Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

IBM Subpoenas Microsoft! Sun! Baystar and HP!
Groklaw ^ | 02/22/06 | Pamela Jones, et al.

Posted on 02/22/2006 10:03:02 AM PST by Salo

Hold on to your hats! IBM has subpoenaed Microsoft! And Sun! At last, we're getting to the core of the matter. We're going to get to find out the whole story. I'd pay for this. No kidding. Feast your eyes on these and don't skip the topics for deposition:

* Plaintiff IBM's Notice of Service of Subpoenas Duces Tecum - yes, plaintiff for the countercharge...oops, I meant counterclaims * Exhibit A - HP's (deposition set for March 15, 9 AM) * Exhibit B - Baystar's (deposition set for March 16, 9 AM) * Exhibit C - Microsoft's (deposition set for March 14, 9 AM) * Exhibit D - Sun's (deposition set for March 7, 9 AM)

If anyone has time to do a plain text of the topics, I'd appreciate the help. What a day.

I love Sun's. Among other things, IBM would like to have them testify about such matters as "restrictions or prohibitions on Sun employees having access to any UNIX product, including, but not limited to, its source code." And they'd like to hear all about all communications between Sun and SCO since June 28, 2002 (isn't that the date Darl joined SCO as CEO?), including any chats about any software licensing agreements and what Darl said to Scott McNealy in May of 2003 regarding SCO's rights to the UNIX operating system and "discussions of business opportunities between SCO and Sun." Oh, and involvement by Sun in the development of Linux.

IBM would like Baystar to hand over documents about any communication between Baystar and Microsoft regarding SCO, IBM or the SCO v IBM litigation and all documents regarding agreements between Baystar and SCO and all documents regarding Baystar's investment in SCO, and all documents concerning Baystar's knowledge of SCO's business". Say, that should be easy for a "pure financial animal".

Microsoft, Microsoft, Microsoft. Do tell IBM all about any agreements between Microsoft and SCO, and all communications or agreements relating to SCO or this litigation, including all communications between Microsoft and SCO since June 28, 2002, including Darl's communication in May of 2003 "with Steven Ballmer regarding SCO's rights to the UNIX operating system". Oh, and IBM would like to hear about "Microsoft's business strategy regarding Linux", and they'd like to chat about the Caldera antitrust litigation against Microsoft too. Me, too. Me, too. Now about those shredded documents... And finally, they'd like "all communications or agreements relating to SCO or this litigation, including all communications with Baystar, Royal Bank of Canada, and Everyone's Internet, Ltd."

Yoo hoo. PIPE Fairy. Hope you like sunshine.

As for HP, IBM would like to see their contract licensing them to use UNIX. They'd like to know about any restrictions on employees having access to UNIX source code and all documents concerning "any agreements relating to any Hewlett-Packard software product involving Hewlett-Packard and AT&T, USL, Novell, Santa Cruz, Tarantella, or SCO." And any documents regarding any open sourcing of any HP UNIX product and all documejnts concerning the origin of any UNIX source code "publicly disclosed or open sourced by Hewlett-Packard." And they would like to see, or hear about, any agreements between SCO and HP. They'd like to know more about the indemnification plan of HP's also. And this is interesting, number 12:

12. All documents concerning any efforts to ensure or maintain the secrecy or confidentiality of any UNIX source code, know-how, concepts, techniques, or methods, including but not limited to: (a) any rule, policy, practice or procedure relating to the confidentiality or secrecy, or lack of confidentiality or secrecy, of any UNIX source code, know-how, concepts, techniques, or methods; any breach of any such rule, policy, practice or procedure; (c) the use by any person of any UNIX source code, know-how, concepts, techniques,, or methods; and (d) the disclosure or availability of any UNIX source code, know-how, concepts, techniques, or methods to any person.

I begin to think that every question we've had, we will finally get to know the answer.

I see comments indicating that some of you thought discovery was over. Here, from Groklaw's IBM Timeline page, is the schedule:

22-Dec-05 - Final Deadline for Parties to Identify with Specificity All Allegedly Misused Material

27-Jan-06 - Close of All Fact Discovery Except As to Defenses to Claims Relating to Allegedly Misused Material

17-Mar-06 - Close of All Remaining Discovery (i.e., Fact Discovery As to Defenses to Any Claim Relating to Allegedly Misused Material)

As you can see, we're in the part that I've highlighted in red, which is over on March 17. It's all about defenses now. In other words, SCO filed it's list of ha ha allegedly misused material, and now IBM gets to do discovery to establish its defenses. Don't forget the expert witnesses also:

14-Apr-06 - Initial Expert Reports

19-May-06 - Opposing Expert Reports

16-Jun-06 - Rebuttal Expert Reports

10-July-06 - Final Deadline for Expert Discovery

And then, ta da! Dispositive motions.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Technical
KEYWORDS: ibm; linux; microsoft; sco; sun
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100101-109 next last
To: econjack
I forgot to mention that MSDOS was far from being ready, IBM had to fix over 300 problems with it, before they could use it. That is why the IBM's copyright was always displayed along side MS's.
81 posted on 02/23/2006 7:20:07 AM PST by amigatec (There are no significant bugs in our software... Maybe you're not using it properly.- Bill Gates)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 77 | View Replies]

To: ShadowAce
The SCO of today is in no way related to the SCO you remember.

