Slashdot Mirror
SCO Terminates IBM's Unix License
AKAImBatman writes "SCO has terminated IBM's license to use Unix code. SCO is filing for an injunction that will require IBM to cease all sale of AIX as well as accrue damages for each day IBM continues to sell AIX."
CNET also has some comments from SCO themselves:
7 71 9.html?type=pt&part=marketwatch-cnet&tag=feed&subj =news
http://marketwatch-cnet.com.com/2100-1016_3-101
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
I can't believe they are this stupid! How can they possibly claim that
IBM customers are operating without a valid license? SCO does not
dispute that IBM possessed a valid license up through the end of Fri 13.
So any copies that IBM sold before that date are perfectly legal licenses.
Any court that even takes any other legal theory seriously will destroy
the entire US economy by creating uncertainty in ALL sub-licensed IP.
And I have just enough faith remaining in the US legal system to believe
that the judge will be bright enough to see the can of legal Whoop-Ass SCO is asking them to open.
Democrat delenda est
IBM has terminated sco's licence to live
Fleur de Sel
Someone HAS to get these buggers into court to prove their specious claims.
SCO are going to destroy *nix.
Has anyone checked their roots to see if they're related to Microsoft at all?
I don't really understand how sco can cancel AIX licenses when the issue is IBM and Linux. What am I missing? Ignoring the fact that the whole thing is ridiculous to start with.
$_='while(read+STDIN,$_,2048){$a=29;$b=73;$c=142;
LINDON, Utah, Jun 16, 2003 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- The SCO(R) Group (SCO) (SCOX) , a leading provider of business software solutions ...
I think whomever wrote this press release needs to do his/her research better...
-Sean
I'm shocked. Absolutely shocked. Why didn't they give notice? Why didn't all of the major news sources, including Slashdot, report this was coming? Never in my wildest dreams did I think that SCO would ever do something so reprehensible. I was just about to purchase OpenServer!
I depend on Slashdot to give me some advance warning, preferably several weeks worth of daily articles with 500 posts, so that I'm not blindsided by issues like this.
I'm putting $100 on IBM to win in 8 months.
Still open:
1 month
2 months
3 months
etc...
You will have to pry my proprietary software $$$ from my cold dead hands!
I can see the army of lawyers in blue suits gearing up for battle right now.
I think SCO are playing a dangerous game. IBM are a formidible opponent, even if they've had the wind knocked out their sales in recent years.
;-) But this is starting to seem like the technology equivalent of Days of our Lives or something!
Plus, it would probably be a smart thing(tm) for SCO to publicly state what IBMs so-called infrigement is now that they're proceeding with directed action.
Don't get me wroing, I don't love AIX by any stretch of the imagination
-psy
Bye SCO ....
When Darl McBride sees this, he will shit in his pants.
YOU FAIL IT!
S. Jobs
Ok, Now it really begins, All the smack talk is over. Now we get down to the real battle. What do you say. IBM in 3.
"Do you hear that, SCO? That is the sound of inevitability. That is the sound of your death. Goodbye, SCO."
Fantasy remains a human right; we make in our measure and in our derivative mode... -- JRR Tolkien
Today AIX is an unauthorized derivative of the UNIX System V operating system source code and its users are, as of this date, using AIX without a valid basis to do so.
Does this mean that SCO now has a legal basis for suing Joe User for downloading a Red Hat ISO? Maybe I'm missing something here, but if not, this could be bad...
I produce electronic music and write little games. Have a look.
Whether the court will grant it or not is another matter entirely.
If IBM believes the license is perpetural, and the injunction is granted, IBM will file a counter claim for breach of contract, probably for the same amount of daily damages.
This means nothing. It's just more grandstanding.
wait wait wait... no it still won't do anything...
sorry mcbride...
1. buy some else's IP
2. have several shitty economic plans
3. sue
4. profit
My problem? I was perfectly gruntled, until some numbnuts came by and dissed me.
I wonder if this means I'm entitled to damages for every day I've been forced to use AIX.
I mean, c'mon, there's at least as much legal ground to stand on, and at least I can call my psychologist as a witness....
If SCO is seeking an injunction, does that mean they would have to prove to a judge that there is sufficient evidence for such an injunction? And if they do happen to convince a judge...
Well, better that IBM be the one to take on SCO rather than a group of Linux volunteers or users.
I just hope IBM doesn't cave. They've shown incredible lack of backbone in the past when push came to shove (OS/2 backing out of desktop market anyone?), let's just hope this isn't one of those times.
-- If it ain't broke - overclock it more.
... the most masturbatory press release I have EVER read. SCO sure loves itself.
MORTAR COMBAT!
Subscribers can SEE the articles early but they cannot post early.
The slashblurb has phrased this poorly. SCO did not terminate IBM's UNIX License. SCO stated that they had terminated IBM's UNIX License. There is a difference.
I could issue a press release saying that i had used my magical powers to turn Bill Gates into a toad, but that would not automatically make it true.
Actually, nobody posted before it appeared to non-subscribers... I know... I'm a non-subscriber like you. Anyway, SCO needs to read /. and see what they've done.
I feel like Jar Jar Binks was manipulated into proposing the lawsuit to SCO so that Gates could start the UNIX clone wars and take over as Darth Corporate.
the major advances in civilization are processes which all but wreck the societies in which they occur - A.N. White
In the red corner, we have a 130 lb mental midget with nothing in his bag of tricks. In the blue corner, we have a 1200 lb gorilla with a nice suit on. .... doh, it's over. :)
Let's get it
I love the way the article describes SCO as;
"a leading provider of business software solutions"
Lets just redefine 'leading' shall we?
Where i work we are very seriously working towards ridding our machine room of SCO forever.
To this end, I'm taking suggestions as to innovative and torturous ways to take a SCO Unixware box down.
Note; we will be putting Linux on the boxes after SCO is removed, so please, no suggestions that involve damage to the hardware.
In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
what does this actually mean for ibm? they cant sell aix anymore? i dont think so, does it just mean sco is going to be bought out ... damn straight it does, sco should just shut up sell themselves to the highest bidder and be done with it they're a mockary of a company im not even sure anyone will buy them, apart from ibm to get their lisence back, werent unix licenses from the open group anyway, who cares long live windows
Does SCO realize how many HUGE companies use AIX? I mean they MUST, right?
*SCO walks into court clerk*
SCO: "We would like to sue a corporation today."
Clerk: "Which One?"
SCO: "All of them".
*clerk collapses onto floor*
The party with the most lawyers and cash will win.
This is the rule of the court.
"SCO is also today filing an amendment to the complaint against IBM for a permanent injunction requiring IBM to cease and desist all use and distribution of AIX and to destroy or return all copies of UNIX System V source code. In the amended complaint, SCO is seeking additional damages from IBM's multi-billion dollar AIX-related businesses that began accruing Friday, June 13th at midnight."
Time for IBM to countersue perhaps. I wonder if this is what they have been waiting for?
"Linux is a serious competitor"
- Steve Ballmer, Chief Executive Microsoft Corp.
-renard
I think the big issue in question is all "future sales of AIX". That's the kicker - if IBM can't make new sales of the product, that will be as damaging to their reputation and product line as anything else out there.
That is, of course, unless a judge does something like this:
Judge: So, um, SCO, you're claiming IBM stole your code, right?
SCO: Yes, and we will defend our intellectual property to the ends of the earth, to the moon and back, to the universe -
Judge: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, can we see this source code?
SCO: Um, well, if we showed it to you, you might steal it as well.
Judge: Huh?
SCO: You're in it too - we know it! How much did IBM pay you to betray us?
Judge: Are you on drugs? I just want to see the supposed code theft -
SCO: Master betrayed us! No - Judge is our friend! Nobody's our friend!
Judge: Case dismissed.
Microsoft: But - but we licensed the code.
SCO: (Holding legal documents.) Our presssssciousssss....
52 Weeks, 52 Religions with John Hummel
I hear SCO's war drums beating but I don't see any troops. Could they be hiding? I doubt it but their commanders seem to think that beating drums louder will scare of the "enemy."
I'll just grab some popcorn and hope this will be as entertaining as advertised. SCO, put on a good show will you.
-----
One is born into aristocracy, but mediocrity can only be achieved through hard work.
The SCO(R) Group (SCO), a leading provider of business software solutions...
.
should be:
The SCO(R) Group (SCO), a leading provider of frivolous lawsuits...
Also,
About SCO
The SCO Group helps millions of customers in more than 82 countries to grow their businesses everyday. Headquartered in Lindon, Utah, SCO has a worldwide network of more than 11,000 resellers and 8,000 developers. SCO Global Services provides reliable localized support and services to partners and customers. For more information on SCO products and services, visit http://www.sco.com
should be:
About SCO
The SCO Group helps several SCO executives in USA grow their declining SCO stock value everyday. Headquartered in Lindon, Utah, SCO has a worldwide network of more than 11,000 lawyers and 8,000 pending lawsuits. SCO Global Services provides reliable Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt to Linux and IBM partners and customers. For more information on SCO lies, damn lies and lawsuits, visit http://www.sco.com.
In order for IBM to be able to comply with certain actions, as I understand it, IBM would have to either:
A) Stop selling AIX.
B) Remove the offending code from Linux.
In order to do A), well, IBM would have to give up. In order to do B), IBM would have to have a copy of what SCO thinks is the offending code, review it, engineer suitable replacements, and submit patches to Linus. I don't think Linus would necessarily have to accept it for IBM to prove that it has done all it could. But, I believe we've read before, SCO didn't want to share its violated code until last week or so. If IBM didn't have access to that until last week, SCO was asking IBM to take their word for it. Doesn't sound very legal to me.
I've seen IBM work. Sometimes it's slow, but sometimes they can move a staff of 300k people so quickly the earth spins the other way. I've got to think that IBM has enough talent to replace many 60 line blocks and have them tested before 100 days had expired, if given a fair chance.
Last night, I had convinced myself that I thought it was reasonable for IBM to be dual licensing code they had written. I'm still not sure SCO has proven IBM has liberated code, but if it had, and it was originally IBM's, why not allow it?
By stating "IBM has clearly demonstrated its misuse of UNIX source code..." by "using UNIX methods to accelerate and improve Linux as a free operating system", is SCO saying that even if a completely disparate group of Unix virgin IBMers couldn't work on Linux without undermining the contract? That sounds awefully strict.
Am I right in saying that SCO can choose to cancel IBM's license if it wants to, as long as it meets any contractual obligations it made? They are only doing this as a punitive endeavor to make IBM settle out of court on the completely unrelated Linux issue, right?
In other news, Duke Nukem Forever was released today.
The real issue that's going to be litigated here is to what extent SCO can claim damages from another company if the infringement is tiny. The very best thing that SCO can muster, in this case, is that they've identified a subroutine or two that seem to be close or identifical to something they claim is their own code. Let's suppose that this is true. What effect does this small infringment have on the entirety of Linux? Can they claim that Linux is an infringing product when only a tiny part of it contains (arguably) any SCO code?
The court is going to have to struggle with this part/whole issue. If I had to guess, I'd say that if it hit a jury, the jury would tend to be fairly absolute -- as in, you copied this tiny bit, so now you're liable for the whole thing. A judge is probably going to weight the infraction versus the whole.
And I really don't know what the law is on this. Maybe a legal type can help us out here.
LINDON, Utah, Jun 16, 2003 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- The SCO(R) Group (SCO) (SCOX) , a leading provider of business software solutions ...
They're leading the way for other companies who want to commit IP suicide.
--- I wish I could hear the soundtrack to my life. That way I'd know when to duck.
I guess this is what Schumpter meant by Creative Destruction.
It would of course be better if SCO is destroyed, but if IBM needs to be destroyed SO BE IT !!
I am all for a good fight !!!
P.S. I just hope Linux-spirit does not get destroyed in the uncertainity that will be spawned. What can uncertainity do? Just ask Alan Greenspan.
To see a world in a grain of sand, and then to step back and see the beach where the sand lies
when would BSA raid IBM premises? Looks like they are the biggest software pirates.
Who owns SCO? I have the impression that IBM should try buying it, if only to stop it from pissing everybody off.
Wise man say: "Do not taunt the sumo..."
There's no wrong way, to eat a Rhesus...
From their press release:
About SCO
The SCO Group (SCOX) helps millions of customers in more than 82 countries to grow their businesses everyday.
You can tell alot from the first line of a mission statement. The first line of their mission statement says nothing about technology, but that they "grow businesses". Is it any wonder their management is being such pricks about Linux? That line says it all... they are being lead not by engineers but by marketdroids with a goal of doing only one thing: making as much money as possible, by any means possible.
Mod down people who tell people how to mod in their sigs
Read this if you think subscribers can post before and article goes live.
KARMA TAG! You're it.
... not like IBM needs their help, but they could say "Fuck SCO! SCO, you're losing your Novell UNIX license. Anyone who's been screwed over by SCO, your SCOX license, even if it was terminated, is now a Novell UNIX license under the same terms as the SCOX license with the same remaining time (not counting early termination threats by SCO."
Dear SCO,
I would like some of what you are smoking. Please hook a brother up. Thanks in advance.
[o]_O
Reminds me of something...
'I fear we have awakened a sleeping giant'
-Admiral Yamato after the attack on Pearl Harbor
Or something like that.
7061756c4073697267616c616861642e6f7267 687474703a2f2f7777772e73697267616c616861642e6f726
SCO just stepped into some seriously nasty, smelly stuff. Bad move, SCO. Baaaaaaaadddddd move.
