Posted on 07/14/2005 4:01:54 PM PDT by Salo
Davidson reports:
The project was a result of SCO's executive management refusing to believe that it was possible for Linux and much of the GNU software to have come into existance without *someone* *somewhere* having copied pieces of proprietary UNIX source code to which SCO owned the copyright. The hope was that we would find a "smoking gun" somwhere in code that was being used by Red Hat and/or the other Linux companies that would give us some leverage. (There was, at one stage, the idea that we would sell licenses to corporate customers who were using Linux as a kind of "insurance policy" in case it turned out that they were using code which infringed our copyright).
So, Darl's SCOsource scheme wasn't even original, was it? SCO *hoped* to find copyright infringement so they could make some money selling "insurance" for Linux, the email says. Sound familiar? And after all that effort, what did they find?
At the end, we had found absolutely *nothing*. ie no evidence of any copyright infringement whatsoever.
Pinging.
It's still Communist! ;-)
But I suspect the countersuits are just beginning. Libel, deceptive trade practices, extortion...lawyers at IBM and RedHat should have a field day with this.
To say nothing about the SEC, and the Justice Department. They did, after all, sell a few of those licenses, which, if no infringement can be proved, constitutes blackmail, or fraud.
I see another Perp Walk in the offing, and if I were Daryle, I'd be moving to Bolivia Real Soon Now.
I'd love to see Darl McBride in PMITA prison for fraud over this. I wonder what the legal standard for barratry is.
The sad part about that is there are a lot of people on this forum who would agree with your jest.
In spite of the fact that large companies like IBM, Novell, RedHat, etc. are making lots of money selling and using Linux, its percieved that it is some sort of Marxist scheme, just because people can get the source code for free.
OSS PING
If you are interested in a new OSS ping list please mail me
This definitely warrants an OSS ping! Vindication at some level of the integrity of code within the Linux kernel against SCO. Now the way I read it this does not address IP only copyright so it aint over yet..
"I wonder what the legal standard for barratry is."
Way too high, I'd reckon.
And not just the source, but I recently downloaded (gasp) binaries for SuSE 9.3 directly from Novell.
Cost (not counting my broadband connection): $0.00
I'm waiting for the usual suspects to show up.
How quick before the lawsuits start?
The linked email is from almost three years ago. Was it just recently discovered?
Recently unsealed.
Me too! I really like it.
If you like it, I really do recommend buying it. The commercial version has a few extra things that the free version doesn't, and it's always nice to kick back a little. In the end, for the $50, you're getting a hell of a lot.
I tried that for a while when I was taking a tour of all the various flavors of Linux. After I settled on SuSE I purchase the boxed set for each release I use.
So much easier, and that way I can be assured the SuSE/Novell will be around for the next release rathere than folding their tent like RedRat.
When you considder $35 gets you all the software packages you will EVER need and you can install on as many boxes as you want, its worth the price. When I install it commercially for my customers, I insist they each buy the boxed set.
I'm waiting for the usual suspects to show up.
Yea, I would insist that everyone buy the box too. But seeing as how I'm between jobs at the moment; it's nice to be able to keep current on my skills without having to pay an arm and a leg (and kneel west to Redmond for my daily prayers) for the privledge.
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