SCO - EV1, Licensees, Groklaw, Armed Guards 778
Camel Pilot writes "It looks like the CEO of EV1Servers underestimated the reaction to giving in to SCO demands and licensing Linux. I know we were looking for a new hosting home, and had EV1 at the top of the list, but now they are not even a consideration..."
An anonymous reader writes "InfoWorld has an article with more info on Computer Associates denying being a SCO Linux licensee." Also, Mick Ohrberg writes "Pamela Jones, creator of Groklaw, an independent legal research site, responds to some allegations presented by SCO CEO Darl McBride." Finally, an anonymous reader writes "According to the Deseret News, Darl McBride says he sometimes carries a gun because his enemies are out to kill him. He checks into hotels under assumed names. An armed body guard protected him at Harvard Law School when he gave a speech last month." Update: 03/08 20:17 GMT by S : cdlu writes "Now the SEC is unofficially confirming some interest in the SCO and Microsoft connection, according to Newsforge [part of OSDN, like this site]."
Mistaken Identity? (Score:4, Funny)
Soooooo, it was actually Darl? [rollingstone.com] It would explain the dope, but didn't we all think it was crack he was on?
Paging Major Dick.... (Score:5, Funny)
Looks like baseball bats [slashdot.org] won't work in this case....
Darl the gangster (Score:5, Funny)
There's an upside to this: maybe now we can him arrested for armed robbery.
Re:Darl the gangster (Score:4, Insightful)
Here's his address, check for yourself! (Score:4, Informative)
By reading this, you agree not to sue me and not to use this information in any illegal manner.
Here's all the contact info you should ever need for Mr. McBride.
The SCO Group
355 South 520 West
Suite 100
Lindon, Utah 84042 USA
801-765-4999 phone
801-765-1313 fax
Contact SCO online
http://www.thescogroup.com/company/feedba
Darl C McBride
1799 Vintage Oak Ln
Salt Lake City, UT 84121-6539
Darl's home phone #: (801)424-2006
Darl's office phone #: 801-932-5820
Email Darl: darl@sco.com
Re:MOD PARENT DOWN (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Here's his address, check for yourself! (Score:5, Insightful)
Also, society sanctions those who break rules. While Mr. McBride hasn't been legally convicted of wrongdoing, he is visibly seeking to take wrongfully from others in order to enrich himself.
Inevitably, he suffers societal backlash, ranging from the Utah reporters who no longer give him positive press to the angry teenagers calling him up at home.
An individual's rights can be narrowed by society if he commits wrongdoing. This narrowing can occur formally, as in criminal sentencing, or informally, as in the shunning and hostile attention directed at a pariah.
It's unfortunate that your comment was modded down merely for disagreeing with the mainstream belief here.
Re:SCO is back online (Score:4, Funny)
inbred Mormon.
-1, Redundant
Re:Darl's Disease? (Score:4, Funny)
This is my weapon (waving $100M from MS in third party checks)
This is my gun (waving handgun)
This is for suing (waving $100M from MS in third party checks)
This is for my paranoid delusions of grandeur (waving handgun)
Darl needs protection, does he? (Score:5, Funny)
Hardly. The only thing Darl needs protection from is his own big mouth. Let's hope he never realises that while he's carrying his gun
BTW, does anyone else think the SCO logo there looks like a big red beachball with Mickey Mouse's head on the side???
Re:Darl needs protection, does he? (Score:5, Funny)
It does! Somebody tell the rat! Maybe SCO will have to change it's logo!
Re:Darl needs protection, does he? (Score:5, Funny)
Not me for sure, I'm just looking forward to the day where he becomes Bubbas bitch for the next 20 or so. There is no way in hell I want him dead.
Re:Darl needs protection, does he? (Score:4, Funny)
Tuesday nights on ABC with your host, Regis Philbin.
"Is that your final assassination attempt?"
The SCO logo? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Darl needs protection, does he? (Score:5, Funny)
Yeah, I just assumed it was an oblique reference to the popular Disney movie -- because, after all, Darl is the "Lyin' King".
Maybe McBride has been HELPING Linux all along! (Score:5, Funny)
As a suitable allegory, let's consider the South Park episode "The Chicken Lover".
(***A little spoiler-warning here for those among you who have not yet seen this episode.***)
Officer Barbrady comes out with the secret that he is in fact illiterate. This is a humongous blow for his self-esteem, and he is no longer convinced that he can maintain L&O througout the town with this impediment.
Of course, this couldn't have come at a worse time, since the town is meanwhile being terorized by an as of yet unidentified Chicken Fucker.
A weird hippy-type bookmobile worker gets involved and provides the Officer with clues, forcing the Officer to learn how to read in order for the clues to be useful to him.
