Pretty interesting... i actually read the original article from 2003 the other day. This guy predicted SCO would win. Now he says ok ok, i was totally wrong. Haha.
ray -- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ray DeJean http://www.r-a-y.org Systems Engineer Southeastern Louisiana University IBM Certified Specialist AIX Administration, AIX Support =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= ---------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.forbes.com/2007/09/19/software-linux-lawsuits-tech-oped-cx_dl_0919lyons.html?partner=technology_newsletter > Boston - > > In the print edition of Forbes there's a great (albeit sometimes painful) > tradition of doing "follow-through" articles where a reporter either takes a > victory lap for making a good call or falls on his sword for making a bad > one. Online publications don't typically ask for follow-throughs. But I need > to write one. > > For four years, I've been covering a lawsuit for Forbes.com, and my early > predictions on this case have turned out to be so profoundly wrong that I am > writing this mea culpa. What can I say? I grew up Roman Catholic. The habit > stays with you. > > The case is SCO Group (nasdaq: SCOX - news - people ) v. IBM (nyse: IBM - > news - people ). In March 2003, SCO sued IBM claiming that IBM took code from > Unix--for which SCO claimed to own copyrights--and put that code into Linux, > which is distributed free. Last month a judge ruled that SCO does not, in > fact, own the Unix copyrights. That blows SCO's case against IBM out of the > water. SCO, of Lindon, Utah, is seeking bankruptcy protection. > > In June 2003, a few months after SCO Group sued IBM over the Linux operating > system, I wrote an article that bore the headline: "What SCO Wants, SCO > Gets." The article contained some critical stuff about SCO but also warned > that SCO stood a chance of winning the lawsuit. "SCO may not be very good at > making a profit by selling software. ... But it is very good at getting what > it wants from other companies," I wrote. > > I wrote that because in the 1990s SCO's predecessor company, Caldera, ran a > similar shakedown on Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ), making claims > about the old DOS operating system. I was briefed by Caldera's lawyers on > that case, but I never took them seriously. Then they won a settlement. > Whoops. > > This time, I figured I should at least give SCO the benefit of the doubt. I > flew to Utah and interviewed their managers. I attended a SCO conference in > Las Vegas and did more interviews. They told me all sorts of things, like > they'd found a "smoking gun" that proved IBM was guilty, and that they were > preparing to sue big Hollywood companies that use Linux server farms to make > movies. > > I reported what they said. Turns out I was getting played. They never > produced a smoking gun. They never sued any Hollywood company. > > Over time my SCO articles began to carry headlines like, "Dumb and Dumber," > "Bumbling Bully" and "SCO gets TKO'd." > > But I still thought it would be foolish to predict how this lawsuit (or any > lawsuit) would play out. I even wrote an article called "Revenge of the > Nerds," which poked fun at the pack of amateur sleuths who were following the > case on a Web site called Groklaw and who claimed to know for sure that SCO > was going to lose. > > Turns out those amateur sleuths were right. Now some of them are writing to > me asking how I'd like my crow cooked, and where I'd like it delivered. > > Others in that highly partisan crowd have suggested that I wanted SCO to win, > and even that I was paid off by SCO or Microsoft. Of course that's not true. > I've told these folks it's not true. Hasn't stopped them. > > The truth, as is often the case, is far less exciting than the conspiracy > theorists would like to believe. It is simply this: I got it wrong. The nerds > got it right. > > SCO is road kill. Its lawsuit long ago ceased to represent any threat to > Linux. That operating system has become far too successful to be dislodged. > Someday soon the SCO lawsuits will go away, and I will never have to write > another article about SCO ever again. I can't wait. -- Ben Kamen - O.D.T., S.P. ============================================================================= Email: bkamen AT benjammin DOT net Web: http://www.benjammin.net As seen somewhere on the net: My other computer is your Windows Server. _______________________________________________ NOTE: If there is a disclaimer or other legal boilerplate in the above message, it is NULL AND VOID. You may ignore it. Visit http://www.mimedefang.org and http://www.roaringpenguin.com MIMEDefang mailing list MIMEDefang at lists.roaringpenguin.com http://lists.roaringpenguin.com/mailman/listinfo/mimedefang