I know... I remember the two brothers (although I no longer remember their names) that ran the company...

Mark

82 posted on 02/23/2006 11:37:18 AM PST by MarkL (When Kaylee says "No power in the `verse can stop me," it's cute. When River says it, it's scary!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 74 | View Replies]

To: N3WBI3

"I wont miss him one bit, a rude spiteful little troll and were all better off with him gone. If you think he is crude on the board you should see some of the things he drops in peoples mailboxes.."

Wow! How did b2k finally get banned?


83 posted on 02/23/2006 8:28:34 PM PST by adam_az (It's the border, stupid!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 44 | View Replies]

To: TaxRelief

"Correction: In revenue, profits, assets, and ethics, IBM is *still* larger than Microsoft."

Agreed. I used to work for IBM - they are VERY big on enforcing following company policy and contracts and the law. Very scrupulous to do so. As a consultant, there were plenty of times we had to involve legal in getting an opinion on how to proceed. They're extreme sticklers.


84 posted on 02/23/2006 8:32:27 PM PST by adam_az (It's the border, stupid!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 73 | View Replies]

To: amigatec
I do remember most of what you're saying. As I recall, Gates bought MSDOS from Patterson who owned Seattle Computer Company for $50,000. He then sold it to IBM.

I doubt the Harvard story and stealing the Basic interpreter. There were enough Basic interpreters in the public domain (e.g., Pitman's Tiny Basic in Dr. Dobbs Journal) that it wouldn't be necessary to "steal" it from anyone. Also, he spent considerable time writing the code generator component for M80, which is perhaps the hardest part to get functioning properly. Much of this work was done under an on-going agreement with Altair, the company that came out with the first kit computer back in the 70's.

Say what you will about Gates, I've been lucky enough to talk with him on several occasions and he is an incredibly bright man with a mind for details like no one I've ever met. What really sets him apart from so many other people who had a similar start and failed was that Gates surrounded himself with people who shared the same vision, but had expertise in different areas than his own (e.g., Steve Ballmer). To me, Gates is where he is because he did things right and filled a hole in the market that the public wanted filled. Microsoft products may not be perfect, but I haven't found too many viable substitute, especially when it comes to teaching computer science courses.
85 posted on 02/24/2006 5:59:45 AM PST by econjack
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 80 | View Replies]

To: rzeznikj at stout
I'm also running SuSe 10.0... Did the internet install. Use the primary (not mirror) for your DL source. Oh, and get the IP address for the URL (pinging the URL will return IP) before starting, as it asks for the IP and not URL. It's a bug or design flaw that the developers know about, and will correct for the next release.

Anyway, after dealing with that issue, the install went well. No complaints and my systems are running great. I have just one left to install it on. It's my server (running Mandrake 10.0) and have no need to change it over just yet.

86 posted on 02/24/2006 9:51:09 AM PST by AFreeBird (your mileage may vary)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 68 | View Replies]

To: AFreeBird
I tried the main mirror--errors popped up about files not being found. I couldn't even get the ramdisk to start.

So, I used the mirror at 216.165.129.140 That installed, but a crudload of packages were missing and the install was taking forever.

Plus, I'm on a DSL connection that others use frequently.

From what I hear, Suse 10.1 is in beta 4--I would think it'd be out as a stable shortly. Probably just wait until 10.1 is released and download the 5CD set via bittorrent.

(I normally download the full set for odd number releases (9.1, 9.3), ftp install for evens (9.2).

87 posted on 02/24/2006 10:01:57 AM PST by rzeznikj at stout (This is a darkroom. Keep the door closed or you'll let all the dark out...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 86 | View Replies]

To: rzeznikj at stout
Well the primary (http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/SL-10.0-OSS/inst-source/) is: 195.135.221.130, and is complete. That's another problem I had with some of the mirrors (at least in the US); incomplete packages and timeouts.
88 posted on 02/24/2006 10:16:00 AM PST by AFreeBird (your mileage may vary)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 87 | View Replies]

To: AFreeBird
OK, I'll give this one another shot tonight.
89 posted on 02/24/2006 11:06:42 AM PST by rzeznikj at stout (This is a darkroom. Keep the door closed or you'll let all the dark out...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 88 | View Replies]

To: Salo
SCO's Motion to Depose Denied; Motion to Compel Denied without prejudice
90 posted on 02/24/2006 4:48:32 PM PST by clyde asbury
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: adam_az; N3WBI3

I don't ever recall getting anything bad from B2k via freepmail. In fact, he sent me a link to that Napoleon Dynamite/Bill Gates video - hilarious.

