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SCO Will Pay You Not to Use Linux
Verteiron writes: "As if things weren't weird enough already, SCO is now planning to pay companies to migrate away from Linux.. even if it's not toward UNIX. According to the summary over at Groklaw, SCO will provide 'financial incentives and discounts' to users that switch to 'other operating systems that have a stronger IP basis than Linux.' This doubly amusing when considered together with the following statements straight from SCO's 8-K form filed with the SEC:
'...plans to expand SCO's intellectual property licensing program to allow for migration alternatives to end users... and continued efforts to protect SCO's UNIX intellectual property rights and SCO's belief that the private investment will enhance SCO's ability to pursue currently pending legal actions... SCO has a history of unprofitability and has only realized revenue from its SCOsource licensing initiative during the last two quarters...'"
Where do I sign up?
Karma: Meh (Mostly from meh.)
Holy mother of God, this story keeps getting better and better.
I have 5 FreeBSD boxes running.
Where do i sign up?
do() || do_not();
Represent
I'm signing up
Ok, seriously, who thinks the underwear gnomes have a better bussiness plan?
Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
I don't run Linux on my wristwatch. Where's my check?
Remind me again how much Microsoft "invested" in SCO?
I, for one, welcome our new SCO overlords...
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.
Depending on the sum, I could be convinced to go BSD I suppose...
Or better yet, if they pay me enough to buy an apple.
"The United States has no right, no desire, and no intention to impose our form of government on anyone else." - Bush 05
Nice to see some confirmation finally that SCO is not in the business of selling software, and has only the destruction of Linux as its objective.
This should clear the air a bit and help wake up those poor souls who still think that the SCO Group is some sort of software company, and not a lawsuit factory with a worthless, deprecated UNIX implementation on hand that they're not even developing to any useful degree any more.
And on the speculative front, I'll refuse to be 100% sure that Microsoft and/or Sun are behind SCO's actions until I see some sort of paper trail, but this makes me sure enough.
switch to 'other operating systems that have a stronger IP basis than Linux.'
Good luck finding one. FreeBSD is equal to linux in this regard, and everything else is less.
Don't label something "offtopic" unless you know the topic well enough to tell what's on topic.
VC weenie: What's your business plan?
Darl McB: Pay people to switch from an OS we don't own to others we don't own.
VC weenie: Here's 5 million dollars - can I be on your board?
XML causes global warming.
Is for them to pay me to pull my foot out of their ass.
Microsoft-funded initiative from SCO?
I *really* hope that IBM either aquires or buries this company. If MS is so overly interested in SCO, isn't there a threat that MS could purchase SCO? What if SCO *wants* to be purchased by MS? What would happen to Linux if MS owned the rights to UNIX? If IBM doesn't aquire them, perhaps RedHat, or Novell... any company other than MS.
we mostly run AIX here where I work. We were considering redhat for non-production servers, but if SCO will pay us to stick with IBM...
Real SUV's don't have cupholders
It's 5:42 A.M., do you know where your stack pointer is?
In today's news, SCO begins offering incentives to not use the product it is attempting to license to linux users... hell freezes over.. pigs begin flying over Metropolis.. More news at 11.
Ispshadow
am surprised those nice boys at SCO are acting so mean to you kids. It oughta be against the law.
clifgriffin > blog
2 dollars rebate on this brand new 1U server running windows 2003 server edition!
Use *anything* other than Linux. Note the biggest discount is Windows.
So, pay SCO only $299.00 for Linux.
But stop using Linux. Hmmm, so why the $299? Move on.
Start using Windows.
And this helps SCO how? You're not using their products. Oh, but you paid $299 for a product (Linux) they claim infringes on something of theirs, but then stop using the allegedly infringing product.
HELP!
WTF
It must be pretty good stuff!
I'm a little short on cash to switch to a non-free alternative.. What if I try running a toaster instead of Linux, can I still get that payout?
"SCO will provide 'financial incentives and discounts' to users that switch to 'other operating systems that have a stronger IP basis than Linux.'"
Woo Hoo. Look out Apple. Here I come.
SCUM the whole lot of them!
Should have seen something like this coming when SCO tried to make Open Source illegal.
Sorry...did I say "rebate"?
I will happily move my 586 to Solaris X86 if SCO is willing to pay for it. Why not? It will simply drain them.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
Doing a Carrot instead of stick strategy will work a little better for SCO to accomplish their means. Granted lawyers = $500 - $2000/hr whereas user incentives = $500/user maximum (thinking Windows XP + MS office pro).
What kind of impact this will have on the Linux community that thinks they're a bunch of (every expletive you can imagine inserted here) I don't know. Anyone here in the Slashdot community who trusts SCO raise their hand.
Though all the same, some users who are looking to upgrade just might....naaah I shan't think such heretical thoughts....
...in bed
I wonder if they took into account the possibility of users switching away to another free *NIX.
Assuming they did, that makes it even more clear how much of their attack is focused on the GPL itself. BSD-licensed software may be free, but it can be added to any proprietary system with the sole provision that the copyrights are maintained and there is no warranty of fitness for any particular purpose. True "free software" is obviously what scares SCO and their puppet masters.
That's assuming they considered that possibility. Knowing how out-of-touch SCO's executives have proven themselves to be, there's a good chance they didn't.
Call the cops. It looks like SCO is smoking something again.
Message to Boise:
20% of nothing still = nothing.
RedHat's case rests on the allegation that SCO's actions are deliberately trying to damage RedHat's sales potential (as the #1 Linux distribution). This would seem to directly support that allegation.
The same could be said for IBM's counterclaim.
Tools --> Change Browser Identification --> Internet Explorer on Windows 2000
/me then looks for the form on SCO's site.
I'm not a prophet or a stone-age man,
I'm just a mortal with potential of a super man.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but wasn't this the "technology" that Microsoft "licensed"?
True, this is a bit more blatant than one might have expected, but otherwise not entirely unexpected.
Reading between the lines you can simply interpret this as a public admission that they've acknowledged their position is that of the Light Brigade and that they're going off to slaughter like good little foot soldiers for "God, Honor and "Innovation.""
It can be taken as a given now that they know themselves to be lost.
KFG
I log onto Slashdot every day and often view these outrageous headlines about SCO. This one struck me this most. It seems to me that SCO is the Linux world equivilant of a suicide bomber, set up by "them" to bring down what could be a serious threat to the software economy. In such a high stakes game I certainly wouldnt put it past Microsoft or some other corporation to set up a dummy company to use the courts to take down their opponents. Any thoughts on this?
-- "Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains." Jean Jacques Rousseau
How does this make sense from a business perspective?
The fact that SCO (a company that loves money more than ANYTHING) is parying people to not use Linux just shows me that they are losing this battle.
Note: this has been posted by r.future (a person who spends way to much time on the internet!)
Cool! I was just gonna switch a bunch of machines from end-of-life Red Hat to FreeBSD. FreeBSD has gone through the legal machine already, so it's intellectual property shiznit is STRONG!
DARL WHERE IS MY CHECK BIG GUY!!!!!!
PS: we also have some Gentoo boxes, I hope we don't have to migrate those too. But we can discuss the details.
I'M SO READY FOR YOU DARL BABY!!!!!
Since Linux is #1 treat to MS, SCO is owned by MS. :-)
Clear as water
Get my e-mail after a captcha test in: http://tinymailt
...in Soviet Russia, SCO pays you.
No, wait... did I read the article right?
