SOS!!! SAVE OUR SOFTWARE (rights)!!! It would be a scary world indeed. I think it's important that we have posters that reflect the impact this lawsuit could have in the Open Source world, and how it affects us all. (You know, Duchamp didn't have this problem when he painted a mustache on the Mona Lisa, "LHOOQ." But that's a bad example of what happened here.)
Not just rants about how their lawyers want money because SCO is going down regardless, but ones that say how this will affect John Doe. And not only that... so many universities and National Labs use Linux for their computational and scientific work. Of the handful I've been to (Berkeley's ALS, Los Alamos, Lehigh, BYU), Linux is a backbone in the scientific research, because it's... 1) powerful 2) stable 3) FREE! If you hurt them with unappropriated, costly licenses, you hurt our future as a nation on the forefront of research. This will definitely put strains on their available money. Maybe the US will no longer be the leaders in research and that will undoubtedly hurt our economy, job opportunities, standard of living, et cetera. And this is just one example of many where these stupid (and yet crafty) lawyers could make life worse for everyone just for a few $M or $B. I really believe that the implications of the outcome of this lawsuit could be enormous. "The consequences of your actions ... could be disasterous!!!" -Doc Brown, Back 2 the future. ** I'm sure if you said something about this possibly hurting Cancer and AIDS research, or something like that, it could get people's attention. It probably would, but I don't have any sources to back me up, just common sense, but I guess they'd classify that as _speculative_ in today's world.** I think it would be selfish to sit idly by and let apathy take its toll. The community needs to be educated as to what could happen if SCO wins, and from what we've seen, SCO's case is shaky, at best. Okay, enough from me. One last thing: I have a few extra tickets to the Inuagural Concert of the Conference Center Organ for tonight. (They're going to show off the abilities of the new organ, basically.) I think the Mo Tab will also be joining them in a final number... anyway, if you want a ticket or three, contact me offlist before 3pm today. Should be fantastic. I'm excited! :D Oh yeah, this concert is also free! More takers? (It starts at 7:30pm, at the Conference Center, of course.) And I'll definitely be there at the Protest tomorrow, and I've been trying to recruit friends, but you know how people can be. They don't really get upset until they are affected by the consequences (which may not be for a few years if SCO wins) and by then the problem is rooted and a lot harder to reverse. Human nature. ROCK ON! Have fun making those posters! And I hope none of you will mind if I use some of your poster ideas??? <sarcasm> Or are they copyrighted? </sarcasm> Cordially yours, Danelle ;D -- --------- Original Message --------- DATE: Tue, 17 Jun 2003 11:37:11 From: Arthur Moore <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: BYU Unix Users Group <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: > >>Wow, I hadn't realized how serious these guys were. SCO is not only >>attacking IBM, but they are also attacking the fundamentals of the open >>source world... "The suit also adds illegal export issues stemming from the >>worldwide availability of open-source software". If they win this, this >>could have serious implications on how open source will work. >> >> >I see this as a general attack against Linux and opensource/free >software. If SCO can prove that indeed their IP was put into Linux, then >it is possible that they could insist some sort of external IP >regulation occurs with Linux. This of course takes away the freedom of >Linux developers, and puts it directly into the hands of corporations. >When everything must be OK'd by a series of coporations (and believe you >me, Linux developers will have to pay for this process, I'm talking >money.) then free and unrestricted coding can no longer take place. It >will be too much of a hassle, and there will be too many lawsuits to >make it worth it. So as I see it. IBM must win the suit, and follow with >a counter-suit (well the counter-suit could be issued by anyone, the FSF >or Linus himself) or else the very way of life, the way of coding will >be threatened by the onslaught of lawsuits. One can no longer look at >Richard Stallman's comments on Software Patents, Freedom to develop >software, or the importance of a free community, and call him too >extreame. His established his views directly with this sort of a thing >in mind. > >You know it's sad that a company who once supported OpenSource/Free >Software so fully, and made so many contributions to it, would so >quickly turn it's back, raise it's head, and bite the community. Ransom >Love where are you now?! > >Art > > >____________________ >BYU Unix Users Group >http://uug.byu.edu/ >___________________________________________________________________ >List Info: http://uug.byu.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/uug-list > ____________________________________________________________ Get advanced SPAM filtering on Webmail or POP Mail ... Get Lycos Mail! http://login.mail.lycos.com/r/referral?aid=27005 ____________________ BYU Unix Users Group http://uug.byu.edu/ ___________________________________________________________________ List Info: http://uug.byu.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/uug-list