I do hope that they are preparing to drop a large thermonuclear device down SCO's shorts that will remove a few more letters from Darl's name...
IBM's stock is up over 2% today while SCO's stock (SCOX) is down over 2%.
Nice to see Wall Street react appropriately to this news.
This is hands-down the funniest thing that has ever been written in the history of the universe.
52 Week Range: 0.60 to 11.95
It might have been nice to put a few grand in SCO anytime last year. Hows a 20x gain feel, I wonder?
The money, like a sweet virus, trickled into Caldera's veins to the tune of around $450 million as the settlement for the DR-DOS suit against Microsoft. Once in the bloodstream, it spread to the heart, brain. The lungs were the last organ to be affected, until Darrel McBride could no longer breath without trying to squash the impetuous mosquito that is Linux and all its devil-spawn communist long-hairs.
From: News.com
"In 1995, Novell sold SCO Unix copyrights and contracts with many large companies, including Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Compaq Computer. Though those licenses lay largely dormant for years,SCO decided that they could be a source of revenue that could bolster the struggling company's fortunes after its failure to make a business of selling Linux."
1. Old Dusty Contracts
2. ???
3. Profit
IANAL, but, if they had half a case, they should have sought an immediate temporary restraining order. A permanent injuction is granted as part of the final ruling of the court.
The problem with the TRO, is that you really have to show cause before screwing up your opponent's business.
--
On one hand, SCO is trying to protect what they see as theirs to protect. On the otherhand, they are ruining their reputation in the marketplace. To suddenly say that all of IBMs sub-licenses are now invalid will do nothing but piss off the owners of those licenses. IANAL, but I don't see how a judge can agree with them. To force every company that uses AIX (and there are quite a few of them) would bring the economy to its knees. If unscheduled downtime costs companies so much money (arguably in the $K's a min), how much will it cost them to suddenly shut down their systems, and converty everything over to non-AIX boxes? As for what I think, I think that SCO will have hundreds of major corporations sue them for terminating their licenese. Imagine if Microsoft suddenly said that all of Dell's sublicenes were invalid. (ok ok, probably apples and oranges, but still) Would every Dell running a Windows OS suddenly be illegal? I can't see SCO surviving this lawsuit as a company. All they want is to be bought out, and I think that won't happen. If IBM is smart (or feeling vindictive), they will sue SCO until they declare bankrupacy, and then buy the UNIX IP off of them. Just IMO.
Now, if that makes sense to anyone, could you please explain it to me? I think I've confused myself.
I heard a common environmentalist tactic was to have a large number of individuals buy exactly one share of a corporation they disliked, then show up en mass at the shareholders meeting, (they cannot be refused entry as a shareholder) and liven up the party.
My rights don't need management.
It is possible that IBM will settle out of court to make them go away... Smart stategy.
From http://www.infoworld.com/article/03/06/16/24OPcrin gely_1.html:
I wonder what rights AT&T retained.
Does anybody else get the impression that Big Blue is going to give SCO a bloody nose over this whole thing? I mean, come on, SCO! It should be obvious by now that IBM isn't going to buy you - they're going to sue you into bankruptcy, and then buy the rights to your code from your liquidators at a dirt cheap price.
Someone needs to give SCO a clue.
The society for a thought-free internet welcomes you.
SCO is now claiming that they could possibly own the rights to most major OSs, including the *BSDs, OSX, and possibly even Microsofts OSs.
SCO Group (NASDAQ SC:SCOX) last updated on 06/16/2003 @ 16:00 10.93 -0.28 / -2.52%
LetÂs fuck IBM by terminating itÂs Unix licenseletÂs! After all they r worth BILLIONS and will have to pay!
Erm wait...billions... we are worth 200 million if we throw in the coffie pot... shit were dead.
My understanding is that SCO simply amended their complaint to ask IBM stopped from distributing AIX - if and when SCO prevail against IBM at the $1bn trial.
s p
Everybody was looking to see if SCO filed for an immediate temporary injunction, to stop IBM distributing AIX *now* -- and this does NOT seem to have happened
One other thing, according to eweek.com McBride said he planned to audit IBM AIX customers (I;d ask - for what? how?), although I couldn't see the audit paragraph when I checked later [but it was still appearing the google news summary]. URL to the story is: http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,1126997,00.a
Today IBM announced its filing of over 640 individual lawsuits against SCO.
The lawsuits ranged from countersuits regarding breach of contract, to unfair business practices, to acting not in the best intersts of shareholders, polluting the marketplace, unfair business practices, and illegal distribution of copywrighted materials.
IBM has also sent notices to the US and German attourney generals regarding SCO's breaches of international copyright treaties.
In the same announcement, IBM has denied that it employs ships stationed in international waters to attack and board any ship carrying SCO property.
On Tuesday, IBM plans to 'blacken the Utah sky' with paratrooping lawyers to persue the lawsuits.
More information will be released after Tuesday's paradrop.
Karma: SELECT `karma` FROM `users` WHERE `userid`=138474;
Why hasn't IBM crushed these guys with its Big Blue foot yet?
Be better in bed. Wikiafterdark!
If nobody explains it in a LOTR context, I just don't get it.
Thanks.
seems like noone cares. Even Sun hasn't made any comment on it.
That's funny.
Note that SCO's stock close down around 2.5% today, while IBM closed up around 2.1%.
Apparently no one else cares too much about SCO's claims either.
I miss the ::Cue::Cat articles!
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Punk-ass b1tchez!! Smell the fear, SCO!!
w0ot.
Big Daddy, Johnny, Burp, Aunt Zelda, Scott, Slurp, Big Momma
Since the article referenced is a SCO press release I find this noteworthy. Linux has made massive inroads in the server market, almost exclusively at the expense of Unix. Does anyone else see this as a sign that in a few years Linux will have replaced Unix in the server world? For IBM to switch from AIX to Linux would not be entirely out of the question since they have already set up (almost?) their entire line, from laptops to big iron to run Linux. With their license terminated, might they fold AIX and not look back?
I ask about the potentially imminent death of Unix in part because I am have been scheduled for some time to spend 6 months in college exclusively for Solaris, having just finished up Cisco. In short, I'm wondering if I'd be wasting my time and not an inconsiderable some in tuition by taking Solaris instead of focusing more on Linux on my own?
In some ways, the Many is not unlike the UNN. There is a joy in working towards a collective goal, in being able to put aside the things that draw us apart and make us separate. Why do we fear the loss of our individuality so much? Man can dream, but the Many can accomplish.
This could be a reason why SCO is doing this whole thing... It seems to have started rising slightly since SCO started their claims back in Jan. or Feb., and started climbing even more rapidly once the issue intensified...
from
r in gely_1.html
http://www.infoworld.com/article/03/06/16/24OPc
AT&T Eyeing SCO
Without even knowing it, SCO may have started a war of attrition with much larger enemies that have deeper pockets. Within the halls at AT&T, folks were chattering just last week that AT&T still has reserved rights on Unix. Naturally, the company is paying close attention to the various legal claims that SCO is making and may join the battle soon. My spy said the word around AT&T is that this will all be resolved shortly. But one has to wonder how long SCO could survive if it had opponents in multiple courtrooms â" those being, of course, IBM and AT&T
Honestly, eliminating all traces of AIX from the world is about the most noble goal I can imagine.
(Currently working a project running on AIX - transitioning to Linux)
These are my friends, See how they glisten. See this one shine, how he smiles in the light.
Heres a quote from an article at internews that gives an idea why IBM may be taking a laid back attitude to this.
"IBM's position is that our contract is perpetual and irrevocable and there is nothing further to discuss," IBM spokeswoman Trink Guarino told internetnews.com Thursday. She added, "We do not see momentum slowing anywhere, either with AIX or Linux."
In a research note based on a meeting with Bill Zeitler, IBM senior vice president and group executive of the Systems Group, Deutsche Bank Securities analyst George Elling said Zeitler defended IBM's case against SCO by noting Big Blue's 700 existing or pending patents related to AIX.
700 existing or pending patents, do SCO know of those? what if the code is in AIX and Monterey?
How can IBM obtain patents on code that's supposed to be donated to SCO or is AIX completely seperate from SCOs code?
This is confusing, IBM are going to rip them to shreds.
Normally with an IP/Copyright issue you go for the little guy, get some cash and establish precedence, then go after the bigger fish. Unless of course your trying to annnoy some company and get them to buy you out.
"They've shown incredible lack of backbone in the past when push came to shove (OS/2 backing out of desktop market anyone?)..."
I don't think that IBM ever really had their heart set on the desktop market, even after PCs were demonstrated to be the new hotness. While they don't do individual sales anymore, they still maintain and support corporate and government customers. It's a tool to be put in when it's the best solution, like non-general use machines (kiosks, network terminals for point of sale, etc).
Linux isn't just a PC operating system for IBM. There are ports to S/390, and it runs on more than just low-end microcomputers. With AIX's age showing, they have even more reason to ensure that a suitable, industry supported replacement is ready, and if Linux provides that, they'll go with it. They show no sign of backing down.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
"hundreds of thousands" lines of code. Hmm, just how many lines of code does the Linux kernal contain? That has to be close to it all of it.
Or SCO has problems with the entire GNU library of code...
hehe..
"IBM! Sue! ooogla-boogla!" - Darl MeatHead
Nice analogy there, Darl.
(from http://news.com.com/2008-1082_3-1017308.html)
qslack.com
From Yahoo financials:
Shares in SCO, which rallied to a 28-month high ahead of the Friday deadline, slipped in Monday trade to a low of $9.60 before recovering to close down 28 cents, or 2.52 percent, at $10.93 on Nasdaq.
IBM's lack of response was seen as a sign that SCO would difficulty extracting a settlement. Investors had bid up SCO's shares in the hope that a financial settlement with IBM would help boost SCO's bottom line, which had been in the red before it started an initiative to boost licensing fees from its Unix rights.
IBM shares closed up $1.75, or 2.11 percent at $84.50 on the New York Stock Exchange (news - web sites).
My rights don't need management.
What I found unusual was IBM sluffing off the allegations and telling its customers that there is absolutely no need to worry. I wonder what their lawyers have come up with.
It saddens me that no one else jumper into the fray today... yet.
So, everybody else is using AIX without a valid license. Just like me!.
The package said "Windows XP or better. Pentium Class Processor or better"... So I got a Mac with OS X
I do wonder if Mr. McBride is actually trying to impress a Redmond business (or the RIAA) with his determination and application, hoping to get a good job as VP in charge of IP. Perhaps the message he's trying to send is "If he tries so hard with crap like that, what can he do if he's given a real case?"
In which case his tactics are not necessarily at all bad. He's trying to head off complaints from SCO shareholders by showing commitment, while investing in his next potential job.
Panurge has posted for the last time. Thanks for the positive moderations.
A few years ago, Caldera Systems was bobbing along as one of the last software companies to claim a piece of the Linux land rush, scoring a successful IPO that raised $70 million.
Since then, Linux companies have gone through several rounds of grueling consolidation, and Caldera--now known as the SCO Group--has sworn off Linux. What's more, the company now finds itself a pariah in the same open-source software community it helped elevate to prominence.
SCO's non grata status among corporations stems from a lawsuit the company filed against computing giant IBM earlier this year in which it claimed that major portions of the Linux software IBM distributes are based on Unix source code SCO controls.
The dispute has grown to rattle the growing movement to boost corporate use of Linux, embroil SCO in a spat with former business buddy Novell and possibly open a new front in Microsoft's war against Linux.
But Darl McBride, CEO of SCO Group, says he thinks there's still a lot of value in the open-source approach.
"The point about open source that I believe is really cool is this notion that you have thousands of eyes around the world looking at a similar problem, and obviously when you have more people focused on something, you can solve things better," he said. "To the extent you take that model and solve problems better and create ultimately a better computing environment that solves a lot of application problems and makes life better for everybody, that's the part of open source I believe is really cool.
"I think this business of not having intellectual-property protection or in fact even having a system set up to be able to police intellectual-property violations coming into Linux, that's the part that's really going to the jury right now. I believe that we've got to get that part resolved...so the baby doesn't get thrown out with the bathwater."
McBride spoke with CNET News.com about the origins of the IBM dispute, the side effects and what comes next.
Q: How did the Linux action originate? How and when did you come to realize there was this problem?
A: It really goes back to last fall. I joined the company last summer, and we spent a quarter or two looking at this Unix operating system asset we have.
SCO ends up owning the intellectual-property rights to the Unix operating system, which is a pretty substantial asset to be holding. So we started looking closely at where Unix was relative to Linux. Linux was starting to take off, and we did have some concerns.
We saw some initial problems last fall, and we tried to address those with vendors in the December time frame. We didn't really get a lot of traction with just having friendly discussions. So we came out in the first part of this year and basically said, 'We are going to enforce our intellectual-property rights.' And even though we weren't directly going after IBM at that point, they had a violent reaction to (that).
So at that point in time, we tried to work through the issues with IBM. We came to an impasse, and that's what led to our filing our lawsuit against IBM on March 7. Concurrent with filing our lawsuit against IBM, we put them on notice that we were going to be revoking our AIX (IBM's Unix distribution) license. Under the contract, we have to give them 100 days notice. That notice was due on Friday, June 13, and if we hadn't had the issues resolved then, we would revoke their AIX license.
We're talking about line-by-line code copying. That includes not just the function but the exact, word-for-word lines of code.