To sum up this long story, Officer Barbrady eventually tracks down and apprehends the Chicken Fucker, revealing his true identity. To the shock of the people on the scene, he turns out to be none other than the bookmobile worker himself!
As it turns out, he purposely started performing those heinous crimes and passing on clues, in order to encourage the Officer to learn how to read. Successfully, as it now turned out. The Officer can now read (albeit barely) and has regained the respect of the good townspeople of South Park, by removing a dangerous freak from the streets.
Unfortunately for the "Chicken Lover", no one ends up sympathizing with him, in spite of his good intentions. He ends up sacrificing his freedom and whatever standing he had in the community in order to help the Officer. Even the latter doesn't show any appreciation as he ruthlessly hauls the perpetrator's sorry ass to prison.
So I was thinking, Darl McBride possibly knew all along this SCO lawsuit would be bogus (after all, what individual with even a spec of a brain wouldn't, right?).
Perhaps he knew that in order to protect Linux from future lawsuits, the best thing he could do was to sacrifice his company (which was going downhill anyway) as well as himself by setting a precedent with a lawsuit so outrageous, that Linux would HAVE to come out on top, deterring any future legal action by other parties.
In the end, SCO will most likely have been crushed beneath IBM's elite legal team, while Darl McBride will have lost all respect and sympathy throughout the software industry. He might even go to jail. If he purposely went through with the anti-Linux-campaign while realizing all of this in advance, then it will have been a brave, selfless, yet unrecognized act of self-sacrifice for the good of the open-source community.
Poor Darl... Darl, the Chicken Fucker...
Re:Darl needs protection, does he? (Score:5, Funny)
It's the world being eclipsed by, as you correctly recognised, a gigantic mickey mouse logo. It represents the ultimate triumph of intellectual property over sanity. I chose it myself.
Re:Darl needs protection, does he? (Score:5, Funny)
Hmm.... (Score:3, Funny)
"Please invest your money with me. I'm paranoid as hell, but my paranoia keeps your money safe. It's in a Mayonaise jar buried underneath my dead cat so that Black Helicopters can't find it."
Oh yeah, this company'll last.
Re:Hmm.... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Hmm.... (Score:5, Funny)
Speaking of tinfoil hats. . . (Score:5, Informative)
Speaking of tinfoil hats, the following from a long, somewhat boring, analysis of SEC docs that SCO has filed [threenorth.com]:
# Jul 2002 McBride is hired
# Aug 2002 Morgan Keegan is hired
# Aug 2002 Caldera changes name to The SCO Group
# Sep/Nov/? 2002 MS memo discussing using intellectual property as an attack against open source is floating around in Germany and later publically
# Oct - Dec 2002 SCO later admits to beginning to look at its own intellectual properties and first makes noise about UnixWare binary libraries.
# Jan 2003 SCO creates stronger language to indemnify its officers of criminal activity
# Dec? 2002 - Jan? 2003 At some point Boies is brought in, likely via Morgan Keegan, to negotiate license/stock deals with Sun and Microsoft
# Feb 2003 Morgan Keegan clarifies its arrangement with SCO and includes language indicating they are anticipating an IBM buyout, though without naming IBM specifically
# Feb 2003 Boies finalizes his agreement with SCO to sue IBM
# March 2003 IBM lawsuit
# Jul/Aug 2003 Anderer joins
# Oct 2003 Anderer e-mail penned
# Oct 2003 PIPE deal
# Nov 2003 Boies has no one from law firm at key press conference
# Nov 2003 Boies gets 20% of PIPE deal
# Dec 2003 PIPE investors get veto power over Boies payouts
# Nov/Dec/? 2003 16 to 20 million deal discussed by Anderer never happens
In related news... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:In related news... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:In related news... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Umm, hello??? (Score:4, Informative)
"The polygamy crap" that you see on the news now is grounds for excommunication from the Mormon church, but until about 1890 it was official church doctrine (you couldn't reach the highest level of heaven - which enabled you to become a god yourself - unless you were a polygamist). But the church changed it's position (current doctrine is that polygamy is only for the hereafter, but will get you excommunicated if you do it here and now). But there are a number of Mormon-ish splinter groups who believe that the Mormon church was correct before 1890 but went astray when they abandoned polygamy, and said splinter groups adhere (more or less) to the official pre-1890 Mormon doctrine.
For the record: I live in Utah, I'm not Mormon, but I pay attention to their position.
Re:In related news... (Score:5, Interesting)
The Mormon/LDS theology is about Joseph Smith, who was able to translate "golden plates" he found buried in the forest (using a seer stone, similar to a divining rod, mind you) and thus wrote the Book of Mormon. One section in the Book of Mormon is the Book of Abraham, again translated by Joseph Smith from ancient Egyptian Papyrus purchased from a travelling huckster.
