McBride Says No More Lawsuits From SCO 280
thephotoman writes "Well, Darl McBride gave an interview to IDG News Services in which he said that SCO is not going to sue any more customers. They do bring up the issue of the SCOsource Linux licensing, and how much of a failure it has been. Instead, they plan to start marketing their flavor of Unix. However, as he's not dropping the current lawsuits, there's no good reason to believe him on this change in strategy."
Good Idea (Score:5, Funny)
Not suing customers, particularly your own, is usually somewhere high on the list of Winning Business Strategies.
"Smithers, how much did our iron-fisted grab for licensing fees get us?"
"$11,000, last quarter, Sir."
"Ehhxcellent! They must be crowding around like lemmings, eager to hand over their money!"
"Uh, No Sir, it cost us millions to get that much."
"In the parlance of that oafish brute Homer Simpson, D'oh!"
Re:Good Idea (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Good Idea (Score:5, Informative)
Yeah. Note that they didn't promise to stop suing non-customers. And that includes all linux users.
Or maybe this time they'll claim that there is stolen SCO code in OSX. That could supply our SCO news fixes for a while.
HA HA (Score:3, Insightful)
SCO is going to find a new revenue route. And it's going to be nastier than sueing nontechnical grandmothers.
Re:Good Idea (Score:4, Interesting)
A problem for them, in this regard, would have been a couple of my previous employers. They used both, SCO Unix and Linux for separate purposes. They may not need to be sued, but feel the change in climate and decide to dump SCO. Most companies could care less about the politics of operating system backers, they just want stuff to work and get on with business.
Re:Good Idea (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Good Idea (Score:3, Interesting)
They told me that the move had to wait until they saw what would become of the SCO lawsuits, and I guess they've decided that SCO basically was a flop and they aren't scared anymore.
BSD (Score:5, Interesting)
They love to make those vague implications. For a while there, we were hearing a new one every week. So much for that?
Re:Good Idea (Score:5, Funny)
This f***ing meme is SO FRUSTRATING (Score:3, Informative)
Please provide at least one instance of SCO having sued a non customer.
SCO has only ever sued customers (or partners or former customers/partners, or entities that have had a contractual agreement of some sort with SCO specifically). Such as IBM (project Monterrey partner), Autozone (former customer), DaimlerChrysler (former customer), and almost Bank of America (customer).
Since they have never sued a non customer, they can't stop suing non customers
Re:This f***ing meme is SO FRUSTRATING (Score:5, Insightful)
However, they have subpoenaed various Linux contributors and other parties who didn't have any business relationship to SCO. In some cases this seems to be merely a fishing expedition or harrassment. Not as bad as a suit, but still not something I'd like to see in my mailbox.
SCO have also sent letters to non-SCO-customer Linux users threatening a lawsuit, although they have not actually filed suit against one of them as far as we know. It would be accurate for the original poster to ask that SCO stop *threatening to sue* non-customers.
So people should be precise in what they say about SCO, but SCO still suck. I welcome their new future as a Caldera (literally "crater").
Re:This f***ing meme is SO FRUSTRATING (Score:3, Insightful)
Agreed that being subpoenaed is no day in the park, but people and companies are subpoenaed for various reasons all the
Re:Good Idea (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Good Idea (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Good Idea (Score:3, Interesting)
You'd have to be a raving
His financial backers turn tail? (Score:5, Insightful)
It seems strange that he would give up for any other reason... he's shown himself to be hell-bent on his mission.
Re:His financial backers turn tail? (Score:4, Insightful)
Actually, Darl's backers lost their nerve before he lost his.
Burning through a fat wad of cash in endless legal battles does tend to do that. Ask Ashton-Tate, if you ever see them again.
Re:His financial backers turn tail? (Score:2, Funny)
And the Wrights (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:His financial backers turn tail? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:His financial backers turn tail? (Score:5, Funny)
Darl already made millions by inflating the SCO stock so I don't think that he gives a damn what happens to SCO now.
From what I've seen of insider sales figures, it doesn't seem that Darl has made millions for himself, only for the previous SCO management, which is probably what he is being paid for.