1. Pay users to use product from competitors 2. Profit! 3. ???
karma capped
So their only income right now is that they're trying hard to sell you the product (which they hate) for $699, but at the same time they're willing to lose money if you agree to stop using it?!
STOP . AMERICA . NOW
SCO seems to have refined the art of making others' cases for them.
Everyone's except for their own, it seems.
Here's an article from a UK source today, called Microsoft millions back SCO case. It also highlights Boies' et. al. backing of SCO. Just so there's no confusion about who it is that's scared of Linux.
I hate SCO as much as the next guy (outside Redmond that is), but if they're going to pay me to buy that G5 I've always wanted then where do I sign up?
How much will you pay me to not develop software for Linux? Let's talk!
"Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney
This seems like clear grounds for a class action lawsuit by the shareholders.
There seems to be no business justifiable reason for such an action.
LetterRip
I can't see any sound business reason for SCO to reward organizations to migrate from Linux to Microsoft, or Sun or anything else.
Someone ought to let Darl and Co. know that dictating a grass-roots movement has been tried in the past, and it almost allways fails. The impetus for a grass-roots movement has to come from the people down in the dirt, not the ones above slinging mud at each other.
But, it's just another case of more circus, less bread. How exactly is SCO supposed to verify that a given applicant was a Linux shop? And more importantly, if they do part with any of their Microsof, er warchest, how do they intend to enforce compliance?
Besides, rather than offering cash incentives, you ought to be offering equivalent-value incentives. Just guessing, but I bet SCO could get a pretty attractive price on M$ products to offer folks as cash equivalents which would presumably cost SCO less real money, if only from the volume discount aspect. But anyone who thinks M$ wouldn't make it more lucrative for SCO to tender that kind of deal, well you know who to send your $699 linux license fee to...
"Talk minus action equals nothing" - Joey Shithead, D.O.A.
"Talk minus action equals
...for everyone to believe that this was never about a pump-and-dump stock scheme, but rather a backroom deal by the enemies of the GPL to smear and FUD until CTOs run screaming at the sound of the words "open source".
Fred
"A fool and his freedom are soon parted"
-RMS
I hate to sound like a conspiracy theorist but...
What possible reason can SCO have for encouraging people to switch over to Windows (as the article indicates they might) unless they are in bed with Microsoft? Has SCO become a front for Microsoft in it's war against Linux? That is a scary prospect, because SCO doesn't care about it's reputation and so can do really nasty things that Microsoft would never get away with on it's own.
Perhaps these discounts may be something like You owe SCO:
$699 if you fork over the dough now (just because we claim to own unix and all derivatives).
$99 if you migrate to WinXP and sign something that prohibits you, your company, every division, subsidiary and employee from ever using linux again.
If SCO were not so twisty, this would sound like a tinfoil hat scheme. But regretably, everything coming from SCO comes from a twisty maze of passages all alike.
Sure, I'll be happy to switch N virtual machines over to a binary-only SCOware or Microsoft instead of Linux, if they'll pay me enough per virtual machine. .
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
SCO pays YOU $699.00!
This is exactly right. How can a company be profitable by paying people to not use one competitor, but rather use another, unless the dominant market leader is controlling the puppet strings?
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
No, really. I love Linux, and my company uses it on many desktops (about 40%) as well as our main file server, mail server, and ftp server, and I'll unplug each and every one on Friday, November 14th if they'll pay me.
Of course, the sad fine print is that my company is closing on Friday, November 14th, but I'll do it, by gum. Just show me the money!
--
...maybe I can afford to get that Mac dual G5 machine, after all! Schweet.
If I had any money in SCO, I would want to take it out now, or be on the phone to my lawyer, looking into some sort of minority-shareholder lawsuit against the company for wasting shareholders' money by paying them to switch to a competitor's product. There is simply no financial benefit for SCO in having users switch from Linux to Windows, Solaris, or anything but a SCO product. Unless SCO has some sort of plan to move into the Windows services market (that they've kept under wraps all this time), they shouldn't be paying for people to move to Windows. It's almost enough to make me believe the SCO-Microsoft conspiracy theories.
That's it. I'm no longer part of Team Sanity.
OK, they're paying people to leave Linux. This seems like a really thin cover (read: saran wrap) over what this is really about - decimating Linux. But we already knew that.
This sig no verb.
to use AIX? That is not Linux.
No trees were harmed in the composition of this; however, numerous electrons were inconvenienced.
...but the DEA sure does!!!
This lawsuit seems to be more about the validity of licensing and ip. I refuse to believe that Microsoft isn't orchestrating this. It's not paranoia, it's not Microsoft bashing. Microsoft has pumped cash into SCO in a variety of ways. A lot of the arguments SCO has made about ip and licensing sound similar to Microsoft's words. Microsoft employees have been caught in the past FUDing competitors, while acting like impartial third parties. Weren't they going to start an editorial campaing to try to feign a groundswell of public support for them before?
Did you ever have the feeling that they're not even trying anymore.
um..... ah ...... um ....... wait, um...... err...
ok.... um.... how bout.... no.... um......
is there anything anyone could possible say about this?
Considering the recent influx of cash from redmond to SCO (license's) i suspect there is more to this story than meets the eye... Hey Bill want to throw some cash my way... ?
*--- Sometimes a majority only means that all the fools are on the same side. ---*
Has anyone considered the posibility that the dudes in charge of SCO are having some sort of collective mental breakdown.
If i was a shareholder i would want them to see a shrink.
If I reboot into Windows before going to bed, do I qualify for a pro-rated amount?
I feel like William Shatner in that episode of Twilight Zone, pointing and waving like a maniac at the monster outside the plane ripping the wing apart.
What the fsck!? Doesn't anybody see the blatant Microsoft manipulation of this situation besides the Slashdotters, and why isn't the DOJ all over this like ugly on an ape?
I'm completely dumbfounded.
This is really sounding like SCO believes they're trotting down the Yellow Brick Road; they are in lala-land to think they can pay major corporations to change their infrastructure; SCO would have to sell itself to get the money to do it.
Cast:
The Wizard: SCO
Dorothy: Linux Users (Not in Kansas anymore)
Toto: Tux
Glinda, Good Witch of the North: IBM
The Scarecrow: Darl McBride
The Lion: SCO's shareholders
The TinM(e)n: SCO's Lawyers
Wicked Witch of the West: Micro$oft
If "disco" means "I learn" in Latin, does "discothèque" mean "I learn technology"?
...to pay your $1499 licensing fee you cock-smoking teabaggers.
Remember, the price went up November 1st.
Black Bart (holding gun to his own head): Nobody move! Nobody move or the nigger gets it!
Woman onlooker: Somebody help that poor man!
(Bart drags himself behind a building and out of view of the mob)
Bart (to self): Oh baby, you are so *talented*.
- First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then ???, then profit.
Potential Investor: What's your business plan?
Guy with goatee: We'll be selling e-products over the e-web. Our e-services will include e-billing, e-shipping, and e-tracking. This will actually reduce our infrastructure and overhead costs to negative numbers, so we won't even need to actually sell anything.
PI: Here's all my money, and my 18 year old duaghter.
It's nothing but crumpled porno and Ayn Rand.
The kinda paranoid side of me wonders if this money to switch away from Linux is from the oft-rumoured Microsoft investment in SCO. I mean nobody could be so stupid as to do that sort of thing after being convicted of antitrust charges could they?
Excuse me... but wouldn't offering financial incentives to not use a competetive product be illegal in some way?
I mean, it's legal to give incentives to use my product... but to drive a competitors business away...?