Science, namely Egyptologists, have clearly shown that Joseph Smith's translation of these documents (which were shown to be ancient burial scrolls and not an account of the life of Abraham) was not only inaccurate but also fradulent.
Among the things that we Mormons believe is that Adam (from Adam and Eve) is actually God (see the talks by former prophet and seer Brigham Young), that flesh-and-blood people like you and I (not spirits, mind you) inhabit our moon and sun (ibid) and that all other religions are "an abomination upon the face of the Earth" and their practitioners are "whores from Babylon" (History of the Church, Book of Mormon, Gospel Principals).
Mormonism has never paralleled, nor has anything in common with, traditional Christianity. The God of Mormonism is different than the God of Christianity, even though the same nomenclature is used to describe Him. Mormonism believes the Father, Son and Holy Ghost are three distince and separate entities, as opposed to the traditional views of Christianity. Mormonism believes there are three "kingdoms" of heaven which you must qualify for... belief alone is not enough to obtain the ultimate salvation.
Salvation in Christianity is based on faith and belief; works being the result of this. In Mormonism, it is based on works... you must do everything you can, or you will not achieve the ultimate salvation.
In Mormonism, if you are not temple-worthy, you will not be entitled to the highest form of salvation. In the temple, you will learn what amount to secret handshakes as you swear an oath to keep this to yourself. In the past, you had to swear an oath to Blood Atonement (... or let my throat be slit, where I shall bleed to death as punishment) (Biography of Brigham Young)... but now, to be politically correct, the Church changed it to something more people will accept.
In the Church, women are not equal. They cannot hold priesthood office, they are not entitled to the keys to the priesthood, cannot bless their family, and are not treated as equals. It is an interesting culture, accentuated by the individual quirks of different communities and States.
Overall, I've found it a fascinating community of people who otherwise wish to do good, but are kept ignorant of the true history of their Church and of their religion.
SCO: (Score:5, Funny)
Re:SCO: (Score:4, Interesting)
Well, it's got a ways to go, but it's been headed that direction for quite awhile now. If it hits it, then SCOX is toast at the whim of outside parties who may not wait for a law suit. Not good, because that could moot the suits & countersuits, leave the fud lying around all over the floor, and leave the "IP" available to be picked up by creditors (the PIPE people) and then sold to who they chose at prices they choose, and with strings that they chose. If SCOX can be brought to bay, this is a much better time to finish things off.
SEC investigation underway? (Score:5, Interesting)
An SEC staff member told NewsForge that complaints and tips about suspected under-the-table funding, stock-kiting, illegal insider trading, and money-laundering involving Microsoft or Microsoft-connected individuals to the financially struggling SCO Group have been coming into the agency with regularity since last August. Newsforge [newsforge.com]
Re:SEC investigation underway? (Score:4, Insightful)
emerge -DU SCO-SEC-case.1.2.3
Re:SEC investigation underway? (Score:3, Insightful)
I wouldn't doubt that there are some people who have tried to report SCO to the SEC despite not having any true facts that could be used. Such people are just harming any true investigation into SCO by drowning out the actual signals...
Re:SEC investigation underway? (Score:4, Interesting)
SCOpe unknown. (Score:5, Interesting)
While I think you're correct that there has been a lot of 'bad' or 'uninformed' complaints, I know that there have been some informed too, especially concerning Jonathan Cohen [threenorth.com].
One thing that indicates that the SEC is doing something (whatever scope) is that SCO has been late with some documents concerning the Bayster/Royce-deal. The contract says that they only to SCO non-damaging way for them to be late with this particular filing is during a SEC investigation. Someone else should post the details since I'm a little fuzzy on those...
Re:SEC investigation underway? (Score:5, Funny)
Give me a break!! (Score:5, Insightful)
Lets see... one guy pisses off a buncha nerds. He's afraid of firepower?
Uhh... Darl... the only thing you need to worry about is stuff like cracking your servers and DoS attacks. Both of which you have survived.
Really, if frivilous lawsuits caused people to fear for their lives, something is wrong witht his world.
Re:Give me a break!! (Score:5, Insightful)
I think the chances that Darl McBride has received death threats, both at his place of business and his residence, are so close to 100 percent as makes no difference. Some people can laugh that stuff off. Others choose to take it seriously. Who can argue with either approach?
Re:Give me a break!! (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Give me a break!! (Score:5, Insightful)
Okay, twit. I'll bite.
We live in a world where a pregnant woman can be convicted of a stoning offense, just because the man decided not to marry her. Nigeria.
We live in a world where people participating in an anti-tyranny march to the capitol will be shot from rooftops by the minions of a guerilla warlord who will "protect" the country from violence. Haiti.
We live in a world where a well-respected and popular female government official is slain by knife while shopping in a department store. Sweden.
We live in a world where bloodshed happens for unjust and unjustifiable reasons... in every country there is, and every country there ever was. Even your country.