The other possibility is that the interviewer offered Darl a dollar bill and a couple of lines. Evidence from the linked article:
McBride [with rolled dollar bill in nose]: . . . It's really a situation of going back to the future, if you will. [Sniffff].
Linus was mostly right.
Bottom line? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Bottom line? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Bottom line? (Score:5, Interesting)
SCO has one kind of customer, and that is legacy. McDonald's used to use Xenix, and for all I know they still might. If they're still SCO it's only because SCO promised them minimal effort in the upgrade department. Sooner or later they're going to decide they need something SCO can't give them and go to Linux.
Xenix was basically the ideal OS for point of sale applications because it ran entirely reliably on 286 and 386 class machines. Now that point of sale systems are typically pentium or above (celeron, anyone?) there's no reason to be quite so miserly.
Re:Bottom line? (Score:5, Informative)
From http://www.micros.com/products/table_service_rest
"8700 Hospitality Management System (HMS)
The 8700 HMS is composed of MICROS-developed application software running on the multi-tasking, multi-user SCO UNIX operating system."
Micros is really popular in the restaurant industry in general.
Re:Bottom line? (Score:2)
Re:Bottom line? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Bottom line? (Score:2)
Choice quote from the previous vice president of our IT company (about 5 or 6 years ago): "Linux? We won't spend time and energy on that, it is just a hype"
There are no more ISVs left... (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Bottom line? (Score:2, Interesting)
They just posted to Bugtraq the other day fixing vulnerabilities mentioned in a CERT advisory which was well over a year old. And CERT advisories are usually only issued once the isses raised in them are old hat...
Re:Bottom line? (Score:3, Insightful)
<form action="smoke" value="crack">
Sure. Now that they are not the litigious bastards [sco.com] they once were, wouldn't you want to do business with them? I am sure they will start contributing code to GPL projects, maybe even the same code in questions, to prevent any further problems in the future. I would not be shocked if they released a new version of SCO Linux with the 2.6 kernel in a few weeks, and refunded what few license fees they received
Wrong quote (Score:5, Funny)
Someone gave McBride the wrong quote. He actually meant to quote Hudson, from Aliens:
"Well that's great, that's just fuckin' great man, now what the fuck are we supposed to do? We're in some real pretty shit now man... That's it man, game over man, game over, man! Game over! What the fuck are we gonna do now? What are we gonna do?"
Re:Wrong quote (Score:5, Funny)
Tibbits: Seventeen days.
McBride: Seventeen days? Look man, I don't wanna rain on your parade, but we're not gonna last seventeen hours! Those things are gonna come in here just like they did before. And they're gonna come in here...
Sontag: MCBRIDE!
McBride:
Re:Wrong quote (Score:2)
-- IBM
Re:Wrong quote (Score:5, Insightful)
SCO stops sueing? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:SCO stops sueing? (Score:2, Funny)
SCO has no more customers they can sue anybody
else they want. Actually that last statement was wrong.
SCO has two customers left and neither of them
will be sued.
Re:SCO stops sueing? (Score:3, Interesting)
hmm... (Score:5, Funny)
favorite quote from the article (Score:2)
We look into the future and fully expect that we're going to have some sort of a win against IBM in the courtroom. [...] We think that there's a very bright future in the company to return to the model that we had in the past with Unix Systems Laboratories.
Uhm. Yeah Darl. Whatever you dream in Utahland.
File it under "duh" (Score:5, Funny)
SCO Linux? Again? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:SCO Linux? Again? (Score:4, Interesting)
It's a relative term, but I'd say "pretty quickly" instead.
And I'm not sure what they plan with SCO Marketplace either. I'd love to see an NDA on that contract.
Res judicata (Score:5, Interesting)
"I think right now we've got the claims in front of the various courts that we need in order to get our complaints heard and to get them argued and to get resolution. With respect to being more vocal or going after new targets at the customer level, we don't see the need for that. We had the need to get the basic issues on the table, but we're fine to argue the merits of what we have out there right now (in) the current litigation setting."
