Cross-posted to PLUG... Jim's got something for us all to think about. On Fri, May 30, 2003 at 03:23:12AM +0800, Jim Ayson wrote: > By the way, does PLUG have a position on the whole SCO brouhaha? Seems to > me the only one who can benefit from Linux FUD (fear uncertainty and doubt) > is not so much SCO but Microsoft.
As for a formal position, not yet. Everyone there scoffs at all this tough talking by SCO though. Like all the Linux people all over the world we're waiting for them to either put up or shut up. In any case, it looks like SCO's painted themselves into a corner here, thanks to the GPL. They say they have their own copyrighted/patented/whatever code inside the Linux kernel. The Linux kernel is GPLed. They distributed this GPLed code themselves. There are now two possibilities: 1. They licensed their code under the GPL. They thus have no cause for their lawsuit, which is bad, and have wasted tons of money on legal fees and blew their reputation with the entire Linux and Unix community. 2. Or they did not grant such a license, violating section 7 of the GPL, and thus committed willful copyright infringement against Linus Torvalds and all the other kernel developers by distributing the kernel without a license, which is even worse. Either way they are fscked. The worst that can happen here is that IBM pays damages to SCO for their alleged trade secret violation. If a trade secret gets out, you have no other recourse under the law. There's no way to put the genie back in the bottle. (I should be a lawyer... ;) -- Rafael R. Sevilla <dido at imperium dot ph> +63(2)8123151 Software Developer, Imperium Technology Inc. +63(917)4458925 "Patriotism...is nothing else but a means for obtaining for the rulers their ambitions and covetous desires, and for the ruled the abdication of human dignity, reason, and conscience, and a slavish enthralment to those in power." -- Philippine Linux Users' Group (PLUG) Mailing List [EMAIL PROTECTED] (#PLUG @ irc.free.net.ph) Official Website: http://plug.linux.org.ph Searchable Archives: http://marc.free.net.ph . To leave, go to http://lists.q-linux.com/mailman/listinfo/plug . Are you a Linux newbie? To join the newbie list, go to http://lists.q-linux.com/mailman/listinfo/ph-linux-newbie