Make em bleed! Buy an XBox. That way you can still run Linux and switch to a platform with more IP (whatever they mean by that, since Linux is copyrighted anyways!) That way you can screw SCO and Microsoft altogether. Maybe this is all about getting rid of Sony, or am I taking this too far? ;-)
How is this for an idea:
If you are a company which supports Linux, develops software for use on Linux, or uses Linux in some way, simply offer a discount of - say 25% - for all services related to migrating SCO users from SCO products to Linux.
Next thing to do is write press releases to the local papers telling them about it. You should point out that SCO customers face an uncertain future, since SCO will proably loose its fight with IBM, and will then be taken to court for its actions. You can also describe how SCO's new path is not developing new and better software for you, but simply based on taking advantage of its "IP".
Obviously there are many potential Linux converts out there, and it would be a good idea for Linux companies to compete for those users by offering them discounts to move away from SCO first.
I also believe that companies should cease supporting SCO versions of software - but at the same time offer existing clients a migration path to a more solid platform - such as Linux.
I know the SCO's lack of revenue is hardly a worry to them now, however it will make great news, and possibly make their stock price reflect reality.
to switch my server to OpenBSD ;-) Oh, wait...
"'I pass the test,' she said. 'I will diminish, and go into the West, and remain Galadriel.'"
- JRR Tolkien.
They're trying to make such a huge, confusing mess out of the while issue that someone buys them out just to shut them up.
SCO is getting worse than the crazy homeless people in San Francisco that scream Bible passages at you as you're walking by..
Actually, wait. The homeless nutcases have a better business plan.
"In connection with SCO's intellectual property enforcement effort, SCOsource, SCO has alleged that the Linux 2.4 and the upcoming 2.6 kernel contain SCO intellectual property. In an effort to offer marketplace solutions to these Linux-related intellectual property issues, SCO released a licensing program to offer Linux users a right-to-use binary mode only license, subject to certain limitations... In the coming months, SCO intends to expand the licensing program to include migration options for those end users who may be looking for alternatives to Linux."
Hold on SCO, why don't you first disclose (at least to IBM) the infringing code?
SCO = Rambus All smoke and mirrors.
So has anyone asked SCO why they haven't sought to protect their "intellectual property" (and I use that term lightly) sooner than the past few months?
The article says:
Attention SCO: Your plan has worked!
I'm migrating from MS to Linux right now in preparation for the incentives to migrate away later.
********* sig: If you don't like the law, get filthy stinking rich, and buy a better one.
That's OK; as a meta-moderator I can mark the Off-Topic as Unfair, and did.
Darl McBride. You currently breath air which is provided by Planet Earth Inc for free.
You pay me $299 to breath proprietry carbon monoxide from the exhaust pipe of my car for say, errrrr, forever and I'll pay you so I can use some piss poor commercial subsistute for my nice reliable Linux box.
dial 800-problem-solved to make the arrangements.
Hmmmmmm..... Deep fried and look like Squirrel.
Is there any possibility that IBM and/or Redhat might win a large enough judgement in their countersuits so as to deprive Boies, Schiller and Flexner and the Canopy group of any proceeds from this action? Now that would send a message!
I'll return to reality Monday
is that this deal is only good in Soviet Russia!
Where the hell do i sign up before they go bankrupt?
They are nuts.. or really hitting the drugs hard.
I still dont understand their desire to destroy linux, if it wasnt for linux, caldera would never have had the capital to purchase SCO and start this lunacy..
---- Booth was a patriot ----
And with which money? Aren't they broke?
I orginally posted this on the "IBM Puts Pressure On SCO" article. However I posted it very late. So I will post here again. If you don't like what SCO is doing complain about it. Here is a link to help you contact the people to complain to.4 .html
http://www.understudy.net/weblog/archives/0000001
...it's too good to be true. Don't think you'll ever see any money from SCO from this. Maybe a few token companies switching from Linux to something else will get something out of it, but only if it generates publicity.
OK-How functional is HURD now? How quickly can we make if functional? Maybe the FSF should ask SCO for a grant to get HURD up to speed so we can move off linux.
Where do I sign up? I'm running FreeBSD, and want to be paid for using an OS that had settled over the UNIX rights years ago.
1. Switch from Linux to FreeBSD
2. Get money from SCO
3. Switch back
4. Lather, rinse, repeat
If my call is important, why am I talking to a recording?
Microsoft is allowing, via its "Shared Source Licensing Plan" for companies to take a look at selects portions of the windows source code.
Call me a nut, but I've half a mind to believe that MS is floating this whole SCO mess as a trial balloon, to probe the defenses of the open source community, and plans to have its' own code "stolen" and incorporated into Linux.
That way they can move from a "Cold War" by proxy to a direct attack on Linux and open source.
And more tin foil: who do you suppose might be responsible for the root backdoor that someone tried to slip into the kernel recently...?
-dameronx
From their 8k:
During SCO's current quarter, ending October 31, 2003, Microsoft exercised and paid $8,000,000 for the second option.
MS exercised the second and final option from their agreement earlier this year.
I hope Version 2 of this plan will pay me not to use Windows.
Ceci n'est pas une signature.
First: Collect underpants The second step is unknown The third step: Profit!
This post is free (as in cheese in a mousetrap).
While I may not like Microsoft and their business practices, this is an interesting approach to steering business away from Linux. On one side, you tie up the hearts, minds, money, and lawyers of IBM along with risk averse companies to slow the onslaught of Linux in the enterprise. One the other side, MS uses SCO as a shill to pay companies to switch away from Linux to some other (cough... Windows...cough) operating system.
A cunning, although somewhat slimey, approach.
More like that one Daffy Duck short where he's on stage, struggling mightily to get ANY kind of audience reaction.
He sings, he dances, and the audience just yawns. Finally he uses his one remaining sure-fire act to get a reaction. He swills down a bottle of nitroglycerin and makes himself explode.
And the crowd goes wild, but meanwhile, nothing but of Daffy remains except for a black stain. That's what this whole thing is:
Daffy, until it explodes and there's nothing left.
Help fight continental drift.
Now that it's becoming clear that IBM has no interest in buying out SCO or settling, and that SCO bargained with their lawyers specifically to handle such instances, they have started attacking Linux.
As you pointed out, this is an act clearly directed at Red Hat. Red Hat is now on the record saying, "You're annoying me," and it's like it just got SCO's attention.
It's as if SCO's thinking, "Well, Plan A didn't work, Plan B was a total flop -- maybe we can get Red Hat to buy us out or settle with us? If we're enough of a pain, maybe they'll do what's necessary to make us go away?"
That would be like if my parents said, "We'll pay you not to be gay". I would really have to think about how much... and then maybe change my identity and move to one of those gay islands where there is no communication to the outside world.
Everyone I talk to says "Oh SCO has Boies, he's a great lawyer".
Then I think to myself, what has Mr. Boies done that makes him great? Let's look at his high profile cases:
1> Microsoft Anti-Trust ("won" even though MS is still a monopoly and abusing it's power more than ever, and the settlement was a weak blow off at best)
2> Gore 2000 in Florida. (LOST)
and now
SCO
So why does everyone think this kid is hot shit?
Please send all UCE to scally@devolution.com so I can f
3.... Profit!!
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
SCO is offering _discounts_ on licenses.
Meaning if you switch over to another OS now you don't end up oweing SCO the full license for linux ($699 or something) that they're claiming you now owe. You'll probably just end up oweing a mere $500 (or whatever - even I couldn't stomach reading the details on that in the article).