During the period of time we were focused on the IBM issues, it came to our attention that we had our code, our Unix System 5 code, showing up directly inside of Linux. So that, in turn, led us to send out letters to 1,500 of the largest companies around the world, to let them know we had these substantial intellectual-property violations and to notify them that we had these problems. We didn't think that necessarily they were the ones that generate
Even if SCO manages to win, they'll never have another customer again. I guess with their new business model that doesn't matter, but still... I mean, who's gonna even want to license ip from these guys after the way they're treating IBM? Heck, this might kill Unix (not that something else just as good and without SCO code won't pop up).
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
..."All your 'nix are belong to us".
The article is just this "press release" from SCO.
And rooting for the flames. :-)
This is disgusting. I run shit on an older RS/6000 and I need to replace it soon, and plan to use the old server elsewhere. My ERP software only runs on AIX. How the fuck am I gonna replace my server if IBM can't sell me a server with AIX on it? This blows. Fuck SCO. This is one time I want to see the oversized corporate menace kick the little guy's ass...
Since we have a bunch of AIX boxes, I guess now would be a good time to switch to Linux and avoid all this lawsuit stuff. Oh, wait...
-- Fratz, human
What is .. the best way to get the largest consulting firm in the world and a huge server manufacturer and supporter to switch over to the competitions software Alex?
I do security
down: SCO Group SCOX 10.93 -0.28
I guess that sums it all up...up: Intl Bus. Machines IBM 84.50 1.75
Naa...on second thought, I won't go there.
â¦unwitting fool, SCOruman, donâ(TM)t you know you are simply a puppet in the hands of the dreaded MicroSauron? There can only be one...
The Quest of the Penguin has begun...
I used to live in Utah. I was trained on Linux by a Caldera expert. they were bright, smart happy folk there. Then the merger and then the name change. Now it is an evil pit. No CS major worth his salt goes near it. Everyone knows that SCO will just suck you dry for 80 hours a week then kick you to the curb.
So sue be for running RH9 on my laptop. Sue me for all of the linux installations that I have done due to YOUR training!
the worst part about this is that SCO cannot see this ass kicking coming from 2 inches away. At the end of the day they will burping farts.
Long live Tux.
Today SCO chewed off it's own arm to spite it's torso by terminating a lucrative licensing agreement with IBM.
.NET initiative."
SCO CEO Darl McBride was quoted as saying, "In order to better leverage our technology IP and increase profits, we've decided to refuse to sell, license, or not sue anyone not directly involved with Microsoft's
"...Well, there's egg and bacon; egg sausage and bacon; egg and spam; egg bacon and spam; egg bacon sausage and spam..."
OK, though it seems impossible based on the near-daily SCO coverage here, I feel like I've missed something major here.
I thought the beef was that SCO claims to know for sure that some of its code got into the Linux kernel, and claims to believe that IBM is the company that contributed this code to said Linux kernel.
So, now SCO demands that IBM stop selling AIX. Buh? By their own logic, shouldn't they demand that IBM (and everyone else, for that matter, but let's start big) stop using the SCO-code-stealing Linux? What the hell does AIX have to do with anything?
jf
You all remember what happened to "The Terminator". It doesn't look good for SCO. Guess we'll have to wait for "Judgement Day".
So yes, they want another UNIX war. Once their precioussss is described as the trunk of all Unices (and stating that almost all vendors contributed to Linux in the same interview) what follows is that replacing the infringing code is impossible. That's why RMS a few weeks ago aimed directly at invalidating the claim to the unix codebase by proving that its already in the public sector (remember his call for people who had or have access to the code? - some people ridiculed him for this, but he saw this clearly coming).
At any rate, SCO does not stand a chance with such ridiculous claims (and no Unix vendor, not even SUN would be happy if the court accepts Darl's interpretation of their IP rights). Read one of the best analyses here (please, someone tell me how do I make a link, coz this is going to be long):
http://forums.com.com/group/zd.News.Talkback/zd
What is interesting is that they have NOT filed for a temporary injunction.
In most cases of alleged IP violations, the accuser will file for a temporary injunction, rather than waiting for the end of the trial after which an injunction may be granted.
The real implication is that to get a temporary injunction, SCO would have to convince a judge that they had a likelyhood of prevailing at trial. In order to convince a judge of this, they would have to back up their allegations against IBM with real facts.
Temporary injunctions could cause severe problems, so they are not issued on a whim. There must be real evidence and the defending side has the opportunity to refute that evidence.
So the real impact of SCO's actions is to spread more FUD, and keep the time at which they must present any real evidence far off in the future.
The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
Can't IBM just outwait SCO until SCO eventually dies off? SCO has basically no money coming in and was in the red before this who sue everyone party.
It would seem that IBM can hold SCO up in court and in general just ignore them until they go away.
It's hard for us to understand, sometimes, how a group of people can be so stupid. I mean REALLY, at some point SCO decided, "Hey, we're not gonna make money on this, so let's just sue the shit out of everybody." Then, their P.R. department had to be dumb enough to say, "Hey, this wont affect our image THAT much, so go ahead." Then, their lawyers had to be dumb enough to believe someone who said, "Well, we'll figure out what code to say is ours if it comes-up, but we wont worry about that now" AND they went ahead with this. Is there NO sane person with a voice in this company saying, "Hey, this is the biggest dumbass idea EVER... including that moronic Microsoft Bob shit! This is WORSE!" It's amazing that this company's dumbshit filters have let this happen.
"The best laid plans of mice and men gang oft agley..." - ROBERT BURNS
Okay this seems to be SCO's business plan. Have microsoft give you money in order to make your software copyrights look important. Sue IBM in order to scare other Unix companies from investing in Linux and to keep paying them buckets for using something based on old code. Create enough FUD about Linux that some companies decide to switch to the one Unix like operating system that will never have copyright issues with SCO, SCO's Unix. And everyone will know about SCO since all the news outlets are giving SCO so much coverage since it involves the media darling Linux. Besides the cost of the lawyers, this is a very cheap way for SCO to rake in a lot of money. Far cheaper then repacking Linux over and over again.
Boy this conspiracy thing is fun! Got any other ideas?
I was startled to hear the thundering of hooves. Having lived near Armonk, NY all my life, I had never heard such a sound before.
"What is that horrible sound?"
"That is the sound of the Black Steeds riding west from Armonk."
"The Black Steeds?"
"The Nazgul. They once were men. Now they are neither dead nor alive. They are IBM's attorneys."
So I gather, if SCO can terminate the license, and claim it affects all existing installations, then they should also give back all the licensing money recieved from said installations.
This just amazes me; considering the general consensus about SCO vs Linux, it seemed to me that the only leverage SCO had was that they might scare people off of using linux. But now there going to go after every other *nix, too! If every *nix is "illegal" than nobody's going to care about avoiding linux...
I figured that SCO would be filing an injunction against IBM. But I haven't heard yet of any IBM injunction against SCO to prevent this from happening. Maybe they are waiting to see whether the SCO wins the injunction first.
Profile: SCOX
Stock's at $11. 12M shares outstanding. Market capitalization $136M.
The SCOXuckers are suing IBM for One. Billion. Dollars.
So right now, the market's giving 6:1 odds that Big Blue machine will turn SCOX into a thick yellow spray all over the courtoom walls.
US Democracy:The best person for the job (among These pre-selected choices...)
Mesa no like SCO stormtroopers. They no can hit the side of a barn door with a rocket launcher.
Mesa think SCO stormtroopers make me, Jar Jar Binks, look like a genius.
Uncanny similarities between SCO and Linux:
Here appears to be another reason why, according to SCO's previous CEO (note the date):
http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=5406
I'm reminded of the old SNL skit "Poking a grizzly bear with a short stick."
Take that Mr. Grizzly Bear!
Dupe posts are
I probly shouldn't post this but meh.
the CEO of SCO Australia can be reached on his mobile : +61419 660 016
"We are not afraid of IBM. Allah has condemned them. They are stupid. They are stupid... and they are condemned.
I can assure you that those villains will recognize in appropriate time in the future how stupid they are and how they have stolen OUR intellectual property.
They are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!""
-- SCO Minister of Information
I think the ish is that There is some SCO code in AIX (dispatching and such). IBM used that code in LINUX (the L in AIX 5L stands for LINUX). SCO wants all your base.
In the future, I would want to not be isolated from my friends in the Space Station.
In the various interviews and statements that have come out of SCO over the past few months, there has definitely been some conflicting information. In this most recent interview, I find a number of things peculiar, but this is what jumps out at me first:
Note how he says "entire programs"; the basis of the complaint is that code was copied into the Linux kernel. Apparently they are also claiming that some GNU tools and other programs are also "copied." From what I understand of the initial press releases, SCO was suing over certain multi-processor related functions of the kernel which apparently came out of Project Monterey, which IBM and SCO were a part of.
He does state in the interview that this is a lawsuit for breach of contract with IBM, and not copyright or patent infringement.
So, it is interesting that he is proposing taking Linux distributors (Red Hat, SuSE, etc.) and possibly other Linux users to court as well. If they are not on solid ground suing IBM over copyright infringement, how are they going to manage to sue all of the linux distributors and users on the planet for copyright infringement - since these distributors and users never had any contract with SCO.
For a final major thought, all of this "copied code" is appearing in both Sys V and Linux.. where does BSD come into play? Could the code from both places have been taken from BSD? Of course with the terms of the NDA that SCO makes you sign, I am sure that you couldn't compare the Sys V code to BSD, only Linux.
PS: Why hasn't someone run the Sys V and Linux code through a copied code detector program (like some college professors use to stop code copying on assignments). Obviously this would be a much larger scale project, but if SCO's UnixWare has such great multi-processor capabilities, they should be able to figure something out. And if there is so much copied code, it should be no problem to find it using this program. Show us the stats, at least.
A computer is a valuable tool, so use it and stop whining.
SCO *thinks* they terminate IBM's Unix License ?
Sounds to me like no body is at home at SCO.
Kinda like CompUSA agrees to sell G4 PowerMacs. But tells Comp they can't show the customers the inside of the box. Just because Comp show the inside of the box does not mean that the customer is coing to rip off Apple and start his own computer manufacturing business. Paaallleeeezzzee!!!
IBM-OS/X-IBM-OS/X-IBM-OS/X. Imagine: Aopple OS X pwering IBM server systems!! Microsoft: PPTTHH
After a lot of overhyped anticipation, SCO finally released all of the offending code. It seems that SCO had patented the symbol combinations "/*" and "*/" as well as "//" -- thus proving correct that the comments were obviously stolen code.
They are currently trying to get the courts to uphold their patent of the semi-colon, a pair of parentheses, curly braces, and the crlf combination.
SCO has also filed a lawsuit against a 14yr old California student whose "Hello World" program infringes on SCO's patents. The student could not be reached for comments.
So, in this game of legal poker, SCO is calling IBM's bluff.
/. If any of us are using code they succeed in taking away, we'll just write better code to replace it. They can't take away our ideas or the creative talents we use to bring those ideas to fruition.
All that those of us on the sidelines can do is watch with bemused detachment. Microsoft, by way of it's proxy in this instance, SCO, is executing another brute force attempt to manipulate the marketplace with something other than quality products and good service.
I wonder how much of humanity's talent has gone wasted in similar grabs for market dominance at any cost? I wonder about the people making these decisions. Do they really believe that they're fooling anyone or do they just not care? It's easy to demonize them, but there's more heat than light there.
It reminds me of the recent decline of McDonald's. We've known for a number of years that the super-size meal phenomenon was a pox on humanity something like Windows has been. It causes health problems, obscures the real cost of food and threatens the safety of the food supply.
Yet, super-sizing is regarded as something people are freely allowed to accept or decline, so we assign the individual ownership of the destruction wrought. Such assignment doesn't acount for the agri-business subsidy and the advertising onslaught. Even in the face of all these unfair advantages, McDonald's is finally losing money and changing it's menu (as it should) because the real costs of making a meal out of a half-pound burger, a quarter-pound of fries and a liter of soda are finally becoming known by enough consumers to counteract the loyalty of those who continue to chose to supersize meals in spite of cost.
Will Microsft someday similarly change their hostile business practices?
Now SCO has decided to forfeit any claims it may have had to corporate integrity in order to ride shotgun with Microsoft on another attempt to brute force Windows into market dominace. It won't work, it can't work for the reasons elucidated many times on
Why do they try?
Did McDonalds really think that serving a harmfully excessive meal was a good idea just because people bought it? Does SCO think that having the winner lawyers on their side will remake them into a successful company?
The best way to do is to be.
The court will only grant SCO's injunction if SCO shows a likelihood that it will ultimately prevail on the merits of its complaint. This question gives IBM its first opportunity to fire its legal guns, which IBM has been putting into position for months. Good-bye, SCO.
There are plenty of other company's with Unix style os's, SGI's IRIX, Sun Microsystem's Solaris - are they all going to have to pony up bucks for a SCO license someday?
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
This has got to be the first time in Slashdot history that the Slashdot communty has hoped that a 900 pound corporate gorilla will turn a smaller Linux-related business into a fine red mist.
If you're buying software (AIX, Windows) from a closed source vendor you have to be careful that someone doesn't revoke your vendor's license!
What if SCO gets mad at msft next? Can they revoke the license that Microsoft just did with them? It's a logical next target. Clearly deeper pockets than red hat, etc.
(To the tune of "Lola" by The Kinks)
I met them in a club down in Santa Cruz
where you code in C and it looks just like the Linux kernel... K-E-R-N Kernel
They walked up to me and asked me to desist
I asked them their name and in a cowardly voice they said, "SCOX"... S-C-O-X SCOX, sco sco sco sco-X
Well I'm not the world's most intelligent guy
But when they showed me the code I almost cried
Oh my SCOX, sco sco sco sco-X
Well I'm not dumb but I can't understand
How they stay in business with blood on their hands
Oh my SCOX, sco sco sco sco-X
Well they filed their claims and sued all night,
thanks to Microsoft's failing might
They picked me up and sat me on their knees
Saying, "Linux coder won't you turn and flee?"