Re:Give me a break!! (Score:5, Interesting)
We live in the kind of world where if the majority of the people in your town don't like your religious beliefs that they feel justified in shooting at you or blowing up your car.
We live in the kind of world where if the country next door decides they don't like your ethnicity, they feel justified in invading your country and killing the lot of you.
We live in the kind of world where if the scientists working for the government feel they aren't paid enough they feel justified in selling nuclear technology to terroritsts.
We live in the kind of world where if the leaders of a country feel they are losing ground at the conference table they feel justified in shooting missles at their neighbor's whose land they covet...
(For those not up on events, the above correlate as follows: 1. Ireland, Israel/Palestine/Lebanon, Iraq, Kashmir, Somolia, Ethiopia 2. Rwanda, the Balkans 3. Pakistan, Russia 4. China)
Darl probably broke the law (Score:5, Informative)
May I carry a concealed firearm in California? Except in extremely limited circumstances, you may not carry a concealed firearm on your person in public unless you have a valid CCW license. CCW permits are issued only by a county sheriff to residents of the county, or by the head of a city police department to residents of that city.
I live in another state and have a permit to carry a concealed handgun that was issued in my home state. Does my permit allow me to carry a concealed handgun while in California? No. Weapons permits from other states are not valid in California.
The City and County of San Francisco is downright parsimonious [sfbg.com] in issuing CCW permits:
San Francisco is the toughest city in California, if not America, in which to be granted a CCW permit. Currently there are only five permits issued to non-law enforcement personnel in the city. (as of June 2003)
So if Darl carried his weapon concealed in San Francisco, and he has not obtained a permit from Sheriff Hennessey (a reporter could easily ask), he's broken California state law, and should go to jail or at least pay a stiff fine. (Had the weapon remained in a locked container [state.ca.us], he would be okay.)
Re:Give me a break!! (Score:4, Interesting)
Quote from the commander of the Illinois State Police: "We don't have concealed carry in Illinois. And if you come across that bridge carrying a concealed weapon, be prepared to spend 15-20 years in Illinos."
sPh
Re:Give me a break!! (Score:5, Interesting)
You obviously know a different set of nerds than I do, FK.
The more zealous the linux geek (in my 10-person sample), the more of a gun nut they are.
Re:Give me a break!! (Score:3)
ESR had a Geeks and Guns session at Penguicon (Score:5, Interesting)
So my advice is to take threats from geeks with guns seriously. I saw their targets and their shot groups were tight.
Would make for an Interesting arrest (Score:5, Funny)
[A public place.]
SEC agent: Mr. McBride, you're under arrest for fraud. Please come with us.
SWAT sniper: Subject 1 has a gun under left arm. Advice caution.
SEC agent: Please hand over your firearms.
Darl: This firearm? [Whips out gun, pointing it at SEC agent. Darl's body guard does the same.]
[Cue: Hans Zimmer music.]
They stand pointing each other's guns at each other, shouting.
SEC agent, police officers and Darl shouting at each other: Put your guns down! No, you put yours down.
ESR and RMS are hiding under a table, witnessing it all. They have to save the day etc.etc.
Alternative 2
SEC and FBI agents approach SCO headquarters.
In A.D. 2004
Search was beginning.
Darl: What happen ?
Security guard: Somebody set up us the search warrant.
Secretary: We get signal.
Darl: What !
Secretary: Main screen turn on.
Darl: It's You !!
SEC: How are you gentlemen !!
SEC: All your evidence are belong to us.
SEC: You are on the way to prosecution.
Darl: What you say !!
SEC: You have no right to resist make your time.
SEC: HA HA HA HA
Captain: Take off every 'gun' !!
Captain: You know what you doing.
Captain: Move 'gun'.
Captain: For great evasion of justice.
Replay Waco situation with search [David Koresh] replace [Darl McBride].
Only this time, after SCO set fire to their complex, they are rescued by Microsoft helicopters.
Army general: The fire was a diversion! Cancel the fire rescue! Call the air force! Bring some artillery etc.
Actually, this would make a kick-ass anime.
If I were Darl, I'd carry a gun, too (Score:5, Interesting)
Okay now that I've attracted ire from everyone without a sense of humor; It makes perfect sense for him to say that. SCO's success hinges on making people feel sorry for them. Making people feel sorry for Darl because he "has" to carry a gun is a big step in the right direction (along those lines) and most of the sheeple will fall for it, because they don't know the real story. Bravo, Darl, good work. See you in hell.
Armed bodyguard? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Armed bodyguard? (Score:5, Insightful)
First, we take it personally in ways that other industries who have had attempts to destroy them haven't. Taking the pickaxe away from a coal miner or the torch away from a welder at an auto plant is one thing. Taking the paints away from an artist or the code away from the programmers is another thing.