I have a second sig, I call it sig#2.
I know people ask you to RTFA a lot, but in this case, if people would have even RTFS (summary) they would have gotten it right. Everyone is running with what Slashdot twisted the title around to say. SCO will not pay just to not use Linux. It is for SWITCHING FROM Linux. I do see finally a use for those Linux XBOXes now. Switch it back to a game console and get paid! I'm not sure what their conditions are for the type of system it has to be. If their restrictions are not specific enough, go find an old 286 or such around, install Linux, and then "migrate away" for profit.
We may experience some slight turbulence and then...explode. -Capt. Mal Reynolds
that SCO is an unofficial wholly owned subsidiary of Micro$oft Corp. They are actually paying people to go to another OS, not necessarily theirs. Obviously the most likely choice other than a Unix is Windows, which would profit Micro$oft and not SCO. Except that SCO is owned by Micro$oft, in the manner that a judge is owned by a mafia boss.
"Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake." Napoleon Bonaparte (1769 - 1821)
ssshhhh - Let's make sure they pull out enough rope to hang themselves.
Oh wait, they've already done that.
This almost doubles the fodder for Microsoft conspiracy buffs!
They can't turn a profit, now they're going to pay people to stay away from Linux, even if its not their product they migrate to.
So its either the worst business decision of all time, or they are getting paid elsewhere for everyone that migrates to either their products, or, most likely, Windows!?
Blake
and it turns out that SCO have been lying all the way does this make MS guilty of conspiracy to defraud?
If so, who at MS will be held responsible for the decision because it's quite hard to believe that a minion at Microsoft could take a decision of this magnitude.
Scene 1:
Prison Cell containing two men. The fatter of the two seems to be dancing in a style something akin to a monkey......
Fat man....
That's another fine mess you've got us into Darl....
Darl...... (add own blubbery weeping noise here)
Hmmmmmm..... Deep fried and look like Squirrel.
This doubly amusing when considered together with the following statements straight from SCO's 8-K form filed with the SEC: '...plans to expand SCO's intellectual property licensing program to allow for migration alternatives to end users...'
Don't you think that's a bit harsh? Bullying users is one thing, but ENDING them?
Interested in open source engine management for your Subaru?
Doesn't linux already pay us not to use SCO? You know, by giving us a good, reliable server without all the FUD. What other kind of payment do you want when setting up a server?
Darl is mad at Mr Hat (Tux), denies ever having a relationship with Mr Hat (Tux), and goes over to Mr Twig (Bill)...
I would happily take SCO's money to not use Linux, especially given as how this fits in so nicely with my current plans to avoid Linux (and anything else even slightly Unixy) like the plague.
But with my luck they probably only pay in SCOland Fun Bucks or something.
-- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
They'll pay you not to use their product?
Comment: Yes I realise the username 'fuckfuck101' makes me sound intelligent, no you cannot buy it from me.
Deryl,
I'll buy your company from you. I have read all I can about your position and I evaluate your companies real value at -$50,000,000. This fits in nicely with your business model, so give me a nice big check and I will take your company from you.
Thanks,
GF
No man is an island... But I wouldn't mind having a bigger moat.
Alright, this is cool, this I can respect. Trying to con people based on a flimsy pretext like their whole IP argument is a pretty pathetic thing to do.
But this is different--this is pure, unhidden, manly spite. Spite this pure is fun to watch.
That must be depressing and all, it is to me when a company dies .... so who gets all the equiptment? :D
Sig: I stole this sig.
SCO Offers Choice: Ride On a Faster Than Light Spaceship, Residence In Utopia, or Meeting With The God of Your Choice. The only requirement is to promise to take them seriously.
SCO will provide 'financial incentives and discounts' to users that switch to 'other operating systems that have a stronger IP basis than Linux.'
I guess that rules out switchiing to any SCO product... They have already been found to snip BSD copyrights, so I assume their IP is less secure than that of Linux.
ok. let's just say sco does have ip in linux. and let's say they can bypass the gpl and charge for it. neither are likely true, but just humour me here. now let's say that they expect scosource to be their future revenue stream.
just pretend all of that is true, factual and on the level. say it's possible and what sco is honestly planning on.
how in the fuck does this latest move make any sense even in that nightmare fairie tale?
"here, you folks have violated our ip, we plan on continuing to charge you and, oh, by the way, here's some money to buy our competitors products so you won't have to pay us anymore."
is it any wonder that sco never took the unix world by storm in over a decade?
US Citizen living abroad? Register to vote!
$3B (Thats "3 BILLION DOLLARS", SCO. Not Negotiable.)
Have a nice day.
INSERT INTO comment VALUE('Doh!') WHERE user='you';
MS has paid millions of dollars to a company that has NOTHING to offer them except FUD against Linux. And now that company is paying people not to use Linux.
.
There is a post at 5 interesting with a link to how much MS has been backing SCO . .
Sdelat' Ameriku velikoy Snova!
1) Install Linux (free)
2) Tell SCO you use Linux
3) Reinstall Windows/anyOS
3) Profit!!!
or perhaps SCO will pay you.
They've decided to start paying people to migrate away from Linux? I thought that Linux was illegal and they were going to force people to leave Linux through lawsuits and license fees. Somewhat odd that you'd take the position of paying people... seems to suggest that your original position isn't expected to succeed. Hmmm....
Where'd those numbers come from? There was a thread on the groklaw page that suggested that if they did implement a scheme it would be like that, but as far as anyone know this is just an idea...no prices or solid figures on how much they would pay or discount to what...in fact, nothing solid, like their case (sorry, couldn't resist)
Don't many parts of U.S. copyright law have language to the effect: "Notwithstanding any part of the antitrust laws"?
Will I retire or break 10K?
However, IBM helped Novell buy SuSE, AG. And since Novell is the REAL owner of the UNIX IP, I am waiting on pins and needles for them to lay the smack down on the Smoking Crack Organization. Which is going to happen. Soon. That's the first thing I thought when the SuSE/Novell deal went down.
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
I mean, with all the SCO stories that we're getting, why not make a new logo to replace the Caldera one we're using at the moment?
I suggest something along the lines of "SCO vs. Tux", or maybe "SCO vs. The Rest of the World".
Founder of Mirror Moon - Tsukihime Game Trans
How in God's name can so few smoke so much in so little time??
Damn, and I thought the people on the west side were bad!
I just happen to have 6000 PC's here (in this slightly small 2 story house) running linux I'd like to change to freebsd. U think they'll believe that?
Their license will likely include the right to audit your systems to confirm license compliance, probably at your cost. If you have multiple Linux systems, things could get ugly.
..the entire world looking up from whaetver they are doing for a brief moment and vaguely mumbling:
"what? er.. yeah right - whatever.."
Before installing Linux on another 100 Intel servers, and a z-series.. (try doing that with SCO unix..)
Nobody's listening any more SCO - your outbursts have become so far fetched, you're like the kid that invents ever more unlikely stories to get attention. These guys are like parasites - they no longer create, but are desperate to get a slice of any pie going. Give it up - even if you won every court action from here til the next century - no one will do business with you ever again..
I think we all realise by now that all of this is most likely a bizarre situation engineered to raise cash on SCO shares. Ignore them - they only want attention.
I just "Switched" from Linux to OS X. So where do I line up for the money?
--
"Open source is good." - Steve Jobs
"Open source is evil." - Microsoft
I love it when people try to appeal to the Slashdot bourgeois. Depending on your point of view, it's either ironic, or pointless.