Well I'm not the world's most logical guy
And when I looked at the comments
I almost fell for their bullshit
bull bull bull bull-shit
sco sco sco sco sco-X
I laughed them away. I walked to the court.
I filed a countersuit. They'll be down on their knees.
Now that IBM is looking out for me
And that's the way that I want it to be
They'll clean them out and make them pay
Oh my SCOX, sco sco sco sco-X
Linux will be UNIX, and UNIX will be Linux
It's a scratched-out, messed-up, crazy diagram
thanks to SCOX. sco sco sco sco-X
Well I posted to LKML just a week before
saying I never ever leaked code before
SCOX smiled and said "We understand,"
saying, "Linux coder, you can do what you can"
Well I'm not the world's most open source guy
but I know Richard Stallman and I bet that they'll fry
oh my SCOX, sco sco sco sco sco-X
sco sco sco sco-X
1) Aim shotgun at foot
2) Pull trigger
3) ???
4) PROFIT!!!
IBM got its start providing IT services to the US Census beureau over 100 years ago. Today it is tightly integrated into the business and government fabric of nations around the world. IBM hires the best and brightest MBA and Law school grads every year into their corporate ranks. With that combination of inteligence and connectivity, IBM is not a force you want to fight directly.
Beginning this year, IBM has appointed a new Chairman. Mr. Palmisano has a history of supporting Linux.
This is all the motivation IBM needs to finish migrating its non-x86 platforms all the way over to Linux and completely dumping that antiquated "Unix" stuff.
I see a lot of job opportunities for Linux hackers opening up at IBM shortly. Especially for people with both Linux and IBM mainframe or PPC experience.
SCO and IBM will sue each other out of business, and we'll all live happily ever after. Remember IBM sux also, they write crappy code and sent all their software jobs to India. (maybe I'm just bitter because I have to fix their crappy code, and thet sent my job to India..) PS (If you're job hasn't been sent over seas yet, wait a few minutes..)
It's almost guaranteed that these idiots are going to tank back down to $.60 a share when the shit really starts to come down on them. Hopefully after I get out of the short position they will go under.
FUCK SCOX
According to this site, the currently outstanding shares of SCO are worth less than $150 million. That doesn't mean that the company could be bought for that, but it would be certainly less than a billion. At this point, it would seem to behoove IBM to launch a hostile bid for SCO and go ahead and offer about twenty bucks a share for all outstanding shares. I'm sure they could do it. It is ridiculous that a penny-ante company like SCO is risking a multi-billion dollar per year business.
Albert Einstein is well known for his unified field theory hypothesis. He has a lesser known theory about stupidity: "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
Although we've never been able to prove the unified field theory, it looks like SCO is proving us the proof that Einstein was right about stupidity being infinite.
Achille Talon
Hop!
In the end, there probably isn't much left from MS.
We're a pretty sizeable government organization who uses a *LOT* of AIX systems. If any SCO personnel try anything funny to interfere with out computer operations, we'll simply arrest them and charge them with any of several criminal offenses WRT state computer crimes and interference with govt, law enforecement, and other public safety computer systems.
...they're starting to remind me of a little dog that won't stop humping your leg. It's sort of amusing for the first 30 seconds or so, but after awhile you just need to give them a nice kick in the head.
"... with the resulting destruction of UNIX, IBM has clearly demonstrated its misuse of UNIX source code ..."
(shaking head and sighing) I don't know if they're hallucinating or just being overly creative. They're getting shrill.
Esteem isn't a zero sum game
I appreciate all the jokes about David vs. Goliath, with people cheering for Goliath, but I have to wonder why IBM hasn't taken the opportunity to annihilate SCO's case by now. Are the lawyers just waiting for this thing to reach a courtoom to unleash the legal nuclear weapons? Are they waiting to spring a nasty surprise on SCO, like proof that the code in question is really BSD, or even GPL? Do the charges really have merit, and the legal team is just buying time to figure out a way to extricate the company unscathed?
Seriously, Big Blue's been strangely dormant on this. What gives? For one thing, the reputation of Linux--a codebase that IBM's banking a big chunk of money on--is at stake.
Someday, you're going to die. Get over it.
linux is untouchable. SCO, nor anybody else in the world can't harm "linux". "linux" is source code and they can't stop it's distribution and development.
What do I care if SCO has problems with IBM?
I don't give a shit.
Time for everybody to sue SCO for previous GPL violations! That'll keep their lawyers tied up for awhile.
-j
These guys have serious cahones.
I know that seems a little off the deep end, but I've spoken to more than one person who believes this might be the case...
These are the people completely blind to the concept of conflict of interest.
Their bully tactics won't work outside of Utah.
bucky
As far as I can tell, SCO now plans to sue every single end user of AIX. Which should help the adoption of Linux in a big, big way, since all those users now need to replace their AIX installations. This could be the best thing to every happen to Linux, since it makes IBM a Linux only shop.
This whole FiaSCO has me both entertained and worried. Common sense suggests that SCO is about to become a greasy spot on the bottom of IBM's shoes. However, in the US, common sense is barred from court rooms, and SCO could turn out to be a bigger thorn than anyone imagined.
But... I can't help being reminded of Monty Python and the Holy Grail... where SCO is playing the role of the Black Knight.
- Twilight1
Couldn't IBM just secure a licence from Novell?
Bugs are just features that have been fixed.
...accompanied by a small army of US Marshals.
While I can't say this with full authority, I don't think they really are merely doing nothing about this. What I think they are doing right now is digging out a certain Nancy Sinatra song, looking in their closet for a particular pair of boots, and designing exactly how they are going to stomp all over SCO.
This sig no verb.
Who cares? Think about how many more people are running MircoShafts Winblows without a license.
IBM crush SCO ...
SCO is a POS
There's a space and a colon to take care of, click-boy.
I can't help thinking that after the trial it's going to be like a certain scene from Animal House:
*THWACK*
McBride: Thank you, sir! Please, may I have another?
*THWACK*
I've got a fever and the only prescription is more COBOL.
"Don't do business with anyone who has a history of suing people." - H. Jackson Brown Jr (1993)
...
Just some advice for potential future business partners
Esteem isn't a zero sum game
I believe their claim comes down to this: IBM licensed UNIX to make AIX, SCO says that while making AIX, they allowed code to be copied into Linux, thus invalidating their UNIX license, so SCO has rescinded the license for UNIX, which means IBM can't sell AIX.
Hey, I just noticed on SCO's page that they are having some kind of convention in Las Vegas in August. It would be fun to raise some sort of ruckus (read protest) in front of their convention.
I'm not about to organize such an event (hence the AC), but I'd probably go. I really need an excuse to go to Vegas again this year anyway. =D
Does anyone have a link to the SCO/IBM license?
As a non-AIX user, I wouldn't mind seeing an AIX license agreement as well. Does the AIX license refer to the SCO master license?
Sorry, but Google is full of newsy muck right now, I'd like to see the real agreements.
~
"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." -Emerson
Do you have any idea how many IBM AIX servers the government runs? It's not an insignificant number. Can you picture it?
SCO Rep: We want you to...
Gov Rep: You want WHAT?
SCO Rep: We want you to...
Gov Rep: (laughing) No.
SCO Rep: But, we own the liscense.
Gov Rep: (still laughing) No.
SCO Rep: But, there's an injunction filed...
Gov Rep: No. If you persist, we'll spank you and revoke your patents. Now go away.
SCO claims that the comments, including spelling mistakes, are common. So a grep based on comments should yield the suspected code.
IBM created the Deep Blue computer to implement heuristic searches in chess. Giving Deep Blue the task of finding common SCO and Linux source comments should be child's play.
So SCO plans to punish IBM by revoking their right to sell Unix(tm) software after they allegedly copied code into Linux, a platform which they've increasingly become reliant on?
I Browse at +4 Flamebait
Open Source Sysadmin
The theory: SCO owns the right to license Unix(tm). AIX is a Unix(tm) system. IBM needs a license from SCO in order to sell AIX. Therefore, SCO can rescind IBM's Unix license,and thus IBM can no longer sell AIX.
The reality: IBM is going to stomp SCO into a small, bloody puddle, and then piss in the puddle.
Where's the Kaboom?!?!
The was supposed to be an earth shattering Kaboom!?!?
When we terminated the AIX license there was supposed to be an earth shattering Kaboom....
I wonder if SCO has decided how they are going to prove that THEY didn't steal all of this code from Linux.
One corporation claims to have complete immunity to SCO's legal threats. Interestingly enough, they happen to be one of IBM's competitors in the high-end server market. And dispite all those take-over rumors, they have around $5.5 billion in the bank..
And now there's this Big Blue blood in the water. If you were an IT head, whose sales pitch would you listen to? Hmm....
No, I'm picturing something more along the lines of a gangland-style knee-capping, followed by SCO pleading for their lives, followed by a slit throat and ritual dis-embowlment.
But that's just me. And I'm sick.
Seriously, IBM's most likely not going to let SCO live. They're going to make an example of them.
Yakuza:
:)
Listen see, you don't go writing checks that IBM can't cash (SCO businessmen wind up swimming with the fishes).
At the risk of sounding off-topic... doesn't this seem very familiar?
-- Some idiot organisation who were successful once but are no longer relevant start worrying about their future. --
-- In a feeble but desparate attempt to boost finances and publicity, they start throwing lawsuits around. --
-- Getting more and more frustrated, they start screwing their own customers, who are now getting very pissed off. --
-- Most people agree that said organisation are a bunch of a-holes and vow never to buy from them again. --
Ring any bells? If you ask me, this SCO business is like a smaller and faster-moving example of the behaviour and imminent consequences of a certain irrelevant organisation known as the RIAA.
Here's the next part, which I hope will happen to SCO and set an example to the rather slower moving RIAA case.
-- Organisation becomes obsolete and goes down the pan where it belongs. There is much rejoicing. --
Perhaps I'm stating the obvious, but it seemed uncanny to me. Watch and learn, fools...
I wish! This means that we get a double whammy. Not only do we have to put up with AIX but we also can get sued by SCO for using it. Isn't there something in the consitution about "double jeopardy?" The really bad news here is that all my complaining to my boss about replacing our AIX systems with Linux gets shot down for the same reason we might lose the AIX machines!!?!!? Ugh.
Just remember, there is a reason why it is called "aches."
SCO makes it so hard not to hate the bastards who run the company and the whores that raised and gave birth to them. SCO makes it even harder to give their point of view a legitimate side to it. If SCO wins their lawsuit I think alot of people are gonna need to band together and do a hostile takeover of the company. (If everyone buys enough shares and donates them to a holding organization that we create, then we can control the company and thus sell it to IBM or some other respectable technology firm)
And as McBride recently pointed out they found the code during the 30 day extention IBM filed for. So it clearly does'nt take an army.
I would bet that IBM has in fact been doing a massive internal audit, both in development process and on the code base. Their decision to go to court is hopefully based on the results.
IBM has been absolutey quite about this and I think that it's the still before the storm. They are not playing this out in the Media like SCO is. My gut tells me this is because SCO has no case and is trying to slander/pressure/etc IBM ( et. alls ) into a settlement. What they have done is given IBM's legal team additional ammo while IBM has revealed none of it's cards.
This is going to be one for the history books!
Kind Regards
"A few great minds are enough to endow humanity with monstrous power, but a few great hearts are not enough to make us w
(*) Microsoft reserves the right to sue you at some future date if the need arises.
So, now SCO demands that IBM stop selling AIX. Buh? By their own logic, shouldn't they demand that IBM (and everyone else, for that matter, but let's start big) stop using the SCO-code-stealing Linux?
Don't worry, they'll get to that soon enough. The IBM case is much easier to prove though, so they're starting there.
The big deal isn't that the Weather Channel is running AIX. Many banks are using AIX as their OS. Because AIX is known to be secure.
So, SCO is doing something dangerous for their "case". Now, the David-against-Goliath case they think they've got is transforming in a David-against-GoliathS
I don't understand what they're trying to do. Do they want to run out of business? Or do they are simply stupid?
Montreal - Best city to live in!
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Perhaps McBribe might wish to trade his pinstrip for one of these
I gotta lay off the pr0n...
Doh!
I'll probably be modded into oblivion for this, let me just preface it with this disclaimer: I hate to say this because I like Linux and want to see it used more often, but...
This is good news for Sun and sysadmins that work on Sun equipment. If management stops purchasing AIX due to uncertainty over licensing issues, that leaves only HP as a major competitor in the Unix marketspace, and they are quickly descending into Itanic territory after abandoning PA-RISC so will soon be a non-player.
This could leave Solaris on Sparc as the only viable commercial flavor of Unix out there.
[dons flame-retardant jacket]
"When the president does it, that means it's not illegal." - Richard M. Nixon
I've done it a few times on various unices. Usually the machine just churns for a while, unlinking every file in the system.
/proc, though, if applicable to the OS in question).
When it's finished, pretty much the only thing left will be active mount points and their parent directories (things may get a little weird with special filesystems like
Any programs already running will continue to work, though they obviously won't be able to open any files they didn't already have open.
You'll still have a working shell, but no commands other than "cd" and a few other builtins will work. Of course it'll be impossible to shut down cleanly, since all the scripts and utilities necessary to do that will be gone.