Second, there are enough geeks who have varried interests in firepower. There's ESR and his "Geeks with guns". There's all of the crazy flamethrowers, flame cannons, high voltage tesla coils, etc. from the burner contingent.
Third, we won't be stopped if you take away our weapons. A gas grill and some machine tools can be turned into a variety of interesting weapons.
Fourth, we have been accumulating this knowlege ever since we found the Anarchist's Cookbook on the local BBS, so restricting further flows of information won't stop us. We have brother geeks in the other engineering fields to draw on as sympathizers. In fact, DeCSS has shown that the more you try to restrict the flow of information, the more folks who may not have cared otherwise now want to help share it.
Fifth, we understand the system better than some of the other displaced groups. The Detroit auto-workers would take out their agression by buying a Honda and publically smashing it. We do not have political ability, but I have no doubts that the angry nerds of the world will be able to pick the right targets.
What's preventing this from happening? Well, right now, there's still a promise on the horizon. People remember the last boom-bust cycles, the last time stuff was outsourced and we were still able to find jobs. Our hacker projects have kept us from blowing up at OS/360 and Microsoft and VMS because there *was* something that we could work on. Take that away, and we'll show all of the other groups that have used terror how things are really done.
Having said that, I think that everybody is currently more interested in Darl being a failed businessman (And indicental picker-up-of-the-soap) than dead. Because, overall, that's just more fun.
Re:Armed bodyguard? (Score:4, Funny)
"The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers."
3C
Re:Armed bodyguard? (Score:4, Interesting)
Coders are a bunch of badasses?
Misfits maybe but you can't have it both ways, you can't gripe about persecution after Columbine then gloat over your dysfunctional sociopath reputation when it suits you.
You ain't a gangster, up the Lithium dosage dude.
Computer Associates (Score:5, Insightful)
From the article, The Islandia, N.Y., company, one of the biggest makers of corporate software, said that although it signed the licenses, it didn't pay for them -- and never would
Signed but not paid???
Re:Computer Associates (Score:4, Interesting)
Yes, Center7 via Canopy gave licenses away for PR. I'd guess. The interesting thing is; Does this pierce the corporate veil, if CA Center7 -> Canopy -> SCO where now somehow CA are SCO-customers? That's what I want to know.
That is, if SCO goes under with debt, then Canopy should have to open their coffers for IBM/RedHat/et.al.
But who gets UNIX? (Score:5, Insightful)
I expect that is correct, if IBM can pierce the veil.
The more interesting question is if SCO declares bankruptcy, who gets whatever IP rights they do have. (And realize that based on the Novell contracts, I don't really think they have any.) BayStar and the Royal Bank of Canada both get priority in liquidation--priority over and above IBM with a court judgement, I would imagine.
Do they get it? What if the MS connection alleged in the Anderer memo is proven? Then, do they get it? Does Canopy get it because they have a loan to SCO that is secured and, I believe, their lease to SCO is also secured.
This is an important question.
Re:Computer Associates (Score:4, Interesting)
Contracts? SCO? What did you expect? (Score:5, Insightful)
"
Like, SCO can read, understand, or comply with a contract; that they can be relied upon to disclose factual information, and that they're not in a media war. Give me a break. What the hell did you expect?
Re:Contracts? SCO? What did you expect? (Score:5, Funny)
In for a penny, in for a pound (Score:3, Insightful)
Now I'm not one to make threats (instead, I just tell him to put up or shut up), but in any social group, there will be those who will feel the need to take extreme measures against a threat, be it real or perceived.
can they get their money back? (Score:5, Insightful)
so now they can sue SCO and get their money back!
Go darl. most of us got over it when we were 8. (Score:5, Funny)
Yeah darl, and when I was 8 years old I too was a spy, and everyone was out to get me. trust no one you know. I'd sneak around under a blanket and surprise my parents with my leet disguise skills, only to quietly slink back into the darkness and surprise yet another family member.
By the time I turned 9 the whole attention seeking bullshit act left me and I started growing up. Try it sometime, it's not all that bad.
Why Kill Him? (Score:5, Funny)
I am not entirely sure who would really want to kill him? I mean, this guy's stupidity is such that he shouldn't be put out of his misery but instead ridiculed and mocked for as long as we possibly can. We should use his actions in case studies on what -not- to do. He should be more worried of people pointing a finger and laughing then people pointing a gun and shooting.
Such is my Humble Opinion.
Re:Why Kill Him? (Score:4, Funny)
No! To the pain!
I don't think I'm quite sure I'm familiar with that phrase.
How EV1 can get back on board. (Score:5, Interesting)
Maybe it won't hold up in court, but at least it will burn off some of the cash SCO received and spread their legal team a little thinner.