It's been a long time.
Yep pay up and I will swap to BSD and if things change swap back.
LOL, This just keeps getting better. Pretty soon Apple will be paying windows users to switch and ABC will start paying cable companys to drop CBS and NBC
In other news, Steve Jobs indicated today that all Macintosh's shipped after November 10 would now boot Yellow Dog Linux out of the box. SCO's switch incentive program and 1-800 number will be displayed on the startup screen, along with an access code for Panther. When queried about the shocking OS switch, Steve noted that, "Yellow Dog runs like stink on the G5, and at a $299 discount for the G5, we'll be working overtime to keep up with demand."
How does this make sense from a business perspective?
Simple - they're using MPAA/RIAA math!
See, for every person who uses your IP for free, you lose money - so you figure out how much you're losing per unit, and offer people less money than that to not use your IP..
For example, if SCO determines that they're losing $100 per Linux server, and there are currently 100,000 people running Linux that would take them up on their offer, then all they have to do is offer people $50 to not run Linux.. then Viola! They've now made a positive difference of $50,000,000 to their bottom line!
Disclaimer: although I'm currently drunk, this makes perfect sense to me. I may or may not feel the same way once I've sobered up.
About a month after I got my first phone line, MCI called and offered me $50 to switch from ATT for long distance. Since I was only making local calls, it seemed like a good deal. Weeks later, ATT called back and wondered why I had dropped the long distance service. I told them about MCI's offer, and ATT offered me $120 to go back. I took the $120, and switched back. MCI returned with a $150 offer, which I took.
The largest check I got was around $190. I don't think I *ever* made any long distance calls on that line.
I suppose I'm the reason why cell companies make you sign year long contracts in order to get the free phone...
Maybe this strategy can be applied to SCO's offer?
Feel free to call SCO up and tell them how badly they suck.
1-800-726-8649
I suppose you are referring to the Alanis Morisette version.
-- Alchohol is a hard drug. Cannabis is a soft drug.
I have relatives who don't even *have* computers. They aren't using Linux, so I want my money.
Also, I have lots of friends who don't use Linux. Can I refer them to SCO so I can get paid for their continued non-Linux use? Some of them may be deceased , so I can guarentee they won't use Linux.
Avoid Missing Ball for High Score
At least someone is fighting back. Buy hardware, you know from who.
I thought it had gotten pretty bad by the time I was playing croquet with the Queen of Hearts and the rest of her deck of cards, and using flamingoes as croquet sticks and hedgehogs as croquet balls, but now that I've seen this whole SCO drama unfold to the point where they'll pay people just not to use Linux, it's clear that my senses have taken a severe departure from the normal world.
Would somebody point me to the way out of Wonderland, of if appropriate, to the nearest suitable medical facility?
If their claims on Linux are so strong, why on earth would they do this?
This is tantamount to McDonald's saying that they will pay people to eat at Burger King.
This story has taken such an unexpected turn that I'm not even sure it's enjoyable to watch unfold anymore... it's digressed from a comedy of errors into a pointless horror film with no plot, no action, and no decent character development. I'm not even staying for the popcorn anymore... does somebody else want my front row seat?
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
The Masters Of The Universe do not want you to be free. Period.
Ergo, Open Source, non-corporate software MUST be destroyed. By whatever means. SCO, whether they realize it or not, (and I suspect they do), exists for the sole purpose of disabling this aspect of humanity.
Waaay back when the first industrial grain grinding mills were being built by the land owners, the town sherif, (i.e., the hired representative of the gentry), would go around and see that all the hand mills in all the peasant households were dragged out and smashed. It was now illegal for people to mill their own corn. What was once free, was now something they HAD to pay for. --All in the best interest of social advancement, of course. The gentry always had a rational-sounding argument, which in the end, just reduced the power of the populace. The the same reasoning is used today in order to shift publically owned utilities over to private and corporate ownership. And many people, (you can witness many examples right here on Slashdot) still believe they are not being lied to. --The argument for competition, being that it creates real incentive to make the best products sounds great except this line of argument ALWAYS leaves out the undeniable reality that when a handful of corporations own everything, it is virtually guranteed that artificial price-fixing WILL take place, and that products will start to decline in quality and effectiveness in such a way that people will need to buy twice as much as before in order to get the same job done. It's all about the elite trying to squeeze an under-educated public into supporting them.
In regard to SCO, nothing has changed since the days of the illegal hand mills, except in the level of sneakiness through which the ends are achieved. SCO's primary purpose, while it is profit motivated, it is not all in the way most people believe it to be. It's much, much bigger, and it's part of a war which has been going on for centuries.
-FL
SCO is getting worse than the crazy homeless people in San Francisco that scream Bible passages at you as you're walking by..
Is the weird asian guy with the sunglasses and signs still walking Market? I took a pic of him once, and he spooked, I think he thought I was part of some Clintonian conspiracy. Was glad to be part of his tinfoil-hat paranoia for a day.
I did. And yes, it runs Linux. Knoppix HD install. It's a thing of beauty. Ha ha IN YOUR FACE, Darth McBride!!!
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
It looks pretty obvious that D McB & Co are being paid a lot of money to 'mess with' the open source movement. The Halloween Documents spoke of fudding the person of Linus Torwalds as well. That might be next.
Lessee, just in the last week:
1. Bill Gates publicly admitted in an interview that Windows will never be secure without a firewall to protect it from the Internet.
2. Details about and early betas of Longhorn, Microsoft's next big Windows rewrite are the big buzz around the 'net.
3. SCO promises to pay people to switch to anything else but Linux. Here's a company that was selling an OS but bleeding money at a furious rate until they got a generous transfusion of M$ cash.
4. Red Hat, a company who worked very hard to fuse two incompatible desktop GUIs for Linux into one seemless whole, drops all support for desktop Linux and concentrates on "Enterprise" customers.
5. Someone hacked the CVS site for the Linux kernel attempting to install a vulnerability.
Hmmmm, does any of this connect for anyone else? Or just me? Where did I put that tinfoil hat?
[donning tinfoil hat]
Suppose Microsoft, having tried for years to plug the innumerable holes in their OS and failing miserably, decided to de-emphasize server support and concentrate on the desktop where their strength has always been. Red Hat decides to play nice with Microsoft by dropping all efforts at the desktop in return for which they get better cooperation (short term, naturally) from Microsoft and provide servers to Enterprises that have mainly Windows desktops right now. SCO discourages people from trying Linux the only way that hasn't been tried yet (since nothing else worked!) by actually paying people to use anything else! At the same time, tiring of predicting the infusion of Linux viruses that never occurred, some desperate Windows user actually tries to create a hole for one by sneaking source into the kernel; it doesn't work this time, hope those guys are even more vigilant now! Meanwhile, Microsoft has delayed its release of the much-hyped Longhorn for another year. Why?
I predict that all of this is just a holding action against Linux. The SCO suit is slated for a court date sometime in 2005, providing there re no more delays. Wanna bet there are? Just enough to drag it out to 2006, the release date for Longhorn. In the meantime, Red Hat will hold the line against many competing Linuxes. Concentrating the market for Enterprise servers in one company makes an easy target for Microsoft. In the meantime, Microsft has bought enough time to write many, many incompatibilities into Longhorn. When Longhorn is released, I'll bet it totally doesn't work with anything except Microsoft server software. Red Hat will be crushed, SCO will disapear and Linux will find itself trying to conform to a thousand incompatibilities in Longhorn.
[doffing tinfoil hat]
As for me, the choice of OS is easy now. After seeing Microsoft throw in the towel and seeing that virus writers are so desperate to get any virus into Linux that they actually tried to sneak bad code into the kernel to do it, Linux is the OS for me. Who knows what will happen in 3 years? Maybe there will be enough apps that I damned well don't care what windows is by then. I almost don't now.
Don't Faustian bargains usually cost you your immortal soul?
"Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney
Linux has a higher TCO than Windows.
I could not justify my existence if I were a turkey farmer. Would I terminate myself? Undoubtably, yes.
SCO has demonstrated they care nothing for laws, the public, their employees or their investors. Dayrl, I hope you go to jail.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
Sign right below the line that says, "Contract with SCO, a newly-acquired beeyatch of Microsoft, Inc."
You can't judge a book by the way it wears its hair.
Been posted before too, but in response to other stuff, like changing the license for the Linux kernel they are distributing.
Every person who owns copyright in the kernel or other GPL based software they ship needs to slap them with a cease and desist. Show them how much the IP in Linux there is, and how people are willing to protect it - Just like they are trying to do to IBM.
Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos
SCO's actions are deliberately trying to damage RedHat's sales potential...
Is that illegal?
I mean, is there some law against a Coke ad saying "Pepsi tastes like ass; buy Coke"?
How long will that 50 million in funding last them if thousands of Slashdotters sue them ?
At least you predicted their final move after they are found to be frauds in the United States...move to Russia. I mean, Step 1: Lose Linux patent infringement case Step 2: Move to Russia where you pay SCO not to use Linux Step 3: Profit! And the development costs are nil!
Paul Murphy at E Commerce Times
m l
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/perl/story/31932.ht
has an absolutely insane article about this whole mess. Mind you, 98% of the article is completely nuts as it basically blames IBM, or anyone else, for not paying off SCO already. He does not understand that paying off the mob is bad social policy and that Linux is about social policy, but I digress.
Here is one interesting part:
- - -
# SCO is attacking the entire Linux community.
It is not. Responses from SuSE Latest News about SuSE and Red Hat to the contrary, the SCO demand for license fees from Linux users was classic legal fiction. Both key SCO executives -- Darl McBride and Chris Sontag -- have said repeatedly that they are trying to work through issues to achieve justice without putting "a hole in the head of the penguin."
Most people find these license claims outrageous, but think about the drivers behind the demand and you might yet see SCO as a victim of its own lawyers and the way the courts operate.
Fundamentally, the court eventually will require SCO to show a quantitative, market-based derivation for the value of damages claimed. Demanding license fees is one way of establishing that basis -- and one likely to appeal to lawyers acting on contingency because a few successful sales would suffice to establish an enormous fair-market value.
- - -
Terrifyingly, this almost makes sense. If SCO can set a "high" license value on their property, they can then multiply this by the number of Linux systems to get their damages. It only takes a couple of bozos (or co-conspirators) to create "license sales" that can then be multiplied out. This is not too disimilar from the RIAA / WebCasting royalty calculations. Take what Yahoo will pay during the bubble, and then try to get everyone else to empty their pockets. It is very likely that they are not trying to actually get licenses, but that they are trying to establish a "market value" that is to their favor.
If this is actually their plan, then it is not only SCO that needs taken down, but their lawyers as well.
...this is what crack does to people. It's a lot worse than I thought.
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
Not necessarily, but note the reference to "IP issues in Linux". Free speech rights end when you start using lies to defame a competing product. It's similar to how you don't yell "FIRE!" in a crowded theatre/restaurant when there isn't one. Those are not protected forms of speech.
I couldnt agree more -- my vote is ironic.
If your ass tastes like Pepsi, see a doctor.
If you know your ass tastes like Pepsi... I don't know who to tell you to see, just stay the hell away from me!
Oh sweet Jesus H Christ on a pogo stick! That is just too much! Sides. Splitting. Help!
Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken - Tyler Durden
"I still dont understand their desire to destroy linux, if it wasnt for linux, caldera would never have had the capital to purchase SCO and start this lunacy.."
You seem to understand more than you think. If it weren't for linux you see, they wouldn't be in the mess they're in now, would they?
What better reason do they need to want to destroy linux?
I think the most common comment I've seen on slashdot apart from anti SCO sentiments is "I'd switch to a mac tomorrow if I could afford it..."
:)
Combine the two!
Switch to a mac tomorrow, and use SCO to subsidise the switch. Hell, switch ALL your linux boxes to macs and get a really big subsidy. Put SCO's money where your mouth is
grammar? it's not "pay you not to use"... it's "pay you to not use". "pay you not to use" just means they aren't gonna pay you to use it.
hey we have a sco386 server that runs a really really old marketing program. Will SCO pay us also?
In response to SCO's new switch to anything but Linux campain members of the Opensource community have started the EmuSCO project on Sourceforge. EmuSCO is a multiplatform emulator for all SCO/Caldera products. The free software community is asking all commercial vendors of SCO's products aka (McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell) to stop paying outrageous license fees to a company that has no foward looking business plan and is currently being sued by major technology vendors for Patent and Copyright infringement.
An anonymous source from SCO/Caldera admitted that the company was totally screwed. Further he stated that Daryl was nothing more than a "flim flam" artist who was able to "pump and dump his stock", and now being paid by Steve Ballmer to be a puppet for the Microsoft.
Coke can say that, but they can't say "Pepsi tastes like ass because cats piss in it." You can state opinions about competitors' products. You can also state facts, but they must be true.
SCO, in other words, has crossed the damp little line in the sand.....
I figure it's like Microsoft saying the word innovation, or stickers on tech products saying "With new Intelliquick Technology!" (Look, honey, it must be both intelligent and quick, or else they wouldn't it name it Intelliquick!) You see, if I say it over and over, people will begin to believe it's true.
Ahh, marketing. Selling your soul is *so* much better than working out.
It's nothing but crumpled porno and Ayn Rand.
I've been thinking of selling SCO short, because they OBVIOUSLY cannot win this lawsuit. However ... if the endgame is that Microsoft buys SCO, then selling SCO short would be a mistake.
-russ
Don't piss off The Angry Economist
Since I already use OpenBSD on my server, I'd just *LOVE* to get paid not to use Linux. Where do I sign up? <EVIL grin>
Catherine
Should have been a reply to:
.sig, but I'm thinking that if you have to actually tell people that, then they probably don't agree with you.
Nice
SCO is starting to remind me of the kid on the school yard that will say anything to be your friend, no matter how false it is.
for my dual-boot?
Migrating to a proprietary OS huh? How bizarre,
let's take Apple out too. Aqua is the part of
OS X that is completely proprietary, but Darwin
is an open sourced project.
I have a whole drawer full.
Get a free ipod.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Of Microsoft ;(
and then maybe change my identity and move to one of those gay islands where there is no communication to the outside world.
You're thinking of Holland, MI.
Sorry microsoft, but I like the GPL too much. I will, however, take your money....I mean SCO's money....
Seriously, would anyone be surprised if SCO started throwing around more than their $50m pocket money? That is, of course, assuming that enough companies accept this bribe to change their business processes (I won't even voice the words "To a less efficient infrastructure".....oops). How many suits without technical knowledge are not going to smell a rat here....firstly, the most efficient product is the most expensive (the proprietry unices). Then, a cheaper version comes along (altho not free for enterprise setups, as it will take a lot to convice your boss to go with debian and let you do all the support as opposed to redhat enterpise whatever and pay for phone support), and is more efficient, and the business world adjusts, after a brief "What happened to 'you get what you pay for'?". Now, if enough discounts are offered, the free unices may not be the cheapest again - but how many non-technical company executives are not going to just revert to "You get what you pay for", and how long is this voluntary profit reduction going to last? (And how many businessmen/women are not going to realise that any cost savings won't last).