But... other than that it's strangely anticlimactic.
DNA just wants to be free...
It's just too funny
The above link
I like you, Stuart. You're not like everyone else, here, at Slashdot.
Am I the only one that got the article with advertisements for bankruptcy solutions and alternatives?
The program isn't debugged until the last user is dead.
Sorry, I wrote Weather Channel when I should have worte Weather Service! :S
Montreal - Best city to live in!
Why bash SCO? It's a genius move. I guess SCO (and IBM + Linux) never have had this kind of attention before.
...
All media attention is positive, no matter if it's good or bad. How many would have talked about SCO these days if it wasn't for this?!?
I think the legal department of SCO should be given a medal of honor. Slick move. I've never looked at SCO's homesite and considered checking their system, but now
Could my company sue SCO for making our Hardware usless? Also we just ordered 6 AIX boxes so can I sue them for disrupting business?
I didn't use the preview button, so get over it!!!!
Mike
Mainstream investors had not heard about SCO's lawsuit, so they donâ(TM)t even care about SCOX stock. SCOX even though it rose from $1 to $10 in just few months is not a mainstream name on Wall Street, but the fact is that SCOX meteoric rise has something to do with psychology of their shareholders. One would wonder what do they think and imagine about SCOâ(TM)s business prospects?
Whatâ(TM)s wrong here is that thereâ(TM)s no rationale that would be based in financial fundamentals, earnings, profits, etc. Itâ(TM)s rather irrational mania fueled by news. But irrational mania can move markets and stocks and it does its job as far as SCOâ(TM)s execs are concerned. They fulfilled their purpose to SCOâ(TM)s shareholders. And so SCOâ(TM)s shareholders are confident that their execs will do whatever necessary to keep the stock going up. Remember dot.com mania? Some stocks were over evaluated by hundreds of times yet people kept buying even when there was no profit. But you may also remember what folled. A lot of those stocks are no longer traded or lost up to 90% of their price value from the beginning of 2000.
IP was invented for the sake of lawsuits.
IBM terminates SCO.
paintball
If Unix is destroyed, why is anyone running AIX? How can you terminate by destruction what is already destroyed? Can this be interpreted as BSD is dying? It only makes sense if there is no Unix, which is what I suspected all along. Thank you, SCO, for making this clear to me.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
About freaking time!! I was waiting all day with baited breath to hear the latest SCO news.
I'm not being facetious either, I'm serious. I've gotten so involved in this now i can't let go.
WOOOOOOOHHHHH!!!!! Go get 'em IBM!!
I think I see a market opportunity for BeOS!
"Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus."
and only "intellectual" ones
...at SCO?
Mike van Lammeren
It will challenge your head, your brain, and your mind.
I think i'll go to a bar, pick the biggest guy there and punch him in the face. I'll probably have as much success with that, as SCO will have with this lawsuit.
-ted
Select 'HTML Formatted' from below the comment-text box, and use the follwing code:
Your text for the link here
Here's some duplicated code in agpgart.h:
:)
#ifndef TRUE
#define TRUE 1
#endif
#ifndef FALSE
#define FALSE 0
#endif
That's 7 lines found so far...
In the GNU Coding Standards, there are a couple of paragraphs about the issue of using/referring to Unix code, as well as accepting code from other contributors whose sources (no pun intended) are unclear. The necessity of being extremely careful with these things is now becoming painfully clear...
Buy a 5 times the price at the start of the year. Not.
This is a smart bunch of people who would probably not offer over the exact $$ that MS gave SCO in license fees.
But since SCO has not filed docs with SEC, it has a nice X after it's name.
Or maybe they will drop a bid, just to audit the books and drop the bid when the books are not in order.
Typical childhood behavior. You don't let me play, I take my ball and go home. Simple as that.
-
ping -f 255.255.255.255 # if only
I would like to see this all in a reality TV show. What do you think: 'Survivor: UNIX'
I would watch it.
Paranoid tinfoil hat crowd say Y here, everyone else say N.
Sh*t! I need to buy a share of SCOX.. put it on the shelf next to my piece of the Berlin Wall. Their headquarters should be turning into a smoking crater any time now.
--Insert catchy
From the Byte.com article:
"So are you saying that the U.S. government might file a "Friend of the Court Brief" to support your case against IBM?" I blurted out. "Don't be surprised" was Sontag's answer.
TIA TERMINAL:
SELECT Count(*)
INTO $RESULT
FROM GOV.WHITEHOUSE, SCO.BOARD
WHERE GOV.WHITEHOUSE.CABINET.MEMBER = SCO.BOARD.MEMBER
OR SCO.BOARD.MEMBER.LASTNAME = "CHENEY";
if $RESULT >= 0 then sidewith(SCO)
else sidewith(null)
LilMikey.com... I'll stop doing it when you sto
Sun claims immunity
Who wins?
I think that the penalty for copyright violations SCO over IBM is strong.
SCO breaking the licensing contract, who knows what the damages could be, probaly just lost future sales, assuming that SCO doesn't have a valid reason to terminate.
Anyone got an ibm lawyer skin for Quake3? I know where all the BFGs and Quads are :)
A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing. Emo Philips
... SCo has a very strong case. You guys need to analyze the facts. You just have to... hey.. wait.. guys... put the pitchforks down. I was just kidding! C'mon! ACCK! *Gurgle*
"Derp de derp."
... else think SCO is acting like a 3-year-old who didn't get cake at a party?
If corporations want to avoid the trouble
IBM now is facing perhaps they will see
the advantage of using GPL'ed code. A GPL
licence can't suddenly be revoked.
And furthermore (if anyone was in doubt)
it clearly shows how ridicusly SCO is
acting for the moment.
-- A Mathematician is a machine for turning coffee into theorems. - Paul Erdös
<a href="http://your.web.site/here">DESCRIPTION</a>
<i>something in italics</i>
<b>something in bold</b>
That should get you started. Don't forget to close your tags.
Hold to screw MS in 7 easy stages....
// variable definitions
1) Create a, or be an established, pissant little company that cannot survive in the current Marketplace.
2) Make a massive press release stating MS has stolen some of your code.
3) Refuse to show said code to anyone without first getting them to sign a gagging order, preferably using their family as collateral.
4) Get an injunction from a court to make MS destroy all copies of their Windows software anywhere in the world, siting SCO v's IBM as case history
5) Wait until the trial to have a bit of code that goes:-
int a;
char *c;
6) When the court asks why they cannot find the above lines of code in this style in MS's code, claim, with a totally straight face that "well you don't think MS would be stupid enough not to split the lines up"
7) "Prove" your case and destory MS.
How stupid does this sound....... Ask SCO!
Jaj
Hypothetically, when something previously kept secret is out in the open and is said to be secret material...how does one revert currently opened secret back to secret?
It doesn't seem plausible to make something secret again.
I guess in this case the only thing that can be done is to
Eric B
ebresie@gmail.com
If all copies of AIX actually do end up being destroyed, I hope the executives at SCO have a hard time accessing their bank accounts, since so many financial mainframes run on it. And then say "oops." But seriously, SCO is asking for something that, if granted, would completely destroy the US economy. The ownership and validity of all sorts of IP would go up in the air, and the computers keeping records of everything would vanish overnight. Can we jsut start calling them Al SCOda?
You just have to love press releases. "The SCO(R) Group (SCO) (SCOX) , a leading provider of business software solutions, today announced..." Who is it, exactly, that is following their lead? I know there are a lot of other companies swirling their way down the sides of the toilet, but wasn't aware they were following the lead of SCO. Maybe SCO has a business model patent on this, and can extort licensing fees from other failing software companies. Imagine what that would do to their stock!
This is nothing more than a last ditch effort by SCO to be acquired by IBM. They know they're slowly rotting and becoming worthless, and their first lawsuit didn't convince IBM to buy them out in order to settle, so they've decided to end everything the quick and easy way.
If all goes according to plan, IBM will countersue for malicious prosecution, claiming damages equal to SCO's market value, and the courts will award ownership of SCO to IBM.
Devious!
Convert RSS to HTML - integrate webfeeds into your website
I thought it was a good idea
Dear SCO,
I fart in your general direction.
Regards,
The Slashdot Community
Nice lawsuit... For me to POOP ON!
In today's news, SCO has merged with Rambus to form the world largest company that can't make money since they can't do anything right for themselves so they sue other people instead.
Clerk: "I'm sorry SCO, but unfortunetly our legal processing system ran on AIX. Seems we can't process your lawsuit since we were shut down".
I am sorry, but I just can't imagine how SCO thinks it can win a pissing contest againist IBM. I mean come on, they couldn't outdue RedHat, Mandrake, or the other Linux distro's, but they think they can win againist Big Blue? Anymore US courts comes down to money, PR, and how famous you are/were. Ask any American what SCO is and does, and unless they are a techie, they will stare at you blankly. Ask them who/what IBM is and does, and they will answer anything from they make PCs, to they make cash registers. In the end IBM will win if for nothing more than they are a big, old, well respected company, and an icon of big business in the US.
Does this count as patricide on the part of Microsoft?
And soon, the headline will be, "IBM Terminates SCO." Payback's a bitch, ain't it?
Cyde Weys Musings - Scrutinizing the inscrutable
Does that mean that the copy of eDesktop 2.3 I purchased in 2000 covers me to use SuSE 8.2?
Save the flames for dinner
So, if it is opposite of Creative Destruction, could it be called Destructive Creation ??
Actually, now that I have it front of me, Destructive Creation sounds more appropriate. I bet Schumpter would be happy with our reinterpretation. And Boy, wouldn't George Bush be totally in groove with this Destructive Creation thing ...
Ding, Dong ... Round 4 begins.
To see a world in a grain of sand, and then to step back and see the beach where the sand lies
a lot of people are saying that IBM would never allow a liscense that would allow SCO to pull this crap. IBM is the company that allowed B.Gates to keep the rights to DOS. So it is certianly not beyond them to have made a mistake.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
IBM press release
From the outset, IBM's position on this lawsuit has been unequivocal. IBM's Unix license is irrevocable, perpetual and fully paid up. It cannot be terminated. IBM will defend itself vigorously. This matter will be resolved in the normal legal process.
IBM will continue to ship, support and develop AIX, which represents years of IBM innovation, hundreds of millions of dollars of investment and many patents. As always, IBM will stand behind our products and our customers.
Now that Mr Mc Bride appears to be claiming the right to extort licencing fees from anything stemming from System V I think he is doing a very good job of illustrating the daftness of the system which gives this claim any ( remote ) credibility at all.
How can a company who have themselves had comparitavley no input whatsoever into the development of System V and anything which has come from that claim rights from the millions of people worldwide who have actually created the programs and applications in question ?
I don't think for a second SCO will get anywhere with these aims either in the US or Worldwide but the fact they even consider they are in with a shot points to the fact that somewhere down the line all common sense has been lost. If one good thing can come from this it's finding out where the current laws diverge from common sense and taking some steps to ensure the work of millions of people and hundreds of corporations can't be held to ransom over similar issues in the future.
And about 493,000 comments, assuming I didn't screw up the very quick-and-nasty grep of the kernel source directory from one of my RH installations (kernel 2.4.20-something)
Come on, you've got Gates as a Borg... we need a better icon than that stupid planet.
Give us a DARL ICON!! Please please please!
standing in their corner, wathcing with there deadly blue eyes, as SCO prances around like an idiot.
When the bell rings, IBM will calmly walk to the center of the ring, and rip SCOs spine out.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
We all know GPL is a virus, but is UNIX a virus too?
If that is the case, SCO might have a point...
-0.28 is nothing, SCOX stock was plumbing down like a free falling anvil just a couple of hours before they announced their lawsuit. It was either follow on their sharade or face a major stock value colapse. Interestingly enough, IBM's value remained rock solid.
Given that Mcbride owns a fair chunk of actions, you can expect the little weasel to see this through as long as he still owns any actions in SCO. Expect to see him keep slowly "diversifying" his stock portafolio throughout the sharade.
My other OS is the MCP!
SCO would have to prove that they are likely to win on the merits of the case and that the burden of harm is on them if the injunction isn't passed. Neither one of these holds true.
The first one, because even if they do have a case, it's such a technological morass that to prove it for an injunction will be impossible.
The second one for the fact that IBM's sales of AIX do not impact SCO's sales of their own software. It's not like AIX can run on Intel or vice versa, so there's no damage there.
This sig has been temporarily disconnected or is no longer in service
Dear Mr. McBride
I part of IBM's legal dept, and am writing to inform you that SCO is in violation of our patents 1 through 47,000 inclusive.
Patent number one: Encoding letters and numbers as binary code.
Patent number two: Displaying computational output to a screen.
Patent number three: Machine code to allow the use of a typewriter-like keyboard as an input device.
(Etc.)
In closing, Mr. McBride, clearing this matter up will be very simple, unless you and the other members of SCO's board have already mortaged your immortal souls with one of our competitors.
Lou Cypher, IBM Legal Dept.
P.S., Does your company own any punch-card equipment?
Now that actual "action" has been done to IBM, I'm sure they're going to start firing off their own countersuits. The fun is just beginning!! I'm going to pull up a lounge-chair, drink a few beers, sit back and watch them fight this one out. This really is the Jerry Springer of software--I love it.
And while I'm not a big fan of huge corporations, I still hope that SCO gets knocked out hard, early, and with extreme embarassment. Rotten bastards.
In other news, IBM stock closes up.
Tough one to call, it's either the corpse or the excrement.