I wonder if we can trade someone to get him back.....


91 posted on 02/24/2006 5:39:22 PM PST by Salo
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 83 | View Replies]

To: Salo
(I know a certain bird-brain that I'd like to trade...)
92 posted on 02/25/2006 5:36:22 AM PST by TechJunkYard (DMCA: Don't Make Content Accessable)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 91 | View Replies]

To: Salo
"...are secretly being financed by IBM's major competitors, MS and Sun."

To call MS a "competitor" of IBM is pure nonsense.

93 posted on 02/25/2006 5:40:04 AM PST by RightOnline
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Salo
If its who I'm thinking.. I would make that trade... ;)
94 posted on 02/25/2006 9:52:45 AM PST by N3WBI3 (If SCO wants to go fishing they should buy a permit and find a lake like the rest of us..)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 91 | View Replies]

To: N3WBI3

Same here - I'd take B2k over the other guy any time.


95 posted on 02/25/2006 10:09:28 AM PST by adam_az (It's the border, stupid!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 94 | View Replies]

To: adam_az; N3WBI3; Bush2000

Cool - B2K has his own linux personality cult. :-)


96 posted on 02/25/2006 1:52:11 PM PST by Salo (Free Bush2000!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 95 | View Replies]

To: Salo

No, hes an ass too. Just more reasonable than the turkey, and he posts on more topics, too.


97 posted on 02/25/2006 1:57:08 PM PST by adam_az (It's the border, stupid!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 96 | View Replies]

To: econjack
As I recall, Gates bought MSDOS from Patterson who owned Seattle Computer Company for $50,000. He then sold it to IBM.

You have your timeline reversed. Gates sold an OS to IBM. Then he bought QDOS. That's usually called fraud.

I doubt the Harvard story and stealing the Basic interpreter.

Doubt all you want. William H. Gates 2nd has confirmed the gist of the story. More back story can be found here.

Also, he spent considerable time writing the code generator component for M80, which is perhaps the hardest part to get functioning properly.

Mostly using code "borrowed" from other hobbyists.

To me, Gates is where he is because he did things right and filled a hole in the market that the public wanted filled.

Read: Bill Gates is great at getting people to buy junk. That makes him a great marketer, but not so great at anything else.

Microsoft products may not be perfect, but I haven't found too many viable substitute, especially when it comes to teaching computer science courses.

There's the understatement of the year. Some conservative estimates place costs caused by Microsoft's faulty software somewhere between $50 and $100 billion a year, depending on how many virulent worms and viruses crop up in a particular year.

And by the way, exactly how do you use Microsoft software to teach a computer science course when you don't have access to the source code to demonstrate exactly how the thing works?

Short answer: you don't. You do some smoke and mirrors thing based on a description of what it does provided by Microsoft.

98 posted on 02/26/2006 1:36:07 AM PST by Knitebane (Happily Microsoft free since 1999.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 85 | View Replies]

To: Knitebane

Hmmm...methinks you have an agenda. I checked the two sources you included in your reply and the first says nothing about him stealing code, only about his gifts to Harvard. The second "source" starts out with a paper titled "Why I Hate Microsoft", surely a cogent and unbiased view of the facts.

Your response to my comment about using Microsoft sofware in courses doesn't address my comment. You jumped from my instructional use to some guesstimates about the costs of viruses...not the same thing, but a common tactic used to deflect from the issue being discussed, especially when one doesn't know how to address the real issue.

As to the caustic comment about my teaching, I teach software development courses (not op systems software) which are primarily concerned with application development. Visual Studio .NET provides a viable environment to accomplish that task, especially at the intro level. Advanced courses may use other environments (e.g., WebSphere). Further, I've been writing and teaching software development for almost 30 years and never felt the necessity of having someone else's source code to make a point to my students.


99 posted on 02/26/2006 8:35:23 AM PST by econjack
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 98 | View Replies]

To: Salo

Hey now, I did not say I wanted him back... I said I would trade him for another freeper ;)


100 posted on 02/26/2006 9:20:04 AM PST by N3WBI3 (If SCO wants to go fishing they should buy a permit and find a lake like the rest of us..)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 96 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100101-109 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson