How SCO Helped Linux Go Enterprise

An anonymous reader submits: "SCO may now have filed for UNIX copyrights and made various allegations about code-copying, but the actual complaint against IBM still seems to be focused around allegations UNIX-based enterprise technologies (such as RCU, JFS and SMP) being improperly added to Linux. Yet, reviewing the Linux kernel archives reveals some interesting and surprising background on just who helped put these technologies into Linux. PJ's GROKLAW blog has uncovered that 'Caldera Employee Was Key Linux Kernel Contributor,' including what looks like a lot of work on the early stages of JFS. The same employee's name also crops up when we look at RCU. When IBM posts RCU improvements, did he complain? No, he requests further improvements even helpfully providing a link to inspire the IBMer!"

"Lastly, definitely worth reading, Alan Cox on Linux SMP. He says that got he ideas from a book (which presumably can't be somebody's trade secret), invented his own implementation, and did this using hardware provided by Caldera (SCO themselves do acknowledge providing hardware to the Linux SMP team)." The article points out of Christof Hellwig (the Caldera-employed kernel contributor) that "He's likely a great guy, and he's undoubtedly been a trusted Linux contributor, so this is nothing against him. It's about SCO and their position in the lawsuit, and it's about IBM's affirmative defenses."

Comments

Everybody is complains about SCO, nobody does any

[sela]

Everybody complains about SCO, but nobody actually does anything.

Say what you may, it seem like SCO is leading this game. They claims may be complete bull$%* but nobody is really facing them.
First of all, there is IBM. Remember the way Intel responded when DEC sued them over patent infrigement? They responded quickly by sueing DEC. I would expect IBM to do the same. The fact IBM is so quiest about it is very irritating.

However, it's not just about IBM anymore. It is about the open-source/free(as in speech)-software world in general, and SCO is already making real damage. I think it's time the free-software world would stop being passive here and take the lead from the hands of SCO both by taking legal actions against them and by doing some real protest.

Re:Just remember...

[dspeyer]

The thing is, that's not true.

There are two fights here. There's SCO vs IBM, fought in court over whether IBM's aid to Linux was legitemate. This one will be fought by IBM's lawyers who will point out that IBM was writing operating systems before SCO was founded and doesn't need anyone's help. That fight IBM is sure to win: they have the facts, the law, and the mountains of lawyers on their side.

The other fight is SCO vs the Open Source Community, being fought in the media. Hence "Linux was like a bicycle" and the slew of slanders to indicate we can't code anything without IBM holding our hands our copying it from SCO. It is remenicient of MS's "Unless Linux violates IP rights, t will fail to innovate" FUD, leading some to suggest SCO is acting as a proxy for MS.

Anyway, IBM isn't helping there. Maybe they think that by saying nothing they are sneering at SCO and decreasing their legitimacy. Maybe they're right. Maybe they feal that it's not their fight. It's too bad, IBM gave Linux some of the best traditional advertising it's ever had. Anyway, we seem to be in that fight alone.

Well, we beat MS's FUD, we can beat SCO's!