IBM is simply waiting it out. SCO can't take away their right to the "code in question" due to: A) SCO has to prove that IBM gave the code to linux. For all we know linux STOLE the code. B) IBM has held their ground on that the license can't be refuted, which means it probably can't. If it could I think IBM would be doing other tactics right now. C) IBM is merely making press releases, will send a few lawyers to court, and then cause more damage to SCO by refuting their claims. D) They will probably counter sue for breaching their contract, and possibly aim for free use of the code etc. SCO is really looking for a buy out, or renegotiation for their CODE. They think they're MS or something and can pull licenses when they want to.
Civics 101. The burden of proof is on IBM, as this is a civil and not a criminal case. However, the burden itself is lighter; they only have to convince more than half of the jury that they're right.
*signs up for jury duty*
Let me practice. "No, I don't use computers for anything. I have no opinions about software licenses whatsoever. Slashdot? Never heard of it. Yes, I'm free on the 17th."
It's rare that you're presented with a knob whose only two positions are Make History and Flee Your Glorious Destiny.
"God will roast their stomachs in hell at the hands of SCO"
Good thing I haven't bought it yet.
philcrissman.com.
1) The only people in this world who consider IBM's UNIX licence revoked are the people at scox. IBM doesn't think so, IBM costomers don't think so, and - most importantly - the courts don't think so. This is just another SCO PR stunt.
2) SCOX has never made a profit. SCOX has been losing money and market share from day one. Now, SCOX's situation is *much* worse. Nobody can ever trust SCOX again ever. SCOX has nothing to sell that anybody wants. Most importantly, it is entirely obvious that there will be no quick settlement. This lawsuit will drag on for years, SCOX will bankrupt before the lawsuit is settled.
Let's all pay the SCO tax to prevent the evil terrorists from getting the encryption technologies (which can be downloaded from anywhere on the net, but I suppose Mr. Sontag hasn't heard about that yet, hard to hear anything when your head is buried so deep up your arse).
I was under the impression that AIX was completely rewritten from scratch. If this is so, WTF does SCO have to do with revoking IBM's license?
This is a test. This is a test of the emergency sig system. This has been only a test.
What, like AlterSlash?
(your parent post was in the top 5 for this article for quite a while, too)
DNA just wants to be free...
From SCO's Proxy Statement filing:
Ralph J. Yarro III has served as a member of the Company's Board of Directors since August 1998. Mr. Yarro has served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of The Canopy Group, Inc. since April 1995. Prior to joining The Canopy Group, Inc., he served as a graphic artist for the Noorda Family Trust. Mr. Yarro holds a BA from Brigham Young University.
Edward E. Iacobucci has served as a member of the Company's Board of Directors since January 2000. In 1989, Mr. Iacobucci co-founded Citrix Systems, Inc., a supplier of products and technologies that enable enterprise-wide deployment of software applications, and held the positions of Chief Technical Officer and Vice President of Strategy and Technology. In September 1991, he also became Chairman of the Board of Citrix. Mr. Iacobucci holds a BS from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Darcy Mott has served as a member of the Company's Board of Directors since March of 2002. Mr. Mott has served as Vice President, Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer of The Canopy Group, Inc., a technology investment company, since May 1999. Prior to joining Canopy, Mr. Mott served as Vice President and Treasurer of Novell, Inc., from December 1995 to September 1998 and prior to that position, Mr. Mott served in various other financial management positions for Novell since September 1986. Mr. Mott worked for Arthur Andersen & Company from 1977 to 1986. Mr. Mott is a certified public accountant and holds a B.S. degree in Accounting from Brigham Young University.
Thomas P. Raimondi, Jr. has served as a member of the Company's Board of Directors since September 1999. He has been with MTI Technology Corporation since 1987, serving as President and Chief Executive Officer since December 1999, as Chief Operating Officer from April 1998 to December 1999, as Senior Vice President and General Manager from January 1996 to April 1998 and as Vice President of Marketing from 1991 to 1996. Mr. Raimondi holds a bachelor of science degree in communications from the University of Maryland.
Steve Cakebread has served as a member of the Company's Board of Directors since July 2000. He has served as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of SalesForce.com since June 2002 and prior to that was Chief Financial Officer of Autodesk, Inc. from 1997 to June 2002. Prior to joining Autodesk, he was Vice President of Finance with Silicon Graphics, Inc., a provider of computing and visualization solutions, from 1993 to 1997. Mr. Cakebread holds a BS from the University of California at Berkeley and an MBA from Indiana University.
R. Duff Thompson has served as a member of the Company's Board of Directors since May 2001. Mr. Thompson was appointed as a director of Tarantella in December 1995. Mr. Thompson has served as Managing General Partner of EsNet, Ltd., an investment group that is active in both technology and real estate ventures from 1996 to the present. From June 1994 to January 1996, he served as Senior Vice President of the Corporate Development Group of Novell, Inc. Prior to that time, he served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel for WordPerfect Corporation, and before joining WordPerfect Corporation in 1986, he was a partner with the Salt Lake City law firm of Callister, Duncan & Nebeker. Mr. Thompson is a former Chairman of the Board of the Business Software Alliance, a software industry association dealing with software industry issues. He also serves on the board of Syzygy AG, and serves on the board of O2 Exchange, Inc., a private company.
the growth in cynicism and rebellion has not been without cause
SCO seems to be constantly attacking everyone, makes me think a 12 yr old kid on a power trip is running it.. You know that "haha you suck i rule I have no friends because they all suck!" type kids? well if you think about it.. SCO pisses off the whole linux community, now pissing off IBM.. that kid is also usually the one who gets its ass kicked.. go IBM.
I've left to find myself. If you happen to see me, please, keep me there until I return.
Fuck SCO..
I used to be anti IBM because I used to work for them and I sort of got to hating them for being the big, soul-less behemoth that they were/are.
The blue suit/worker bee/drone mentality was too uptight for me. After having caught my tie in a big lineprinter once I refused to wear one any more and we butted heads. I really got to hate them.
But now, I find myself favoring Big Blue once again, I guess old wounds do heal to some degree.
SCO is such a bunch of puss sack ass-weeds that their depravity far exceeds IBM's bullshit...
I'm pulling for IBM. I hope that SATAN eats the souls of everyone at SCO for dinner tonight. With Tabasco sauce....
If you really believe this, you and anyone else who does should be short selling SCOX stock right now. SCO's stock was worth $2 a share three months ago. If you're right, and SCO Group is full of crap, you stand to make an 80% profit or more when the stock price, currently at $11 a share, plunges back to or below those levels.
If SCO's executives are pumping and dumping, you might as well carry some of their shit to the pot for them and rake in some money.
Keep in mind, investors are betting on SCO winning, which is why SCOX stock has gone up 550% in the last three months. Think they're wrong? Throw some money at the problem.
David Boies (of Bush v. Gore, Microsoft, and Tobacco fame) appears to be the main Legal Guy Here. David Boeis first represented IBM when they did a few rounds in Antitrust w/ the US Gov. After that he worked for the Prosecution in US v. Microsoft. After that he left for greener pastures but was then called back for Bush v. Gore. David Boies is also currently representing Court TV. Boies apparently is generating some attention because he signed off on a internal audit of Tyco which is at the center of a $600 million dollar fraud investigation.
This guy has links to the Democratic Party up the wazoo and a huge history of epic battles. Just assuming that IBM will crush them is a bad bad idea.
...how hard it would be for them to bring it back, and whether or not there's been some secret continual work/updates/refinements on it? A complany as big as IBM, maybe they've kept a few guys working on it all this time, just like the rumor mill has it that apple has continually kept an x86 port going.
hey rumors are fun! spread it around "IBM is bringing back OS/2! It runs at ludicrous speed! It not only has SMP, it clusters SMPs! It's so bad, they had to give it a scarier name than Apples big kittys! OS/2, codenamed KING..BLUE..KONG!"
spread it around.....
..guess everybody have seen this already; but anyways;
o m :)
http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/graph/?host=sco.c
ROFL!!!
Better than that ... most flights in the US depend (at some point) on AIX machines for the controllers to see where the planes are. Remember the economic impact of grounding US flights for a few days two years ago?
No, AIX is integrated enough into the United States' infrastructure and the post-9/11 anti-terrorism laws weird enough that SCO might find itself afoul of some of those newfangled anti-terrorist laws if it actually stated a threat to make all currently-licensed AIX installations be turned off unless their monetary demands are met...
So how doe sforcing IAX cusotmers an emergency switch to Linux which IBM prepared for.. benefit SCO Group?
:)
No sales = no money = no profit
Don't Tread on OpenSource
Take off every 'SCO'
For great justice
Someone hates these cans.
IBM Sues SCO
Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday June 17, @08:30AM
from the lets-get-ready-to-rumble dept.
AT&T Sues SCO
Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday June 17, @08:31AM
from the it's-an-ambush! dept.
FSF Sues SCO
Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday June 17, @08:32AM
from the wouldn't-be-a-party-without-us dept.
Apple Sues SCO
Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday June 17, @08:33AM
from the just-like-an-*ssrape dept.
Novell Sues SCO
Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday June 17, @08:34AM
from the opps-they-aint-lying dept.
Linus Torvalds Sues SCO
Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday June 17, @08:35AM
from the ELVIS-HAS-ENTERED-THE-BUILDING dept.
We all apparently feel the same way, that both SCO are damaging our favorite OS as well as blackmailing just about anyone using AIX out there. Why dont we make our voices heard and all email them. OK yeah sure the courts slapping them on their ass and saying "bad SCO," will be a much harder blow to them and satisfy us greatly, and the likelyhood is no one will care over there if we email them and tell them how dissapointed we are, but at least they are getting 1000 + emails telling them we find them irrelivent and a nusence.
"Slashdot, where telling the truth is overrated but lying is insightful."
So now SCO is saying "All your [code] base are belong to us!"
"Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney
I'm curious, because it seems to me that this kind of major statement would upset a lot of people if it were true. If it is false (Which is very likely) it could force the ill-informed to really trash perfectly valid products based upon the false words of SCO. Aren't there laws against this kind of thing?
Wolf Blitzed: "This is Wolf Blitzed reporting from a Motel 6 on the outskirts of Lindon, Utah. We've been awaiting IBM's 'shock & awe' campaign against SCO for several days and now it appears to have begun. We've witnessed several cruising lawyers land near the SCO headquarters. Thousands of para-lawyers are now filling the air and landing near and surrounding SCO headquarters. The sound of paper shuffling is now almost deafening in this small Utah town. The insane dictator, Darl McBride has not been seen in the last few days and rumor has it that he is hiding in the vast bunkers under SCO headquarters. Even so, he has continuted to issue bizarre press releases claiming to not only own the rights to Unix now, but also Mac OSX, PacMan, Donkey Kong and all dirivitives of those works. BZZT...SSSHH..."
CON News Anchor: "Wolf! Are you still there?..." silence "Blitzed! Are you all right?... Well ladies and gentlemen, we appear to have lost contact with our correspondent in Lindon, Wolf Blitzed."
Wolf Blitzed: "I'm OK. Repeat, I am OK. The IBM lawers are now so thick in this area that they're blocking our transmissions. One of them just came through my room and threatened to sue me until I managed to convince him that I was a member of the press - he thought I was a hiding SCO officer. I am going to have to sign off now so I can get to a more secure area... This is Wolf Blitzed CON News, Lindon, Utah...."
CON News Anchor"Ok, Wolf. Keep your head down, and whatever happens, don't sign any NDAs."
...playing Civilization. Bastards. I don't care if you have 20 phalanxes of infantry, they aren't beating my fucking tank! Fucking Sid Meier.
-Looking for a job as a materials chemist or multivariat
IANAL but I don't see this thing ever getting to trial. Whether SCO has a basis or not, between SCO's agreements with IBM and Novell, IBM's license agreements with their AIX customers, SCO's agreements with Microsoft, and BSD's agreements with whomever, SCO doesn't have the money to even participate in the discovery phase of a trial (where logically all these agreements would be sorted out, along with where each alleged incident of copying came from and who "owns" them.) It will take years, involve dozens to hundreds of expert witnesses and lawyers, and cost millions. SCO doesn't have that kind of money, particularly to throw away on something so speculative as a court fight against IBM. Therefore, they don't intend to.
:)
The question is then, why start a legal challenge you don't intend on following through with? What does SCO stand to gain by initiating a court suit they don't intend to try?
SCO is making a lot of noise. Maybe they want to be bought out and this was all they could think of to get themeselves noticed. If so it was stupid: nobody buys toxic waste.
Maybe they're being paid to cause a short storm. Heh. Conspiracy theorists can line up to the left...
Maybe they're bored. Heck, it isn't like they have a business plan otherwise.
Maybe they're on drugs. *Shrug* From where I'm sitting it's as good a theory as any...
It might not be so obvious, but what if Bill G. himself is pulling some strings behind the curtain?
MS has had it in for IBM since the beginning, and now they want to finnish them off. Doing it by a proxy only makes sense. Look at all the bad publicity SCO is getting. That Linux is innocently (or maybe not so) caught in the crossfire, must be like xmas, birthday and channuka all at once for the MS executives.
How small a thought it takes to fill a whole life
That's even funnier than the parent.
Thanks, AC.
oh brave new world, that has such people in it!
Here's the likely entire program where the code is identical between SCO and Linux:
/bin/true
/*
*This program always returns with an exit code of zero
*/
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
return 0;
}
This post is encrypted twice with ROT-13. Documenting or attempting to crack this encryption is illegal.
SCO Alliance Partners
Steal this sig.
Not that it would be of any use, but still.
