Microsoft suspiciously paid SCO for some licencing before all this really started to hit the fan. And who is reaping the benefits from all this FUD? MS. I'd say they have an interest in this that is more than just passive. Did they not also recently change their licencing on Windows? Good PR for MS if you ask me. But you didn't.
On Thu, 2003-07-24 at 15:48, Jeff Leinen wrote: > Seek and thou shalt NOT receive. > > SCO must prove they own any code in the Linux kernel. Hey it shouldn't be that hard > to do since the source is freely available. > > What we're seeing from SCO is the same behavior that a child would exhibit. SCO is > banking that somebody settles out of court or simply purchases them. All this in a > weak attempt to gain value for the shareholders and the executives. Who knows, > maybe Microsoft is encouraging this behavior. > > But what can you expect from a company that is taking on water faster than it will > evaporate. They've got nothing useful to sell so they look for other "income" > opportunities. > > > > ---------- Original Message ------------- > Subject: [sclug-general] SCO Linux Alert > Date: Tue, 22 Jul 2003 19:52:16 -0500 > From: Michael Morey <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: Afterlife <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, > George Penn <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, > SCLug - Generallist <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, > Shane Steckelberg <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > 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! > > * * * * * * * ============ > * * * * * * * ============ > * * * * * * * ============ > * * * * * * * ============ > ========================== > ========================== > ========================== > ==========================
