807)
    One of the things from the poster that mystifies me is the lack of mention of testing. How does each new build of the kernel get validated for release? What types and levels of testing are done (e.g. integration, HW compatibility, etc.)? Can anyone explain?

  • Article (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Scholasticus ( 567646 ) on Wednesday November 26, 2003 @06:52PM (#7573808) Journal
    No comment about the poster - it speaks for itself - but the article on internetnews was really quite good. It looks like OSDL is making a concerted effort to explain the kernel development process in such a way to factually counter SCO's claims. Peer review isn't perfect, but it is a very powerful tool for oversight of a project such as software development. With the information from internetnews it should now be possible for people who were otherwise in doubt to see how unlikely it is that "one million lines" of SCO-owned code could make it into the Linux kernel.

  • it's simple (Score:4, Funny)

    by bhny ( 97647 ) <bh@u[ ]net ['sa.' in gap]> on Wednesday November 26, 2003 @07:04PM (#7573883) Homepage
    I think I've figured it out. The source code talks to the penguins and the little penguins hand the source code to the contributors and the fat penguins compile the source code and give it to the market place and somehow the market place gives the code back again

    whoever did that flow chart is insane

  • misguided campaign? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by walterbyrd ( 182728 ) on Wednesday November 26, 2003 @07:14PM (#7573947)
    Linux end users need to understand that *they* can not be sued. Forget the ibm v scox case - that is a case between ibm and scox.

    The idea that scox can sue linux end users is completely absurd - even if ibm did break some contract, even if there is illegal code in linux.

    Companies and individuals that buy linux in good faith, have done nothing wrong. They have not violated any copyright - and certainly they have not violated any patent, trademark, or trade secret. Therefore, scox has absolutely no grounds to sue linux end users. I don't care if ibm broke one hundred contracts with scox. That is the message that the needs to get to the linux end users.

    • Correct. End of discussion. That's what matters, that's what should be communicated.

    • So why has SCO made the claim that they can sue end users but that they have no current plans to do so. Also why did Redhat suddenly get out of the desktop market? Why is it that the company which jumped into the Linux on desktop market used to own Unix and retains rights to use the code?

    • Re:misguided campaign? (Score:4, Informative)

      by cgenman ( 325138 ) on Wednesday November 26, 2003 @09:46PM (#7574618) Homepage
      Not actually true. Patent violation in this (weird) country applies even if there was a good-faith effort to avoid such tussles. Most courts would look kindly upon a group that, upon discovery of the problem, removed all areas of offence. However, as a proven by microsoft's previous tussles in this area, ongoing usage once a patent violation is discovered requires payment. If SCO had any evidence, and Google was found to be in violation, a court may waive an initial damages clause but would require that they either pay up for a license or switch to a different OS.

      If mere Copyright violations are found, suits against end users would have no basis, but the result would be the same. Distribution of Linux would become illegal, therefore Google would still need to pay a gaggle of *bsd programmers for a port. I may be off in this regard, but I believe Google would retain the right to their current server farm... but without security patches, the system would be quickly hacked. Maybe.

      Either way, Linux end users need to understand that they cannot be sued *without proof.* So far, SCO has dodged every possible opportunity to provide proof, and likely will continue to do so. They have already been banned from this extortion racket in other countries, where they declined to show any evidence of their claims. Why would they behave any differently with any other company? A year into the IBM case and they are still stalling on procedure.

      It brings up a very interesting question. Which will die first... The case, or the company?

      • WTF? Either you completely missed my point, or I am completely missing yours - or both.

        >>Patent violation in this (weird) country applies even if there was a good-faith effort to avoid such tussles. . . If SCO had any evidence, and Google was found to be in violation

        WTF? Patents? Scox doesn't own any patents. Even if scox did, google would not be violating those patents by simply using linux.

        • Sorry. I know SCO doesn't own any valid patents. You know SCO doesn't own any valid patents. SCO, however, believes that it is "the majority owner of Unix intellectual property" and "has full rights to license this technology, and enforce the associated patents and copyrights." It licensed one of those patents to Microsoft earlier this year, though it refused to mention which one.

          If Linux incorporated technologies that were covered by those patents, anyone using those technologies would, in fact, be li
          • >>SCO has been claiming patent violations, and as such can cause legal problems for end-users.

            Scox has not claimed patent violations. Scox lawsuit against ibm is about trade secrets.

            Also, if something is patented, it can not be a trade secret. Patens are open for anybody to see.

          • >>SCO, however, believes that it is "the majority owner of Unix intellectual property" and "has full rights to license this technology, and enforce the associated patents and copyrights." It licensed one of those patents to Microsoft earlier this year, though it refused to mention which one.

            I would be interested to know where you got those quotes. Also, scox absolutely did *not* license a patent to msft earlier this year, nor did scox make such a claim. Please do not confuse what moron pop-media "jor

  • You can't spell SCOundrel without SCO (Score:4, Funny)

    by B0mbtruck ( 658912 ) on Wednesday November 26, 2003 @08:10PM (#7574253)
    You can't spell SCOundrel without SCO

    Come on, we all new it from the start !!!

  • great idea (Score:2, Insightful)

    by humankind ( 704050 )
    I think this is a very good idea. Most techies think this is a battle of intellectual property, but in reality it is a PR/marketing-hype battle. The tech community should have more efforts like this to educate people so they understand the issues and are not misled by the legal meandering.

  • As we're on the subject of publicity... (Score:3)

    by herrvinny ( 698679 ) on Wednesday November 26, 2003 @08:45PM (#7574408)
    As we're on the subject of publicity, what about mentioning that I regged scoreport.com [scoreport.com], scofiles.com [scofiles.com], scofile.com [scofile.com], scolawsuit.com [scolawsuit.com] and scolicense.com [scolicense.com], and pointed them all to a small website?

    I also regged a few more domains, and I'm planning on pointing them to a second website, which is going to be a little more fun.

    Hey SCO, if you're reading this, you are a moronic bunch of jackasses.

  • OSDN != OSDL (Score:3, Informative)

    by autopr0n ( 534291 ) on Wednesday November 26, 2003 @10:02PM (#7574684) Homepage Journal
    A couple of people aperantly havn't realized that OSDL, the group that released this isn't the same as OSDN, the group that owns slashdot, source forge, etc. OSDL is a multi-company group including IBM that funds Linux and other OSS software, and employs Linus.

  • Yeah that helps (Score:3, Funny)

    by blanks ( 108019 ) on Wednesday November 26, 2003 @10:37PM (#7574836) Homepage Journal
    "So far managers and developers around the world are supposed to boost their confidence in Linux with the help of this little poster, which explains the kernel development process." "

    Yeah and the food pyramid poster I have helps remind me that the beer and junk food I eat and drink are going to kill me.

    Time for another beer.
  • Is it just me, or does Development Penguin look drunk or on drugs? Especially with that flask next to him. As the 2.6 development kernel is named Detox Beaver or something similar, does this tell us something about the kernel developers??

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