Probably the same guy who did the graphic on their home page that says "Relax: Worry Free Software". They're missing the hyphen in Worry-free... or are they? Subtle?
The ones that say: I work for SCO because I are smart.
The race isn't always to the swift... but that's the way to bet!
"good stability" is a relative term. Try creating a distributed system with "seven nines" of reliability using Solaris ... whoops, nasty stuff like the lack of deterministic path lengths for in/out-bound IP traffic (Solaris 9 fixed this for one of the directions but it's still unconstrained in the other) pops up to bite ya.
"Stable" takes on a whole new meaning when you're only allowed to go down 1 minute every 24 years.
You know, Taco could FORCE you to preview if you make any changes at all. But that would take away the fun of egregious grammatical and spelling errors, not to mention the more subtle use of two tags, where the second one is supposed to be a </b>
I have been wondering for a long time what IANAL means. Thanks. IANAA (I am not an American..) so I do not have this obsession with lawyers.
According to Harry Newton, many brokers are calling up rich people, trying to persuade them to buy SCO stock. Classic pump and dump behaviour.
Where does RMS speak of SCO -- link please? I went to his homepage and saw that he wants to find a girlfriend at 50, that's what'll happen to all you ./ppl if you keep following this case till you're that age... :))) I was in a room in MoSCOw 10 years ago when he brought GNU to Russia to save the tapes in case US drowns in legalese like this... But looking for SCO on his page brings up Berlusconi (Darlusconi?), San Francisco (san SCO? san Cisco?), a Scottish lawyer (warmer, warmer!)... but no real SCO?
Should computers be able to parse the phrase "police police police police"?
I suspect IBM have come to the conclusion that the only thing they could actually lose in this case is their dignity - which is no small thing, to a business which trades on its reputation.
I think they have no intention whatsoever of "annihilating" SCO. They'll just take the minimal calm lawyerly action necessary, and go on with business as usual. Their plan is probably to get a "case dismissed" or a retraction and climbdown, and let the matter rest.
I think SCO is trying to claim complete copywright control over all Unices as being derivatives from the original AT&T System V code.
This is beginning to sound more and more like a Micro$oft sponsored attack against any operating system that is even remotly posix compliant. If that is true, then that will completely ruin Linux, BSD, OSX, and even other Unices.
Once that happens, Micro$oft Windoze will have no Competition whatsoever.
After the dust settles in this suit and the one Apple vs. The Open Group (where Apple is claiming Unix has become a generic term), Unis shall be free...
And then a thousand flowers shall bloom!
1) print out the Unixware license document onto soft paper
2) eat taco bell
3) next day, wipe ass with license document
4) mail to SCO
5) profit!
You wait till the next day? You must be eating gourmet taco bell or something.
leave them feedback here: SCO Feedback!
tell them what you think of their attempt at extortion.
Anyway, the license is irrevocable and transferable under German law (even without IBM's standard third-party IP claims protection clause) and we can continue running 4.2 forever.
OHIO, June 16 (Reuters) - SCO Group (Nasdaq:SCOX) today rebutted the response of International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM - News) to its earlier injunction against the continued use of its AIX software, a version of Unix. SCO CEO Darl C McBride was quoted today as saying "There are no lawyers in IBM! Do not believe them!". Asked if he thought IBM would defeat them in court, he continued, "Let them come. They are most welcome. We will welcome them with bullets and shoes. We will destroy all AIX installations, most of them!". IBM was not available for comment.
Oh SCO, SCO
you are going the way of the poo poo
Down the loo loo
Clever signature text goes here.
Here is an article claiming:
"Specifically, Sontag believes the "SCO technologies" which were misappropriated into AIX, IRIX, and the derivative UNIX-alikes (including Linux) are:
JFS (Journalling File System).
NUMA (Non Uniform Memory Access), a SGI/Stanford collaboration.
RCU (Read-Copy-Update).
SMP (Symmetrical Multi-Processing)."
and
"But SCO has been even more thorough. After sifting through e-mails from the Linux developers' mailing list, Sontag says SCO has examples of programmers from AT&T licensees offering to write UNIX code into Linux, and can identify where those UNIX fragments turned up in the codebase."
and
"Admittedly, I can't tell you what I saw, but I did form the opinion that it was not in the kernel proper. In all probability, the code is more important to Silicon Graphics' Altix servers than to average x86 Linux users."
and
"...IBM has bypassed U.S. export controls with Linux. How "Syria and Libya and North Korea" are all building supercomputers with Linux and inexpensive Intel hardware, in violation of U.S. export control laws."
Strong claims, but there will probably be a fistful more dirt flying around.
Dr Joe Goebells should be required reading for the new millenium
If I have to read one more SCO pun, I will stab my eyes out with a pen (don't worry about the pen - it's a Bic).
Maybe SCO is trying to commit seppuku.
The world can be wrong today for once.
Fires up another cafepress account....
Slashdot - The one stop shop for procrastination
This is lunacy. Has SCO considered that, rather than people bowing to this insanity, they all might just get together and drag L4/Hurd into the current century? That's so different there couldn't be any issues. I can't see any resolution in this that results in SCO benefiting.
by N.R. "Norm" Lunde, with apologies to Don McLean
i ed .html
"Bye, bye, SunOS 4.1.3!
ATT System V has replaced BSD.
You can cling to the standards of the industry
But only if you pay the right fee --
Only if you pay the right fee..."
http://www.stokely.com/lighter.side/day.sunos.d
Quote:
June 16, 2003, Armonk, NY.... Since filing a lawsuit against IBM, SCO has made public statements and accusations about IBM's Unix license and about Linux in an apparent attempt to create fear uncertainty and doubt among IBM's customers and the open source community. IBM's Unix license is irrevocable, perpetual and fully paid up. It cannot be terminated. This matter will eventually be resolved in the normal legal process. IBM will continue to ship, support and develop AIX which represents years of IBM innovation, hundreds of millions of dollars of investment and many patents. As always, IBM will stand behind our products and our customers. # # # Trink Guarino Director, IBM Media Relations
Help fight continental drift.
for those of us like to own contraband ;)
t em =3030676875&category=11228
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&i
Old age and treachery almost always overcome youth and skill.
"Proof" by example!! Warning!
Did you learn nothing in math?
If I was a wrestler (which I'm not), I would say let the whup ass begin. A suplex on McDork would be a sweet move to watch.
Looks like your tanks don't have 24/7 "five nines" reliability. Shouldn't have had MS be your "tank software" subcontractor. It probably crashed and locked your crew in the tank, ala the BMW about a month ago. ;-)
Yeah, it pisses me off when it happens to me as well.
It is beyond imagination that IBM would have signed a contract that openned them up to any of this. The only possible conclusion is that SCO is nuts.
This appeared on that press release page linked in the story at the top:
Article for Sco Group Inc (NASDAQ SC:SCOX) 3:11 PM
most recent headlines
Sponsored Matches (What are Sponsor Matches?)
Bankruptcy Solutions - Savings to 70% on Credit Card Debt Call Toll Free: 866-729-6625
Bankruptcy Alternative - Get Help Now with Credit Card Debt Call Toll Free: 877-232-0688
Bankruptcy - Refinance with Ameriquest Mortgage. Bad Credit OK.
Nice targeting ads. I'm sure SCO will need to use one of those in the coming months.
Human nature is the same everywhere; the modes only are different. -- Earl of Chesterfield
No one ever got fired for buying IBM?
... hmm
Hmm.. all AIX licenses revoked... lots of people getting fired for choosing IBM
But many here make the argument that IBM is so big, and AIX is so prevelant, that no judge in their right mind would issue an injunction against them.
So If MS ripped off huge portions of Linux or OSX or PalmOS or PlayStation2, that would be ok? After all, MS is huge, and Windows is used by virtually every company in the modern world. So any finding against MS would cripple global business and bring the world to a screeching halt. Therefore any judge in their right mind would reject this course?
Sounds like being big and popular gives you a license to steal anything you want.
And finally, SCO really is on drugs. The case should be thrown out. But not because IBM is big, or because "the whole world depends on AIX."
We need to find the actual injunction (I haven't found it yet) and actually read the thing, and as such this is purely speculative, but it opens up a nice posibility.
In the long run, the judge *must* find for or against the complaint, dismiss the complaint, or remand it to a higher court. It appears (although nobody seems to have the actual complaint) that the complaint is two parts. The first is that they used the code in Linux, and the second is that they are now distributing AIX without a licence to SCO's code. That second point is the one they would file the injunction on.
This boils down to a simple complaint: "We terminated their license, so they must stop using our property." If that were the entire complaint in the injunction, the judge would have to agree since the Supreme Court has upheld that rights of property owners is one of the key elements of freedom. Not being able to use your property is the loss of freedom.
That complaint is so fundamental that he could not simply dismiss the complaint. He therefore must rule on it, or the law, or remand it up the chain of command.
The judge could rule that SCO is correct, meaning that:
By ruling FOR SCO, the judge would not only put a penalty on IBM, but on everyone who uses it. While the simple case (no pay, no play) is reasonable, IBM's lawyers could easily argue that the damage to society and possible lives lost would outweigh SCO's property rights.
Ruling FOR SCO would set a precedent that Microsoft and others could quickly follow -- Revoke the licenses to each version of Office even faster, or include in new online music services a quickly expiring license. When the song goes popular, the license expires, and you must pay the new, higher rate. It would be extortion, except the SCO case would make it legal.
Conversely, he could be ruling that you *CAN* continue to use IP after terminating your license. This would have profound effects (I like some of them), including...
That can't happen either. The sectors of our economy dealing with IP would be blown away, and that would also have so profound negative effects that the judge could not rule that way.
So either way the judge rules in the end, he cannot justify the expense to society of ruling for or against them. A judge at the state level sould not put the entire nation's economy into such a state. That would mean he should remand the case to a higher level. The district cour
//TODO: Think of witty sig statement
SCO is running off at the mouth, but until it actually starts saying things before a court there's not much IBM can do.
Except take notes. Which statements are slander or libel? Interference with trade? Etc. IBM will also be doing extensive research to see which statements are clearly false, which are debatable, and which may have a grain of truth (even if grossly distorted).
But some day the other foot will fall. SCO will sue IBM and IBM will hit them with a countersuit. Or SCO will announce a buyer, and IBM will hit both companies with its own suit. The damages will be some comfortable multiple of SCO's entire market capitalization. If there is any justice in the world, the SCO executives will be named personally, so they won't get multimillion dollar payoffs as the SCO stockholders lose their entire investment.
P.S., anyone who makes "David & Goliath" comparisons is an idiot. David was fighting a righteous battle and had God on his side, SCO is just an arrogant but clueless small company that failed to compete successfully in the marketplace and is now trying to extort some money from companies that did. It deserves to be squashed.
For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong. -- H L Mencken
1. a_0 <=> true
2. a_n => a_n+1
3.???
4. SCO is stupid!
Looks like SCO is not only looking at Linux. They want to own your computer. Take a look at http://www.byte.com/documents/s=8276/byt1055784622 054/0616_marshall.html
First, I am not a lawyer, so I am probably wrong about this.
Check out this quote from this CNET article, from SCO's CEO McBride:
Based on this, I believe SCO is not necessarily claiming that IBM copied code from Sys V, they are claiming that IBM copied code from AIX into Linux, and further they are claiming the rights to the 'derivative' (AIX)! More importantly, the code SCO is claiming was copied may not have been in Sys V at all, it could have been added to AIX solely by IBM. If SCO's claim that they own the rights to derivative works, then any change, including additional functions or even new files or API would be owned by SCO, even if IBM added the code themselves.
IBM better check their licensing agreement, if they don't own all of the rights to the derivative (AIX) then SCO may be justified. I can't believe anyone, especially IBM would ever sign an agreement that would not give them 100% of the rights to a derivative work.
//TODO: Think of witty sig statement
Now, you might wonder just what in the hell this has to do with Marth Stewart? Read on.
p /20030606/ap_en_tv/martha_stewart_162)
:)
First, some facts:
1) IBM at some point was given (through licensing) a copy of the source code licensed from SCO (an obvious "duh", since that's what this fracus is about).
2) SCO has not been remotely shy about telling the world about supposed massive IP violations and misappropriations. In the process, they've seemingly threatened everyone in the *NIX world, down to Linus Torvalds himself, with the possibility of a lawsuit.
3) The source code to all releases of Linux and *BSD kernels (and pretty much anything generally associated with either) is widely available on a per release basis.
4) SCO's stock price has climbed from about $2 to over $10 a share as of close today - a FIVE FOLD increase in stock value since announcing their legal rampage.
Now a couple questions:
1) It would seem to me that the first thing IBM would do is a line by line comparison against the licensed SCO source code and any other code they could get their hands on to compare it against, correct?
2) SCO's threats and allegations has definitely caused some hesitation in the free *NIX marketplaces, less in some instances than others. I would assume that VAR's and integrators would be the most likely to see the financial ramifications of this. So, have customers called you and asked "Are we at risk by using Linux/BSD?" Any quantifiable damage in terms of lost sales?
3) Should SCO's claims prove to be unfounded or otherwise unable to be substantiated (or funnier yet - them crying wolf over code *they* borrowed from whatever source), can they then be litigated into oblivion by IBM?
