SCO Preparing Linux Licensing Program

akorvemaker writes "OSNews is reporting about an article at InfoWorld that SCO's new Linux licensing program 'will allow users of the open-source operating system to run Linux without fear of litigation.'" This seems to be either the best business decision ever, or a nail in their coffin. One would think they'd wait before charging a license fee over what some would call shaky ground,

Comments

the good thing...

[neodymium]

..with this is that they finally have to tell WHAT the license would be good for.

Re:the good thing...

[vsprintf]

..with this is that they finally have to tell WHAT the license would be good for.

It doesn't make any difference what the license is good for. I have to clean the cat's litterbox tomorrow, and I have a large, padded mailing envelope. Monday, my *license fees* will be on the way to Utah.

The SCO Family of Products

[grahamkg]

SCO.

Linux Protection, whether you want it or not.

"It's not just for the Mafia anymore."

Also for sale..

[k98sven]

In other news, SCO is reportedly also selling the following:

Deed to the Eiffel tower

Herbalife

Property on the moon, nicely situated near the Sea of Tranquility

London Bridge

Viagra pills

These REVOLUTIONARY PRODUCTS are to be sold through the REVOLUTION of multi-level-marketing, please contact SCO if you wish to make THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS from YOUR OWN HOME.

Re:Also for sale..

[Anonymous Coward]

How can you forget...

SCOPE: SCO Penis Enlarger, available in two different sizes, MICROSCOPE and MACROSCOPE.
:)

What percent?

[tds67]

SCO is "hoping that even if 99 percent of Linux customers laugh in their face, that there will be sufficient large companies who, for what is presumably going to be a relative drop in the bucket of their IT budgets, can potentially eliminate a cloud over their heads," he said.

99 percent? I think that percentage is a bit low.

New Motto

[tds67]

Linux: It's not your mother's operating system (it's SCOs)!

Re:Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

[Anonymous Coward]

Me too, I have some Nicaraguan friends who might be interested in offering some money to transfer.

Karma, the new business model

[poptones]

Several years ago there was a fellow (I think it was a fellow) who wrote in a hi-fi magazine he had noticed coloring the edges of his CDs with a purple marker made them sound better. Then he discovered that just marking one of them had the same effect. So he concluded this must be due to some mysterious energy effect, and then decided to offer the effect for "license." All any audiophile need do to enjoy these benefits was pay him a modest sum evrey year and he would make sure one of the CDs in his collection had a purple edge "in the name of" the licensee! Sweet!

It seems SCO has decided to adopt this karmic business model - proving, yet again, P.T. Barnum was right.

Warning! OT, -1 Humorous

[!ramirez]

While driving today, I saw a guy with a SCO country sticker on the back of his car (similar to these), and the first thing I thought was "god, how could you like an OS/company like that so much that you'd put it on your car?"

Then, I realized that it was a Scottish flag next to the sticker, along with a simultaneous thought of "wow, I've been reading far too much /."

Business Proposition

[Esion Modnar]

[Deep Brooklyn Accent]

You see, me and the boys here, we'd hate to see something... unfortunate... happen to your business. After all, running Linux is attractive, but... risky... if you catch my drift.

Now, for a small, shall we say, licensing fee, we can guarantee that we won't burn down, er, um, (cough) I mean, litigate your business into bankruptcy.

After all, we're legitimate businessmen.

Checking up on Microsoft copyright infringement

[Animats]

I'd like to suggest the following exercise:

• Compile as much GPLd software as possible through Microsoft's Visual C++ compiler. Disassemble.
• Disassemble as much Microsoft product code as posssible.
• Diff. (More likely, feed sequences into a database program). Look for common instruction sequences of at least 50 instructions or so.

I would also like to announce that

[eap]

I am now licensing SCO OpenServer for only $5!

Please send payment to:

Happy Dude
742 Evergreen Terrace
Springfield

Re:I can hear the court cases now....

[Dark Lord Seth]

"Neither did I. Clerk, are there any cases on our agenda today with some merit?"

Well, thinking about how fair, sound and pristine the US legal system is...

No.

Re:Fee for what?

[SuperDuG]

*Start GodFather Voice*

Extortion?? Come on my good man that's such an heavy word. And lets face it, no one knows what it means, lets break it down, ex (as in not yours anymore) and tortion (as in pressure), so this is just a pressure reliever.

Let's call a spade a spade here and call it what it is, it's simply insurance that you're with us. I mean you are with us right? The court room is such a cold heartless place, when you're with us you're part of the family, and you know that family is warm and ther for ya all the time.

So you take a little time to think about it, whether or not you want to be insured or not, kay? I'd hate to see you end up in court, a cold heartless place when for a simple reoccuring fee of showing your gratitude for our service. It's in your best interest to be with us not against us.

An Ode to SCO

[Piquan]

My-my-my-my (U can't touch us)
SCO tries to bill me so hard
Makes me say, "Oh my Lord, thank you for blessing me
With a mind to think about the O from SC"
It feels good
When you know you're right
A superdope winner in a court fight
And SCO knows as much
And they'd just get beat-uh!
U can't touch us

I told you homeboys
U can't touch us
Yeah, that's how we livin' and you know
U can't touch us
Look in the GPL, man
U can't touch us
Yo, let me bust the funky code
U can't touch us

Stop! RICO time!

(With some apologies to MC Hammer, but mostly to the people who read this.)

Re:Fear?

[bentcd]

Hehe. Great fun. Nice operating system you have here ... to bad if someone should ... copyright it ... I'm going to make you an EULA you just can't refuse.

Excellent News!

[Xeth]

Based on this precedent, tomorrow I will begin licensing copies of Windows XP, for the low low price of $50 a pop. Remember, if you're not getting it through me, you're a dirty rotten pirate and my lawyers will use our bulletproof claim to this intellectual property to sue you three ways from sunday.

Re:Wrong

[hammock]

Downloading Britney Spears anything, however, should be illegal.