They've got links to a lot of articles on the entire Gong Show. http://www.thelinuxshow.com/
On Tue, 2003-07-22 at 19:52, Michael Morey wrote: > Hello , > > I saw this article in Tuesday's Wall Street Journal and thought I'd > pass it along. > > SCO Announces Plans to Seek Licensing Fees from Linux Users > by David Bank > > SCO Group Inc., which claim copyright ownership over parts of > the Linux operating system, announced plans to seek licensing > fees potentially totaling billions of dollars from users of the > popular "open source" software. > > By instituting the licensing program, SCO acknowledged that it > is seeking to bolster its sagging sales by wringing revenue out > of its rights to Unix, an older operating system from which > Linux was derived. SCO said it is able to pursue > copyright-infringement charges after receiving registrations for > its copyrights from the U.S. Copyright Office. Such > registrations are considered a minor procedural matter. > > In March, the Lindon, Utah, company sued International Business > Machines Corp., alleging IBM transferred trade secrets to Linux > and violating a contract associated with a joint-development > project. IBM is among the biggest boosters of Linux, and its > support has helped Linux gain momentum among corporate computer > users. > > SCO said it has begun to contact companies using Linux about the > licensing program, backed by the possibility of legal action > against companies that don't comply. Alternatively, said SCO > Chief Executive Darl McBride, Linux users could revert to an > earlier version of Linux before certain sophisticated features > were included. > > "Linux is set to grow pretty dramatically," Mr. McBride said in > an interview. "Do we all want to move forward together and we > get a piece of that? Or do we want to turn the clock back to > where it was a few years ago?" > > Exact pricing for the license hasn't been determined but will > roughly correspond to prices for UnixWare. Those fees range from > $700 for a single-processor computer server to more than $10,000 > for more-powerful systems. "Even if you take an average number, > it gets to a few billion [dollars] pretty quickly," Mr. McBride > said. He said the company would seek consulting-service > contracts from such customers as well. Those prospects helped > boost SCO's share price 11% to $13.32 in 4 p.m. Nasdaq Stock > Market trading. > > "Open source" refers to the ability of programmers to modify the > programming instructions, known as source code, that are used to > create software. SCO, which suspended shipments of its own > version of Linux after filing the IBM suit, has lately become > the target of considerable vitriol by Linux developers for > threatening the movement. > > A spokeswoman for IBM said SCO hadn't yet shown the company any > source code that infringed its copyrights. "SCO seems to be > asking customers to pay for a license based on allegations, not > facts," said the spokeswoman, Trink Guarino. > > Similarly, Leigh Day, a spokeswoman for Red Hat Inc., one of the > largest distributors of Linux, said SCO's move "is designed to > frighten customers into purchasing licenses that we feel are > unnecessary." SCO hasn't named Red Hat in any litigation. "We > feel completely confident that what we're offering to customers > is not in violation of valid intellectual property rights," Ms. > Day said. > > Both Microsoft Corp. and Sun Microsystems Inc. have recently > licensed SCO's software, effectively putting the bitter rivals > on the same side of some of the issues surrounding Linux. > > Best regards, > Michael Morey > mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > GOD BLESS THE USA! > > * * * * * * * ============ > * * * * * * * ============ > * * * * * * * ============ > * * * * * * * ============ > ========================== > ========================== > ========================== > ========================== >