4) And for those who wondered just what this has to do with Martha Stewart, I read a tidbit on Yahoo several days ago about a twist with her case in that (and I quote) "Martha Stewart is accused of deliberately trying to inflate the stock of her own company â" simply by declaring her innocence." And further "There's kind of a natural tendency when you're confronted with something to deny it. Now they're charging it as market manipulation." (Source -http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/a
It's obvious that SCO's legal moves of late has greatly bolstered it's stock price. Should this prove to be nothing more than a ploy to be bought out (or to inflate stock price), can they not also be held accountable for doing so? In the case of Martha Stewart, they are holding her *personally* responsible for "stockholder damage", could the same possibility be in store for the execs at SCO?
That's all for now
Brad
Yes, but when he does, he will discover that SCO owns the 'net, since it's all derived from UNIX...
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
Are they insane? From the looks of this, they're expecting to play the terrorism card to get Ashcroft on their side against IBM. I'm sure Big Blue is connected enough in Washington to make sure this ridiculous move dies the horrible death it deserves. But the very idea that this guy thinks this argument is credible enough to be believed by anyone reading Byte is disconcerting, to say the least.
... on this can be found in a Byte.com article containing an interview with Chris Sontag, SCO's Senior Vice President.
You've got an extra letter in there.
But then again, I could be wrong.
Before you talk to IBM you need to enter the four digit machine type...
All your AIX are belong to us!
Litigious bastards
I wonder how many others would sue IBM based on absurd claims if they settled a precedent like this.
I foresee results similar to those of Searchking.
Bezos with his stupid IP policy turned the scene into hell.
Back in the early 80s, IBM was selling Token Ring. Surely, you remember Token Ring? (even after years of trying to forget it?)
Well, anyway, along comes a guy named Olaf Soderblom, who works for an IP law firm in Sweden (?), and says he has a patent on token passing rings. Well, not him, but his patent holding company, which bought it from someone who claims to have invented the technology. They're clearly trying to make some money off a technology whose time has come.
IBM up and buys the first $1M license and continues selling Token Ring. Point here is, that, when IBM lawyers look at something, they make a decision: license or fight. They can go either way, and, in this case, they chose to fight. Interesting that Microsoft has made the opposite choice.
This will be an interesting trial.
Check out the full story
While I'm sure IBM has enough money to pay someone to fuck everyone at SCO in the ass, I hope they decide to fight. It's probably even a better deal for them to give in to 100 scammers demands. But all the same, I'd like to see a company with the resources to do something about this step up to the plate and swing the bat instead of taking the hit for a walk to first.
I guess I can see SCO's strategy in making IBM's customers and shareholders worried. But I don't see it as a solid plan. They are pissing off some big players saying they wont have source code and assumably SCO would try bullying those customers to pay SCO for a license. I would love to see IBM see this through. I think their stockholders believe IBM will not cave as their stock is not doing well. Pouring a bunch of corporate resources into this, alienating nix customers, and creating a terrible public image cannot be good for a company and if I was a stock holder I would be pissed.
If IBM sees this through it should scare stockholders enough that companies will think twice about this sue to riches type business plan.
SCO is worth less than $150 million. Lawyer fees reach that amount, how fast? Buy UNIX from SCO, make a present of Unix to Linus. End of problem.
I mean, come on, SCO! [IBM is] going to sue you into bankruptcy, and then buy the rights to your code from your liquidators at a dirt cheap price.
If SCO folds before the case is settled and your scenario takes place, that could be very bad.
Imagine IBM and Microsoft in a sealed-bid auction for SCO's claimed rights to Unix and its derivatives.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
You just copy your link, type [place descriptive text here]
(Don't forget to place quotes around your link and close with </a> after the descriptor.)
Here's an example link to google:
<a href="http://www.google.com">link to google</a>
in HTML it is an underscored "link to google".
Unix is a marketing term that means nothing to computers. They can only sense on and off. They can not tell one peice of code from another and ignore the distictions men draw between them. They continue to funciton when judges order them to halt or outlaws pieces of their instruction set. To them, all code is one and Unix is a silly dream some men once had.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
Note: I posted this on newsforge, but felt that it had to be posted here as well just in case anyone didn't RTFA.
/that/ from? Maybe the BSD/Linux/GNU world should have a look and see what SCO has stolen from them?
<snip>
As a SysAdmin of many unices, let's face it:SCO UnixWare just sucks! It's the most retarded unix that I've ever encountered. If anything, someone needs to look at some of the stuff that *SCO* has stolen. I had to support a badge swiper server that was running SCO 2.1.3 and needed to get the MAC address so that telecomms could add it to the access control list on the Cisco boxen. Believe it or not, but this version of SCO was too retarded to have 'ifconfig' pull up the MAC address (though it did have it on 'dmesg'). Now, with SCO Unixware 7, their 'ifconfig' has the ability to pull up the MAC address of an ethernet device. Hmmmmm... Wonder where they got
This whole mess is going on because clued people are starting to realize that SCO is the short bus of the Unix world in x86-land and that there now exists better and less expensive alternatives to Unixware. SCO is getting desperate, so it's sending in landsharks^Wlawyers instead of spending it on R&D. OTOH, maybe this is another example of how opensource software will, in most cases, be more technically superior than the old model.
</snip>
/*drunk.. fix later*/
Announcing that they are voiding licenses that were bought in good faith, bought at a time when SCO and IBM were partners, boggles the mind.
In my 18 years as sysadmin of various types of systems, I've seen exactly one SCO box in any place I've worked (it was OpenServer). It was relatively easy to port the application - written inhouse - to Linux and be done with SCO. What other applications really run on SCO besides custom apps? I guess I can remember a time when CAD/CAM apps were popular on SCO's platform, but I can't really think of anything else off the top of my head. Yet I continually see postings here on slashdot like yours - ÂWe're trying to get rid of SCOÂ.
Please, no flames. It's an honest question.
Note that:
1) The National Weather Service (NWS) is *not* the same as The Weather Channel, and
2) The Weather Channel does *not* run AIX.
(TWC, like everyone else, *does* use the NWS weather models.)
Windows and a few other scary apps ain't written in C or C++.
It's some kinda internal monstrosity that from what I heard, bears a passing resemblance to C#. Coincidence? I think not.
Black holes are where the Matrix raised SIGFPE
Otherwise you wouldn't be posting AC.
Or maybe that actually explains it. Hmmmm.
Anyway, IBM is you, SCO is your bitch, and the parents downstairs is my, because you have my good graces and I will continue watching Law and Order (ie compiling Linux kernel)
Black holes are where the Matrix raised SIGFPE
Believe or not, since Taco Bell is a franchise, the individual store managers are not required to get their food from whomever Pepsi-Cola dictates (it probably varies from region to region anyway).
I've been to a particular Taco Bell that makes all of their food out in the open, and from what I can tell, it's all fresh. IE you see them press the tortillas from dough, cook the ground beef in pans, cut tomatos (but the lettuce is pre-shredded in bags, i think)
It's the best mexican in a 5 mile radius. Same price as others, same cups and wrappers, but the food is 10 times better than the Taco Bell express on my campus.
Black holes are where the Matrix raised SIGFPE
Microsoft share fell abruptly today after
...
CEO of SCO said: "Our experts have determined
that parts of the MS Windows code are identical
to our proprietary UNIX code. We therefore
contacted Microsoft and demanded royalties
from each copy of MS Windows - both sold an pirated. If Microsoft does not comply - we
will have to revoke their Windows license."
Further in the news: SCO experts found similarities between SCO Unix V code and
the formula for Viagra. Market reacted
with panical sell-out of all pharmaceutical
companies....
From sources we can not disclose: Vatican
is worried about SCO analyzing The Bible
and I think you're being touchy.
The UK's Air Traffic Control Centre at Swanwick also runs on AIX.... there are also military systems in the UK and the US based on AIX. So lets put it this way
On the one side we have major goverment organisations (some armed), commercial organisations (some huge) & IBM who have put "hundreds of millions" into AIX.
These organisations have lawyers and contracts up to the hilt, they review every major procurement decision and check the licenses. Not only are SCO saying that IBM are wrong they are saying that each of these companies can't read a license agreement either.
SCO are extremely burnt toast on this one.
An Eye for an Eye will make the whole world blind - Gandhi
"Look the Indians are running away... let chase the Indians"
"Ha ha we will be victorious and defeat Sitting Bull"
"Where the F**K did they all come from".
SCO have run over the first hill and found nobody there, they are now running into the dead-end canyon.
Or there is the other reason, the IBM Lawyers are laughing so much then can only string a paragraph together at the moment.
An Eye for an Eye will make the whole world blind - Gandhi
Did SCO create Mortal Kombat??
I am an avid supporter of the GPL, open-source, and Linux. My hope (and belief) is that this issue will dissolve quietly and have little effect long-term.
But one thing I've noticed has been how quick the penquinistas have been to come forward and pounce SCO for their assertions.
What if these code violations truly DID occur? What would your positions be then? Or has the collective 'frustration' towards other monopolistic software companies created the belief in the Linux community that we can do whatever we want to better OUR cause?
It sounds to me as though SCO has simply been awaiting some sort of official response from IBM, and given the fact that Big Blue has more-or-less ignored their allegations, they do seem justified in yanking their license.
Just my $.02
In this comedy that SCO is putting out (I am amazed that anyone takes them seriously), the only thing that I am still waiting for is for SCO to sue the Catholic church (and perhaps a few other religions) for misusing SCO's inalienable right to the SOURCE OF LIFE.
The farce, as it stands today, seems to be that SCO is indeed intending to try and poker with every single OS out there today. AIX, Linux, *BSD, OSX and even Microsoft. I'll give McBride one thing, and one thing only: Guts. He has a lot of that to be able to do what he is doing. He is doing a David vs. Goliath even though the end result is almost certainly going to be the death of SCO and multiple private lawsuits against McBride for endangering people's livelyhoods. In fact the reason that there haven't been more countersuits as of yet only shows how few people take SCO seriously. The fact that SCO's stock has gone up shows mainly how little stock traders know about the whole affair.
This is definitely better than TV.
The answer's obvious. SCO & IBM realized that eventually the "licensed but not owned" model will kill open source, and leave only a few ugly redmondites scrambling around on the dead shells of what could have been the best software to grace the planet. They got pissed.
what better way out than to invalidate the whole concept of "licensed but not owned" property in a huge legal farce. IBM devastates SCO, the supreme court eventually invalidates the concept of licensed but not owned property, IBM buys SCO in a show of reciprocal niceness, and they start making serious money selling "software that you'll own" under the GPL 3.Next.
Oh, and somewhere in the underhells of RedMSond, a demon dies a painful death. Heh.
Here's what I see happening...
The next time a big company wants to buy software from someone, they're not going to sit back and take that license agreement offered by, say M$.
They'll ask for a "full and un-revocable" right to whatever they buy, on the grounds they need to protect themselves from SCO like actions.
These crazy-ass licenses put out by M$ and others like them might just end up being victims of their own draconian terms.
IBM is going to make a PILE of money selling open source based stuff. Right in the middle of their pitch, they'll ask the customer if they are ready to be sued by the software companies selling the competing systems. The competitor will say they're not going to do that. IBM will tell the customer to get that in writing, and hand a copy of the GPL to the customer, saying "Something like this."
Oh boy, this is going to be good!
...or maybe not.
On a side note:
The BBC has just reported that IBM's License to Kill has been declared as irrevocable by Her Majesty's Secret Service.
Yeah, not to mention the other 130-odd AIX clusters in the top 500 supercomputer systems in the world., some of which perform classified nuclear-explosion simulations and other fun things.
Not to mention also that JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, Discover Card, and (IIRC) Bank of America all use AIX extensively for all sorts of financial applications.
Not to mention also that Nortel Networks uses Motorola FX fault-tolerant systems running AIX (licensed in turn from IBM) for their adjunct processors that collect information about phone calls...so a good portion of those telcos and large companies/ISPs who have a Nortel switch probably have at least one critical AIX system connected to it...
Talk about collapsing economy, try collapsing national infrastructure. Welcome to the slippery slope of professional risk management.
Actually AIX has been involved from the beginning. AIX is a real Unix, so it contains some original AT&T code which SCO now claims it has the rights to. SCO's original complaint, which spawned this whole mess, was that IBM copied code from AIX to Linux. Since doing that would be a violation of IBM's Unix license, SCO is trying to terminate it.
An interesting point, though, is that SCO is seeking a permenant injunction, which has to go through trial and will likely take years to have any actual effect. They are not seeking a preliminary injunction, which some say indicates that they don't feel nearly as confident in their position as they're trying to look. If they got a preliminary injunction they would have to pay damages if they were proven wrong.
Basically, they just announced that they're going to crash the moon into the earth. We'll just have to see how that works out for them...
Under capitalism man exploits man. Under communism it's the other way around.
The parent implies that the source was not in C/C++ to begin with. I imagine it is in a language that looks like C/C++ but bears more than a passing resemblance to C# (derived from a common source ^_^???)
I too have heard of this mystical language. Having heard it's nature described, it reminds me of the pseudo-object oriented C invented by Wolfram and company for maintaining Mathematica.
Microsoft is certainly big enough to justify using a proprietary programming language internally for large-scale, domain-specific proejcts.
Fuck Beta. Fuck Dice
...technically.
You can sue anyone for anything, the outcome however is up to the system (aka: the man)
"Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech."--Benjamin Franklin
SCO is just showing the fraudulant part of this business. SCO lead by MBA hype artists and crack addicts want news. We all know how stupid we would be if we bought SCO products, they are bankrupt both financially and morally.
The SEC should charge them with stock manipulation.
If it turns out that SCO is right, then everyone who had ever considered RMS to be ridiculously anal with respect to getting releases for any code to be included under the GNU or FSF banners is going to have to eat crow.