Yes, it's true, reporters may have seen through SCO's BS. I doubt they can undo SCO's damage though. The story is over for them.
SCO's nonsense built well on Microsoft's previous anti-GPL and "third party" FUD. The message they have delivered is that free is suspicious, won't work well and might not be legal. This was an easy lie to tell people used to "stealing" Microsoft junk, which includes a whole generation of computer users. They have been taught that free software is just too good to be true. I've seen this attitude at work, in members of my family and even at our last meeting at Perks. People who don't understand how programming works have a hard time grasping that commonly shared tools build better software cheaper than commercial software can. They transpose all the problems they have with their favorite Microsoft packages onto free software without understanding the why or how of free. SCO's nonsensical claims that free software developers stole code has been heard far and wide as McBride gleefully boasted the other day with two phone book sized binders of clipped articles. The problem now is that the story is over. SCO claiming ownership of all Unix was news. SCO being wrong is not as interesting because the high stakes are over. The demise of SCO and Caldera interested no one outside tech circles before the suit and it will interest few now the smoke has cleared. I doubt that MSNBC, CNN and CNET, Business Week and Computerworld will produce binders full of articles about McBride going to jail. So the public is left with the smear and many might not even hear of SCO's demise. The only way to correct this is to continue promoting free software as the honest, clean room implementation that it is and make stuff work with it. People who don't know what free is will continue to be mislead by garbage like this. "It works" can only go so far. "It works because it is free" is much better, though it may be difficutlt. On 2003.08.23 04:49 John Hebert wrote: > I think the tide has turned against SCO now, because of their disastrous > slide presentation at the recent SCOForum. I think the media covering the IT > industry is now aware of the unsubstantiated nature of their claims. > > If McBride's only possible reaction to ESR and Peren's analysis of the SCO's > slide presentation is to claim IBM is "managing a conspiracy" against SCO, > it is obvious to me, and I assume to others, that SCO is desparate. > > I am awaiting SCO's next move with glee. This is much better drama than > anything on television. I mean, the geeks are successfully using science and > logic to refute the claims of SCO in the public forum. I only wish the same > methods could be used with such success in other publically controversial > debates of the moment. > > SCO has now officially bit off more than it can chew. :) > > BTW: to get a good idea of what SCO supporters are thinking, check out the > SCOX message boards: http://messages.yahoo.com/?action=q&board=SCOX > > John Hebert >