There's something in law called "res judicata," (incorrect definition here [law.com]) which means if something is decided by one court, it's binding on a court in another jurisdiction. The definition given is incorrect in stating that it applies only to the parties in the original suit. It can be used against a party in the original suit, if it's the same facts/situation, and the original party had ample and adequate opportunity and reason (motivation) to provide a full defense in the first case.
If there is going to be a lot of cases, usually a company will do several, in different forums/jurisdictions, and see if they get a good result. If they do, such as SCO getting a ruling that all Linux violates their copyright/trade secrets/whatever, then they can use that in subsequent cases when suing. The inverse is also true. If a court finds that SCO is a bunch of mindless jerks that will be the first against the wall when the revolution comes (e.g. their claims are totally without merit), then they really cannot go after anyone else without overcoming some really large hurdles.
Not only do I play an attorney on TV, I am an attorney in real life as well.
Re:Res judicata (Score:4, Funny)
They still have customers? (Score:5, Funny)
In other words, now that they have no customers, they will only be sueing ex-customers.
I picture this setting in their boardroom (Score:5, Funny)
*fast forward 12 hours later nothing said*
McBride's junior exec: Sir, I believe this is known as the "oh sh*t moment in business" sir...
I'm sorry (Score:5, Funny)
My personal opinion is that Darl actually loves Linux, and he's been working as hard as he can to, on Microsoft's dime, paint the anti-Linux crowd as raving maniacs... I mean, he's not really this broken, is he?
Re:I'm sorry (Score:5, Interesting)
In retrospect, I think you're right. It's so surreal, but there was probably no better way to give GNU softare credibility in the business world. Look at how it looks to the corporate world:
Big companies (Daimler/Chysler, etc) use Linux.
Big companies like Linux so much, they'll fight in court to keep using it.
IBM will stand by Linux's IP and defend it legally
HP will stand by Linux's IP if you pay them for indemnification/insurance
The code is so clean, despite being a "unix clone", even the owners of unix can't find any infringing code.
Re:I'm sorry (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I'm sorry (Score:5, Funny)
Well, he is Mormon. He believes in magical underoos.
The beginning of the end... (Score:5, Insightful)
No guarantee (Score:5, Interesting)
So, if you are an SCO customer, or even if you aren't, and if you run Linux, BSD, or Windows (all of which SCO has stated a claim to), you are still not safe. They may still sue you, even after claiming they won't.
Re:No guarantee (Score:2)
Re:No guarantee (Score:2)
Of course, you could well be right, he may change his mind and claim later that only customers are safe. Of course, this has so far proven incorrect, SCO customers are the least safe.
McBride's past lie (Score:3, Insightful)
At what point does McBride's ideas of lies and truth begin and end?
Re:No guarantee (Score:3, Funny)
-
What? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:What? (Score:5, Funny)
SCO ninja-lawyer: mental image? (Score:5, Funny)
SCO Lawyer: "I know... KUNG-FU!! HHYYYAAAAHH!!"
Judge: "Uhh.. Defense? Yours?"
Linux Laywer: "We beleive the fact that the prosecution is attempting to break his desk in half with his forehead is representative of our case, your honour."
SCO Lawyer: "OOH!! This hurt head!! Must try, ancient technique! KKIIIAAAAAAAA--DDAAAARLLLL--!" *WHACK!* *Passes out*
Judge: "....um, case dismissed."
Hmmm. Damnit, now I wish I could actually see a ninja-attack lawyer in action... stupid overactive imagination...
He didn't say anything about not suing Linux users (Score:3, Insightful)
Verbally (Score:3, Insightful)
A trappy is like a trap except there's nothing in it, but this doesn't stop people from being frightened by it.
One reason: Lawsuit department too busy... (Score:2, Funny)
Not helping... (Score:3, Funny)
Darl vs. Satan [cgi.sfu.ca]
It's The Platform, Stupid (Score:3, Interesting)
Summary (Score:2)
The article's title is incorrect. (Score:5, Interesting)
Nothing to see here. Just Darl's usual nonsense.
Re:The article's title is incorrect. (Score:3, Interesting)
Indeed.