Not the smartest move I have seen in this whole debacle.
I have Linux and Windowz installed. Do I get money everytime I use boot-up? What if I have multiple versions of the kernel on the same box?
Cha-ching... or is it Bling Bling now?
So are you going to get up on a soap box and say 'My company is using Linux on the desktop on about 40% of our machines. Oh, and we're going out of business.'
Maybe you'll want to wait on calling that a Linux success story of any kind...
A Good Intro to NetBS
What silly FUD. What IP could be stronger than that which is owned and maintained by everyone? Are they implying that proprietary software is bolstered by some kind of secret or magic technology that can't be independently discovered and implemented by the collective minds of the open source world? Or is this simply an underhanded way of reasserting that the IP of Linux is tainted?
-- thinkyhead software and media
There are only two problems with this scheme, SCO does not have enough money and the Federal Government hates competition.
If you are going to pretend to be the Feds, you need money like you had your own printing press. SCO has less than $20,000,000 of M$ whore money and we can all be sure that will be pocketed by the people running it. So, what it really amounts to, is I pretend to not run free software for SCO and they pretend to pay me. It won't take the Feds long to shut down SCO now.
Pretend is so much fun. Now I'm pretending I see SCO executives in jail. I've got a gavvel. "Stock fraud, 20 years" -bang- "anti-trust, all of your money" - bang- "prostitution, 30 days" -bang- "copyright violation, forced labor with all proceeds going to copyright holders" -bang- "competing with the Federal Government not-doing-this-or-that franchise, life institutionalization" -bang- "all sentences to be carried out consedutively" -bang- "balif, remove this garbage. Cout adjurned" -bang-bang-bang- Ahh, that's nice.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
How the hell were u able to select which comments to mod?
The GPL is a license, granting rights to use a copyrighted work.
Copyrights are based on Title 17 of the USC.
The USC is ruled on by a Federal judge.
Copyright violations are investigated by the FBI.
Ticking off a federal judge can result in Federal Marshalls on your doorstep.
Federal Marshalls and FBI agents carry guns.
What part of a man on your doorstep with a gun do you find not to be based on strong IP laws, Darl?
Oh, *slaps forehead*, I forgot. "All Linux code are belong to SCO, now."
Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.
The only place I heard about SCO is here...but I never really tried to understand what SCO is and what they are trying to do. I actually have no clue of what this is all about. Yes, I live on the same planet as everybody but I don't really had time to try to understand what this is all about.
So my question is, is there a place where I can get information about what SCO is, what it's all about, the current situation and what it means?
For what I read, what's SCO is doing simply doesn't make sense, but then again, I don't really know what's happening.
Karma: Very Very Very Very Bad
Wasn't sure how to post the message as a link...
"A somewhat more realistic interpretation of "Migration path with
discounts" would go more like this:
1) You already owe SCO money for their IP that you are using in Linux, 2) SCO
knows this was unintentional and says "Hey, we know you didn't mean to
infringe our IP, but you did. Since it was accidental, we'll charge you LESS
if you stop infringing our IP quickly by converting to something that does not
infringe our IP"
Basically extend the licensing that they were already doing:
$699 - Binary license
$599 - License current and prior use of SCO owned Linux IP on one server and
migrate that server to xBSD within 6 months.
$499 - License current and prior use of SCO owned Linux IP on one server and
migrate that server to HP-UX within 6 months
$299 - License current and prior use of SCO owned Linux IP on one server and
migrate that server to Windows 200x within 6 months
The discount is to what you pay THEM, and does not affect what the other vendor
charges you for their OS."
I have not heard and can't find anything about it and have no idea if it's real or not. That does not make it funny either.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
SCO's getting desparate (doo daa, doo daa)
If it weren't for SCO's lawsuit, you see, SCO wouldn't be in the mess it's in.
Keep your eyes to the sky.
IANAL and I admit that I have yet to read the article. But at first glance, isn't this illegal? I know that a company can offer incentives to entice people to move to their platform but when you are paying people to move to ANY platform that borders on tort. I wonder if RedHat and IBM will run with this? This might be a way to really nail SCO. But then again, IANAL, so I wouldn't know for sure.
Anthony Papillion
Advanced Data Concepts, Inc.
"Quality Custom Software and IT Services"
bubba "hey jed, what do you do for a living?" jed "i don't use linux"
Let's see, MS buys a license from SCO cause it doesn't have anything like *NIX. Then they slowly start buying shares and investing in the SCO FUD machine. Let's remember MS thinks Linux is it's number 1 threat. It can't do it outright with all the anti-trust stuff going on, so it has to be subversive in its tactics.
The possible buyout MS? They have deep pockets and no established platform to work with in the *NIX world. Linux could be a freebie for them if, and this is a really big if, SCO is successful. Even if they aren't, they can purchase SCO right before it burns to the ground for a paultry sum to have *NIX rights so they can embrace and extend their MS crap^H^H^H^Hproducts in the *NIX world, or the lawsuit is successful with a really big bonus.
There is nothing for them to lose. The lawyers get a percentage from the buyout, but they didn't say who. IBM doesn't want them cause they don't have a product worth buying, but MS doesn't have one.
MS has to do something because people are giving them notice that their OSes are crap and they now know of alternatives. Seems like a good way to bridge the gap, and keep a viable business model. They aren't in the light, and SCO is the fallguy.
Darl is a schmuck and he makes a good one. His money from the dump-n-dump FUD machine, and bonus of the final buyout, will be a good sendoff. Perfect plan so far, hell the SCE won't do anything cause a) they are slow to do anything just like other government agencies b) It will be too late c) They've seen others do it successful *cough*ENRON *cough* d) the legal system is even slower e) it's their MO, and f) It isn't enough money to pop up on the SEC radar.
okay, so funneling money through them is how MS is going to get around the obvious need to buy people into Windows and Windows support?
Ok, How much do i get for migrating my Linux servers to IBM AIX or OS/2 Warp?
This has got to be somewhat illegal to do; but the only thing which would actually make any of SCO's actions seem to make any kind of sense at all; is if SCO officers are somehow SHORTING THEIR OWN STOCK.
Think about it: the only way to make money in the stockmarket is to know or guess what a stock is going to do before most other people do. Keeping some technological breakthrough a secret from the public is tough to do, the SEC watches out for that a lot, and it's a strategy that only works if your company doesn't suck.
Keeping the fact that your company sucks a secret from the public is equally tricky, unless you're willing to fudge the books (also something the SEC looks out for these days).
So the only way to know which way your stock is going to move, if it's not going to go up and everyone already knows you suck - is to do something SO INCREDIBLY STUPID that no one could have possibly seen it coming (like their IP claim). And then, just when the public has started to adjust to the fact that your company not only sucks, but appears to be run by people without any understanding of their own industry - the only remaining tricks left to you is to something SO MUCH MORE INCREDIBLY STUPID; that even people who thought you were idiots are taken by surprise.
Someone, somewhere, is shorting SCO stock, and that money is getting back to the people behind these idiotic decisions.