Re:How EV1 can get back on board. (Score:5, Insightful)
So, we have the gleeful announcement from SCO/EV1 that a seven figure sum has been paid to SCOsource, cushioning the ~10% fall in stock price after somewhat grim financials and announcements of the latest lawsuits. However, we also have the biggest backlash you could possibly imagine; EV1 has kissed goodbye to a few million dollars (a no refund clause is in the contract), lost an unknown amount of custom to its competitors and been tarnished with the same brush as SCO. You'd have to be a complete moron to consider buying a SCOsource license for "protection" and risk having your customers find out now, which leave less funds for the lawyers.
SCO Chief (Score:5, Funny)
Nice (Score:5, Informative)
Sue the litigious bastards [sco.com]. They'd sue you.
Already slow with 26 comments, here's a mirror (Score:5, Informative)
Darl McBride
Linus Torvalds, creator of the Linux operating system, calls SCO "the most despised company in technology."
The reason: SCO is claiming rights to the Linux open source software code that thousands of users and supporters say should have no owner. SCO brought a $50 billion suit against International Business Machines Corp. last year and last week turned on Linux users DaimlerChrysler AG and AutoZone Inc., suing for an injunction and unspecified damages.
"We are fighting the big battle," McBride said in a telephone interview from his office at SCO headquarters in Lindon.
McBride, 44, is pitting SCO against an industry it once helped develop. Less than two years ago SCO, formerly Caldera International Inc., was helping to form a standard version of Linux to compete with Microsoft Corp.'s Windows. Once McBride took the helm in June 2002, the company changed tack, hired attorney David Boies and began claiming that Linux users infringed on SCO's intellectual property.
Linux has attracted thousands of individuals and companies, some of whom see it as the only credible threat to Windows. Others use it because it's cheaper.
The software is now being used by companies ranging from DaimlerChrysler, the world's largest maker of luxury cars, to Lehman Brothers Inc, the fourth-largest U.S. securities firm by capital, to Google Inc., the world's most widely used Internet search engine. Lockheed Martin Corp., the world's largest defense contractor, also has servers that run on Linux as part of its computer network.
IBM pushes computers that run on the Linux operating system. Shipments of Linux-powered server computers, fast machines used to run Web sites, rose 53 percent in the fourth quarter, more than double the rate of Windows servers, market researcher IDC said.
McBride and SCO are more hated than Microsoft, the world's largest software maker, and its chairman, Bill Gates, according to some Linux backers. That's because SCO, once a backer of Linux, has turned around and attacked the essence of the system: its free source code.
"SCO are just complete hypocrites," said Jeremy Allison, co-author of Samba, an open-source software that runs a file and print service that SCO sells.
SCO says it owns the copyright to the Unix system and that parts of the Unix code have been copied into Linux. SCO is demanding payment from each user of Linux. Novell Inc. separately is disputing SCO's claim to Unix.
SCO claims IBM is distributing the Linux software containing its copyrighted Unix code. It claims companies such as Red Hat Inc. are building products using the same code. The company broadened its legal attack by suing AutoZone for using software that contains the code, and DaimlerChrysler for not certifying that Unix, which it obtained via license with SCO, has been used inappropriately.
DaimlerChrysler spokesman Han Tjan said he had no comment on SCO's suit. AutoZone Chief Executive Steve Odland declined to comment on the claims. IBM spokeswoman Trink Guarino said the suit is groundless and the company will contest it.
Linux, invented in 1991 by Torvalds as a student in Finland, found converts in part because it was a free, publicly shared operating system. Anyone can work on and modify the source code of Linux. By contrast, Microsoft licenses its Windows code only to select partners, which don't have permission to make changes.
McBride is getting the most heat from the thousands of volunteers who have worked on Linux over the past 13 years. They say SCO has no claim on the code.
"The real reason why people don't like SCO, and Darl McBride in particular, is that he is so dishonest," Torvalds, 34, said in an e-mail.
McBride has done battle before. He compares
Re:Already slow with 26 comments, here's a mirror (Score:5, Informative)
Uh Huh (Score:4, Funny)
Mormons never lie. Especially when they are wearing the magic underwear.
Re:Uh Huh (Score:4, Informative)
My how he's grown! Now instead of clearing up bullshit, he's spreading it around...
Re:As a fellow BYU Grad and Mormon Missionary: (Score:4, Insightful)
Maybe he might get a clue after being excommunicated. (Though I doubt it.)
I wonder if EV1... (Score:3, Interesting)
Should EV1 sue SCO? (Score:5, Insightful)
confused (Score:4, Funny)
I'm confused. I read this expecting a short treatise on the history of law and litigation to follow, yet it started talking about companies like Caldera International Inc., a software company.
SEC investigation according to NewsForge (Score:4, Informative)
Also, to plug my own horn, I've written up a few things on the financial dealings [threenorth.com]. Most are from August 2003, but the most recent relates to the Anderer memo. [threenorth.com]
If justice were done.... (Score:4, Insightful)
Hopefully jail will be McBride's ultimate fate. Crooks should be locked up and Darl McBride is a brazen example of one in my opinion.
Propaganda, victim complex, or both? (Score:5, Insightful)
First lines of the article:
Darl McBride, chief executive of SCO Group Inc., says he sometimes carries a gun because his enemies are out to kill him. He checks into hotels under assumed names. An armed body guard protected him at Harvard Law School when he gave a speech last month.
Linus Torvalds, creator of the Linux operating system, calls SCO 'the most despised company in technology.'
...later...
In January, McBride's unlisted home telephone number was placed on Slashdot.org, a pro-Linux Internet site, which led to harassing phone calls on Super Bowl Sunday. Hackers also targeted the company's Web site with the Mydoom virus earlier this year, causing the company to shut down the site.
McBride said he sometimes carries a gun, declining to specify the type, and travels with armed guards. The gun is licensed, he said. Security officials have told him that convicted felons are behind the death threats, McBride said.
Lookie! It's the juxtaposition trick! Darl says, "I feel threatened," then mention someone (Linus) saying something threatening. Talk about linux advocates attacking making harassing phone calls, then mention unspecified convicted felons making death threats.
A classic example of propaganda I've ever seen one...
The Rules of Disinformation (Score:4, Informative)
You might get a kick out of reading Twenty five rules to suppress truth [datawest.net]. The url was send to me and others from Jeff at TheLinuxshow [thelinuxshow.com]today.
He carries a gun? (Score:5, Funny)
Dow Jones / WSJ finally picking up on this (Score:5, Informative)
SCOX is down 2% today, reaching a new low for 2004. The stock has been in a screaming dive [yahoo.com] since December, dropping from 19 to 11.
Cowboy Darl (Score:4, Funny)
Its the users emotions not legal or technical. (Score:5, Insightful)
Its really our emotional response to threats. No different from any criminal threatening your hopes, dreams, your work, career or family.
EV1Servers should have simply waited until the SCO v. IBM was finished the appeals.
We've been desperately saying this - all we want is facts. Cold hard code with clear attribution and this has not been forthcoming from anyone to date.
EV1Servers have been tarnished because no-one knows who to trust right yet. For me if Torvalds says he wrote that code then he did and it stays that way until he says "Oh yeah I remember, I copied that from an old Computer or DDJ magazine or found it on a FTP site." or something equally absurd.
Lost in the hubub- Thank you, Pamela!!! (Score:3, Interesting)
I just have to cheer- that letter is full of soul-satisfying smackdown.
GrokLaw is definitely a zeitgheist (sp?), it embodies the spirit of the Open Source movement and quite frankly is an example to all of us as to what we should be doing if we aren't already.
BIG standing O from the peanut gallery! I know my next charitable contribution is going to Ibiblio, and I know our hero(ine) will be well rewarded!
</soapbox>
Next Week on slashdot... (Score:3, Funny)
In other SCO News... (Score:5, Informative)
And of course groklaw has news today that the SEC may be taking an active interest in the Microsoft SCO relationship on various grounds.
Beware the enemy within (Score:5, Insightful)
The article says, (Score:5, Interesting)
That said, I know there's at least one person leaving: Illiad can stick around if he wants, but I'm not letting any more of my money flow to SCO. I'm getting out, and cancelling my ev1 account at the end of the month. I hope I'm not the only one; my hundred bucks a month isn't all that important, but a bunch of us together are.
See y'all over at ServerBeach or one of the other hosting companies.
-JDF
As the saying goes... (Score:5, Funny)
EV1 looking out for #1, looking to screw #2... (Score:5, Insightful)
Dirty dirty company. They know that this deal with SCO has a good chance of indirectly benefitting them by fucking over their competition. See, here's the deal...
SCO wants a "big dog" in their portfolio: A high-profile licensee that they can use to scare smaller guys into submission. So they go to EV1 and offer them a really good deal for licenses. And EV1 figures, hey, we're only having to pay pennies on the dollar for these licenses, and it's going to give SCO a lot of ammo for taking out *other* hosting companies...
So what do they have to lose. They pay off SCO for an amount that really doesn't make a whole lot of difference to their financials, and the SCO guys look more credible, giving them a little more of edge for attacking EV1s competitors. This line of reasoning cannot have escaped the people making this deal, and it wouldn't be suprising if SCO explicitly used this argument to convince EV1 to buy.
So basically, EV1 rolled over because by being the first to pay they get the best deal and ensure that other Linux-based companies are going to get fucked worse than they are.
This was an exceptionally greedy and selfish move, and should speak volumes about those in charge of the company. Evil, evil, evil. Shady deals made for the sole reason to screw over as many people in the industry as possible, all for the sake of more power and money.
