While SCO did not put anything about GPL or OSS in the suit, they have been making comments that Linux, and perhaps GNU software, has SCO IP in it. I am hoping that they do implicate GPL during the trial so that this issue can be resolved in a more definitive way.
I think the worst possible outcome for OSS and GPL software would be if IBM bought out SCO. I am not so sure that a company with big pockets would want to risk this kind of suit. A loss could cost them big. Since SCO has few assets they don't have much risk. This may be why one large company seems to be funneling money in the back door of SCO. -----Original Message----- From: John Summerfield [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, May 23, 2003 5:14 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Unsupportable FUD On Fri, 23 May 2003, Fargusson.Alan wrote: > One would go after the distributions of course, which SCO has threatened to do. > > I hope that SCO and IBM do go to trial, and that IBM wins. We need to establish > that the GPL is a valid license, and that Open Source is a valid development method. > I don't believe this dispute has anything to do with GPL. SCO alleges that IBM (and others) misapproprated SCO's IP and (in some sense) placed it in the public domain. Even if IBM wins, and no matter how resoundingly, there will remain questions about the legaility of using OSS, and about guarantees that OSS authors simply cannot give. I think the best outcome would be for someone (like IBM) to buy SCO out at some point, and to reassure _everyone_ that their use of Linux etc is fine. The worst outcome would be for someone with a big pocket to acquire SCO and then start persuing everyone with money or a profile. Can anyone think of someone who might do that? -- Cheers John. Join the "Linux Support by Small Businesses" list at http://mail.computerdatasafe.com.au/mailman/listinfo/lssb