Also, I understand that a bit of PHB-speak is called for if you actually are a PHB... but this is well beyond ridiculous:
"...going after new targets at the customer level..."
"...we're fine to argue the merits of what we have out there right now (in) the current litigation setting."
"...the majority of the company resources are very directly pegged to the SCO Unix business."
"We haven't gotten to the point yet, where we think that is the play
Last line of the posting (Score:5, Funny)
That should read, "However, as it's Darl McBride, there's no good reason to believe him at all."
Speechless? (Score:2)
Something's not right here... (Score:3, Insightful)
Things are going too well. Look for Microsoft patent lawsuits to be unleashed tomorrow.
Oh, yeah.. (Score:5, Interesting)
With features like:
Risking having to migrate again in a year or two when they're bankrupt?
No 2Gb+ file support
No 64-bit support
Ever-diminishing support from the OSS community, which ironically provides the most useful server apps for the platform?
Risk future lawsuits from SCO if you do migrate?
I mean.. SCO Unix has been uncompetitive for years now, while their management has been throwing all their effort into last-ditch lawsuits.
Naturally.. it's all bullshitness as usual from SCO. But it's always worth the debunking, in case someone actually thought SCO had something of value.
Re:Oh, yeah.. (Score:5, Interesting)
C'mon (Score:3, Insightful)
Well, that isn't really the customer's job, that's the ISV's isn't it?
Seems to me that an ISV that doesn't have a migration plan away from SCO already is one that I wouldn't want to do business with. They should have been migrating to something else 2-3 years ago.
And even if SCO were to win the lawsuit against IBM, how does that help their core business? More to the point, how are cu
Back to the future? (Score:2)
"You're now hearing those guys talking about incorporating the Unix technology into Longhorn. "
Um, NT has used components from UNIX since before Darl could spell "SCO". They have huge chunks of the BSD networking code (look for license strings in the binaries) and unlike USL they didn't file the Berkeley copyrights off.
Not to mention that the original SCO's first product was "Microsoft Xenix". And it was much faster on our old P
Translation... (Score:5, Funny)
In related news... (Score:2)
The next one is at the Mall of America @ Camp Snoopy, BTW. 7pm. Bring tokens!
Darl is a sick F*#K (Score:3, Insightful)
Who knows, maybe there's some 12-step program he can join.
How can you tell when Darl is lying? (Score:2, Funny)
At this point, I beleive a state from SCO about what they will do in the future carries an information content of zero.
Darl McBride's Island (Score:5, Funny)
A tale of a fateful trip
That started from a "Unix Port"
Aboard a sinking ship.
The mate was a mighty selling man
The skipper wasn't sure
Six passengers sat sail back then
For a legal language tour (a legal language tour)
The language started getting rough
The chrysler case was tossed (almost)
If not for the "courage" of the fearless crew
The lawsuits would be lost (the lawsuits would be lost)
The ship held ground on the shore of this
Old Mormon Desert Isle
With Billy Gates
And Ballmer too
Some millionaire
Named McBride
A Courtroom Star
McNealy and Canadians
Here on Darl McBride's Isle
Engage Universal Translator! (Score:5, Funny)
TRANSLATOR ENGAGED:
SCO UNIX you say?! Sign me up! (Score:3, Funny)
Risking sanctions (Score:5, Interesting)
In Damler, the judge threw out most of their case, so they can't argue that the next one is brought in good faith.
pissing all over your consumer base (Score:2)
Did Darl really say this??? (Score:5, Funny)
Um. Ya. I haven't cared about getting paid so far. I'll think about that in the future.
Sheesh.
Re:Did Darl really say this??? (Score:2, Interesting)
When Darl says something like this he just proves he has no clue how the Open Source community actually works.
What if... (Score:5, Interesting)
What if, instead of pursuing hopeless litigation against other behemoth companies, you just tried to please the customers you had and try to make your product a better product?
They would have failed, yes. Probably. But, who knows? Maybe they would have been able to garner a reputation for good service, and hold onto their core base for a longer time then they are now. Maybe they could have even segued into providing linux solutions, and made partnerships with other major companies (like IBM) instead of suing.
Would SCO be a more successful company if they had? They might have failed yes, but they would have a good reputation, and they might have even been successful (or bought out), if they had played their cards right. Alas, they threw it all to the wind on a shot-the-moon scenario that will only end in tears for everyone.
It just saddens me that people have such a lack of perspective.
SCO Forum (Score:4, Insightful)
Can you imagine what it'd be like if they hadn't decided this?
"Alright! Welcome to this year's Forum! We've got some exciting things to discuss this year. Now... before we start... how many of you are Solutions Providers and Software Engineers? How many hands? That many. Huh. I have no idea why you guys are here. Now... how about the lawyers? How many? Yeah! Hello. And Buisness Strategists from other companies competing against Linux solutions? Hello! Good crowd! We've got some really exciting news for all you guys...!"
Granted - any solution providers who DO show up should still be asking themselves what they're doing there.
Interview did its job. (Score:5, Interesting)
So IBM does what...? (Score:2, Funny)
"One question" (Score:5, Insightful)
The answer is No, they do not have a future as a software vendor or litigator.
One part left out. (Score:2)
McBride: To start off, it will be in the millions of dollars. If we see a courtroom victory against IBM, than obviously that number will jump up significantly.
Darl left out the part about what would happen if they lose against IBM and IBM countersues with a vangence.
SCO Community Forum? (Score:3, Informative)
>As The SCO Group Inc.'s reseller and developer community gathers for its annual SCO Forum convention in Las Vegas this week, one question on many attendees' minds will be whether the company's future will be as a software vendor or as a litigator.
Just who is attending this thing? How large is their "reseller and developer community", and does it have anyone in it other than SCO employees? Where is it being held, the back room of the Denny's on Fremont Street? Anyplace else, and the hall is going to look rather empty.I'm pretty sure the question about their future as either a software vendor or litigator has already been answered in the marketplace.
More revisionist history.... (Score:3, Interesting)
IDGNS: Why did SCO recently decide to file a trademark claim for AT&T Corp.'s old Unix subsidiary, Unix Systems Laboratories (USL)?
McBride: There are a couple of reasons around going back to the USL part of the business.
We think that there's a very bright future in the company to return to the model that we had in the past with Unix Systems Laboratories.
Quite a bit of revisionist history going on there, with Calde^H^H^H^H^HSCOG along with McBride and company at USL.
In related news.. (Score:3, Funny)
Bill Gates to refund every Windows XP users money "because its rubbish"..
An end to all wars in the world..
A pony for every child..
SCO outsources development... (Score:4, Interesting)
Darl: One announcement that we are making at the show is called the SCO Marketplace, and that's a marketplace exchange whereby we are going to allow developers to come and bid on work-for-hire projects that we have, to fill in the gaps where we're going with our development plan.
Given that software developers in low cost countries like India and Eastern Europe can develop software far cheaper than developers in the US, does this mean that SCO is outsourcing their software development? I can see it now: SCO will fire their engineering staff (what little is left) and announce that they are a "virtual company" consisting of lawyers, suing IBM, and outsourced software projects. SCO will consist of Darl and a few hench-weasels to manage the lawyers and Indian software engineers.
duh. (Score:4, Interesting)
It's not a change of strategy. It's a rout. The suit based on copyrights (SCO v AutoZone) was stayed in favor of the original IBM suit and copyright counterclaims - as was Redhat v SCO - so it's clear that any other copyright-based suit will get the same treatment, making the filing worthless, even as intimidation. The other customer suit (SCO v Diamler ) was a joke that was almost entirley dismissed. There's probalby not enough left for any action.
So it's not a change of strategy, it's a smackdown, one of many they will endure, tho not necessarily quickly.
Monty Python Music Plays... (Score:3, Funny)
First they came up with "The Plan": Don't buy our products and we won't sue you.
This failed and they came up with "The Other Plan": Buy our products and we will sue you.
They finally tried "The Other, Other Plan": If you don't buy our products we will sue you.
And they had a hit!
Perhaps (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Bankrupt (Score:2)