Does that sound like a company that *you* want to support?
Shane (Score:5, Funny)
Where as in reality he's the Iraqi Information Minister saying that the allies are being routed whilst the tanks roll up behind him.
Skip the NewsForge 'story' (Score:4, Informative)
Not saying it isn't necessarily a good thing, but it's not exactly 'news'.
The FTC is respondingt to MS/SCO link (Score:5, Informative)
The FTC will not officially acknowledge it, but their comments made by officials indicate that the deal (possibly among others) is definitely on their radar.
Darl's dreams at night (Score:5, Funny)
Can't sleep, pengiuns will eat me...
Can't sleep, pengiuns will eat me...
Darl McBride: A Latter-Day Saint?! (Score:5, Interesting)
The article also says that Darl McBride "graduated from Brigham Young University after serving as a missionary with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Japan."
Whats up with that!? So this guy is a Latter-day Saint AND a returned missionary?! Latter-day Saints are supposed to be HONEST. This tidbit of information about Darl is particulary upsetting to me because I'm a member of the Mormon church too except I'm a huge linux fan and very anti-SCO. I even served a mission and went to BYU like he did, except I only went for a year before transferring into Cornell.
My point is that not only is Darl is a discrace to the linux community but also to the church. LDS Church members who aren't "honest in all their dealings with their fellow man" are supposed to be forbidden from entering temples. Therefore, this guy should get excommunicated ASAP if he hasn't already because he's tainting the church's image!
Faust or how Darl played with the devil (Score:5, Interesting)
I was one of the people who, last year while no one was taking Microsoft involvement seriously, posted that there was a good chance Microsoft was involved based purely on the case of what the motivation was behind the whole SCO lawsuit. Now that SCO's case has been shown to be a mostly hot air campaign of lies and public FUD, considering that SCO has yet to openly show a single case of obvious infringement in court, I think it might have well gone off along the following lines:
SCO was losing both money and marketshare rapidly up until last year, having failed to persuade IBM to continue on project monterey after Caldera bought the rights from the original SCO, and thereby having no modern product and only an installed base of legacy customers whp were looking for other sources in any case. I think that while the original idea might have come from McBride himself to make a legal case for Linux chaos, I would think that probably, one of the first things he would have done is to approach Microsoft, or else he was approached by Microsoft very early as part of Microsoft's FUD campaign aginst Linux.
The benefits for Microsoft are obvious, as it would bring in, at the very least, doubt into the minds of PHB's who were considering Linux adoption. The fact that the SEC might be investigating Microsoft for funding analysts (something which has been obvious to just about everyone here on
I would think that Microsoft offered SCO and McBride a very Faustian kind of deal: Carry the legal and above all PR campaign against Linux and especially IBM (who has given an enormous amount of credibility to Linux) and Microsoft would save SCO's and McBride's collective asses. The amount of money involved is small change for Microsoft.
The fact that McBride is as stupid as the original Faust character, is easy to spot when one looks at other companies who have trusted or sold their souls to the Microsoft machine. Where are they today?
The reason that I think it might turn into a huge wopper of a case is because, when the threads unravel and Microsoft's tactics are displayed in court, they will not only have been guilty of breaking the antitrust agreements, but also numerous felonies involving the charges mentioned at newsforge. On top of that I can see this one going all the way to the top at Microsoft because I can not see any such huge campaign not being known and sanctioned by Bill and Steve personally.
And when I look at the current legal mood involving Worldcom's Ebbers and Martha Stewart and the punishment handed out, I don't think that there will be the same mercy applied as there was during the anti-trust trials.
Darl's Gun (Score:5, Funny)
It's a shotgun.
Both barrels, both feet, every time.
Hey kids, let's have some browser fun! (Score:5, Funny)
Yes, you too can enjoy this one. If you're running Windows you can accomplish this just by shrinking the icons in your task bar to the right size, other people may need to SHRINK their browser window until only the first 11 letters of this article thread are visible. And then what do you get?
SCO - EV1, L
Yay, that was fun!
More BS (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:If I were EV1Servers... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:EV1 CEO = idiot moron (Score:4, Insightful)
You want to win in the business arena, make the best product and convince people to use it. Don't look at it as a holy jihad, because the business people sure as hell won't. He got the product for free? That's great for him. There's no EULA that goes with Linux that requires your loyalty or support. There's no GPL clause that says you must declare your fealty to the Open Source Movement. And that's how it should be, because Linux, if it wins, should win on its merits, not on the religious zeal of its converts.
The only 'right thing for Linux' that business users should be required to do -- or castigated for not doing -- is abiding by the GPL. That's "abiding," as in "not breaking," not "not supporting anyone who doubts the veracity of the GPL."