Slashdot Mirror


SCO Prepares To Sue Linux End Users

Bootsy Collins writes "In a brief article, Computer Business Review Online quotes Darl McBride as saying that SCO has been busily identifying Linux end users and is preparing to launch lawsuits against them in order to encourage more such end users to buy licenses from SCO. SCO indicates that they'll start with a company that uses AIX, Dynix and Linux, so as to 'settle several legal arguments in one go.'" Not everyone is going to take the SCO approach sitting down; read on for a story on how (among others) Weta Digital and Australia's Massey University aren't jumping to say Uncle to SCO. Update: 08/20 13:11 GMT by T : Oops! Massey University is in New Zealand, not Australia.

Chris Brewer writes "Massey University's Helix supercomputer would incur a licensing charge of nearly US$100,000 for it's 132 CPU Beowulf cluster, and Weta Digital's render farm could cost somewhere between US$1.15 and US$1.5 million dollars at SCO's 'introductory' pricing, according to this Computerworld article. Massey's parallel computing director says it's unlikely that they'll buy a licence, instead, waiting for what the U.S. Courts decide. Weta's CTO Scott Houston says that they're also not going to buy a licence, but are focusing on making movies in the meantime."

4 of 1,209 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Off Topic: SCO Section by kubla2000 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Do you have some sort of involuntary reflex that makes you click on every story? Skip the SCO stories if they bore you.

    This is "Stuff that matters" and will continue to dominate the /. stories page until it's resolved because it matters very much to most readers here. Why? Because many of us rely on Linux on daily basis, personally and professionally. We've contributed to its development and we use it in our businesses.

    But now SCO has broadened the scope of its attack. It's taking on the GPL in particular and open source movement in general. It matters. It matters in particular because the foundlessness of SCO's claims has been pointed out in articles linked to from these stories.

    It matters that they can do this unchecked as much as it would matter to you if someone were allowed to slander your name, character or reputation. There's a reason there are laws in place to protect you from that. We're now seeing a gaping hole in the American legal system that's hurting a lot of businesses and inviduals (note that in countries like Germany, the same laws that protect you from slander have prevented SCO from doing what they're doing elsewhere) while allowing SCO's executives and share holders to play a stock market shell game.

  2. Re:Thats Better... by FroMan · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    You don't think he know about elevensies do you?

    --
    Norris/Palin 2012
    Fact: We deserve leaders who can kick your ass and field dress your carcass.
  3. Re:Thats Better... by arkane1234 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Dude, it's been almost 2 years.

    It's time to move on to more important things, like healing.

    Hell, most widows/widowers are already close to the end of the healing process at the 2 year mark. Life does go on. I'm sorry about your friends. I've had a couple of friends die at the hands of drunk drivers, but I don't creat a candlelight vigil that goes on for years.

    Just because we don't want the news to be spattered constantly with reminders of the incident is not an indication of our Patriotism. It means we're looking to heal.

    --
    -- This space for lease, low setup fee, inquire within!
  4. Re:Thats Better... by Spyffe · · Score: 0, Offtopic
    Chances are you're trolling. Consider this a bite if you like.

    Thousands die each year in auto accidents, mainly because of simple negligence on the part of drivers. This is a huge problem, a challenge to society to make its drivers more responsible. Yet it hardly ever makes the national news.

    On the other hand, a couple of assholes blow up an office building, killing hundreds, and the media makes a huge brouhaha. Note the wording the original poster used:

    ...more attention than it deserved.

    These guys' dream was to die for their religion. A secondary dream was to make America fear them, little fish though they were. Voila, the media has handed their prize to them on a plate. Americans have been driven into a 9/11 paranoia by the media, elevating these assholes to legendary martyrs among the idiots who revere such things (of whom there are many).

    And tell me, what possible good does hearing about terrorism do us? At least with SCO we know there's a community out there that will support us if we resist SCO's lawsuits, and we are aware of the fraudulence of SCO's claims. All we get from the WTC reporting is "Arabs are really devious and want to kill you! True Americans hate them!"

    I, for one, categorically refuse to hate Arabs. So I'm left (if I give a shit at all about the threat of terrorism) juggling worries about poisoned water supplies, terrorist-cut power, planes crashing into (or cars blowing up) the building I'm occupying, people opening fire randomly and killing me, gas attacks, etc. If I'm not careful, I'm going to become a paranoid, join the NRA, and move to Montana.

    Now, about respect for the dead. Think about it - suppose my kid dies in an auto accident, or in a shooting, etc. I get a funeral at best. Now, some people die in an office building, and they get their names scrolled down a huge sheet at the Super Bowl! Why?

    If you had friends who died in the WTC disaster, then by all means mourn them. But don't expect everyone else to kowtow to them or you.

    I just wish you were there instead of them

    The words of a child. This is why I'm expecting you to respond with a "YHBT YHL HAND".

    --
    Sigmentation fault - core dumped