Is this crackpot theory possible? There's only one way to tell for sure: If they get away with this, they're next strategic move will be to either
a) Re-brand their distro as "Osama Bin Linux"
b) Develop a line of Windows CE-based pacemakers
or
c) Hire Kevin Costner to direct another film.
if you can't beat 'em join 'em.
and if you can't prove they ripped you off, create incentives so everyone will abandon them.
actually, if you really believe this is a good way to run a business, forget it, you will never be a powerhouse. people don't take your 'word', we've been waiting for your actions which seem slow, unplanned, jerking motions. you have discredited yourself more and more.
quit trying to make this issue better, you're only making it worse.
Really? To me it's more like the Robin Hood one, with Darl as Daffy and IBM as the guy on the horse. I guess Gates would be Porky.
R: That voice. Where have I heard that voice before? B: In about 365 other episodes. But I don't know who it is either.
I previously thought that this whole SCO fiasco was just the work of some corrupt suits executing a grand pump and dump scheme.
I figured that Microsoft paying "lisencing" fees were just a PR move by MS that too advantage of SCO's claims. In other words, they did it just to say that they respect IP "unlike Linux developers."
I thought it too risky for Microsoft to use SCO as a puppet, since this would presumably get them into more legal trouble.
Yet as others have said, why the hell would SCO pay people to switch from Linux to a non-SCO product? Even if they hate Linux, it doesn't seem as if it is good business to subsidize a switch from Linux to Windows unless you are Microsoft.
Is Microsoft really pulling SCO's strings? Or have the nuts running SCO finally completely lost their marbles? Neither would surprise me.
"You spoony bard!" -Tellah
Slashdot requires some text in the body, so I'm supplying some.
"No problem. I have the capacity to do infinite work so long as you don't mind that my quality approaches zero."-Dilbert
I've been seriously considering shorting some SCOX stock, but Microsoft has me worried. SCOX is up over 2000% in the last year. It seems inevitable that after the insane hype dies out the bottom will eventually drop out. But if M$ keeps pumping them with cash maybe the price will stay up. What do you think?
What was the last law that benefited people but not corporations?
Lets see here... I can get paid fo go from Linux to something else, and get probably $50. Or I can get paid to use Linux, and enjoy it, and get $100,000 a year. Hmm... random rebate... or salaried position? Last-ditch effort... or strong job security?
I don't want to start a holy war here, but what is the deal with you Apache fanatics? I've been sitting here at my freelance gig in front of a Apache box (a P4 2.4 w/1024 Megs of RAM, on an Qwest OC3) for about 20 minutes now while it attempts to copy a 17 Meg file from one directory on the hard drive to another user. 20 minutes. At home, on my Pentium Pro 200 running NT 4/IIS 4 (On a dual T1, no less!), which by all standards should be a lot slower than this Apache box, the same operation would take about 2 minutes. If that. In addition, during this file transfer, PHP will not work. And everything else has ground to a halt. Even mod_perl is straining to keep up as I type this. I won't bore you with the laundry list of other problems that I've encountered while working on various Apache machines, but suffice it to say there have been many, not the least of which is I've never seen a Apache box that has run faster than its Windows counterpart, despite the Apache machines faster chip architecture. My 486/66 cable modem router with 8 megs of ram runs faster than this 2400 mhz machine at times. From a productivity standpoint, I don't get how people can claim that Apache is a "superior" server. Apache addicts, flame me if you'd like, but I'd rather hear some intelligent reasons why anyone would choose to use a Apache over other faster, cheaper, more stable httpd daemons.
SELECT * FROM SCO WHERE clue > 0
0 RECORDS RETURNED
The race isn't always to the swift... but that's the way to bet!
The joke is dead and you should be too :P
Phew! I'm relieved to see all they are doing is expressing that which they hold deep within their hearts -- the desire to see companies everywhere strive to charge large sums of money for anything useful. And for the willingness of the population to scoff in the direction of anything with a 'less than snazzy' pricetag. I was actually worried that they were selfish bastards who thought nothing of anyone but themselves. They're really just trying to preserve the American Dream, how incredibly noble of these good 'ol boys.
Speak for yourself.
It looks like they are targeting companys and you have to be running Linux already and switch to an offically liccensed Unix.
Now for me if Linux became "Not free" (as in speach) I'd switch to BSD.
If BSD and Linux became not free (as in speach) I'd switch to FreeDos.
If FreeDos became not free (as in money) I'd switch to worm os.
If Worm os became not free (as in mine) I'd sue somebody for IP theft and neglegence... I'd also recomend the person be checked for psycotic behavure beccouse not even "I" would try to sell Worm Os. I might give it to people I dislike.
I'd probably remake it for todays systems and rename it "Blaster os"
(For the clueless the name implys Worm Os sucks.. Is easly to infect and easy to crash. And it's NOT user friendly. In fact it's quite rude.)
I don't actually exist.
I hope your grasp on the rest of reality is less tenuous than your grasp on ME geopolitics. Having Turkish troops in Iraq would not be a good thing because:
1) The Turks and the Kurds don't exactly like each other;
2) During the days of the Ottoman Empire, Iraq was occupied by Turkey. It wasn't exactly popular with the people of what later was cobbled together by the British into Iraq. People remember things for a long time in the Middle East. Recall that people still talk about the Crusades there almost as if their grandfathers had fought in them. I don't know if Americans even learn about the Crusades in school anymore (doubt it; I did in high school, but that was in the late seventies).
Having more troops in Iraq would be a Good Thing (TM), but having Turkish troops there would not. We are having enough problems there anyway, without fanning those flames. We should thank the Turkish government for preventing us from pumping several poorly-aimed rounds into our feet.
Oh, c'mon, that was funny! Somebody mod him up! :-)
A radio news report quoted the book as stating that the medical reports of her examination at a US military hospital after she was rescued reported injury consistent with anal rape.
She herself says that she has no recollection of the hours surrounding her capture, including whether her broken bones were sustaine during the fight or if they were broken in beatings by her captors. Again, this is what a radio report said about the book. I have not read it myself.
Now watch, somebody will mod you troll for having the audacity to be correct :-p
First is that SCO isn't offering anything just yet.
It appears SCOs offering is basicly in trade for SCO liccensed operating systems. Switching from Linux to Windows isn't an option and this fact is made clear. The language suggests that SCO is only offering money to switch to a Unix liccensed from SCO.
And the biggest most important thing to know. This offer is for businesses and the language suggests this offer is targeted at large corprate systems and one can assume this is a limited time offer type deal.
It will take months to plan and set in motion this switch over so the company will have to get ready in advance of the offer if they plan to take advantage of it.
Of course once the ball is rolling even if SCO says "We changed our minds" they'll have to go through the switch over as they'll have already signed the contracts.
I don't actually exist.
This case will be simple, the controversy about source code isn't even visible anymore. It's now down to the fact where the judge, jury, and people will see whats going on. A Money Hungry Company vs a "Free" Operating System.
Has there any conclusion been met as to which SCO had won or lose? I doubt SCO won.
Despite of all these deals between SCO and ms in trying to knock out open sourced os (namely Linux). It is becoming more and more ridiculous.
Even if business(es) were bribed to 'not' use linux, the truth of all these will come out. It is also known that a few nations that have linux in some of the highly regarded places (i.e. research and security)
I recalled that Telstra was testing out linux on the computers before moving it into mainstream. Shame that they headed for redmond's way. ms bribing telstra to move back into with it's so called 'good deals'.
Wanted to moderate as funny, but the wheel mouse managed to change the entry just before i hit the button. This reply will cncel that moderation
Perhaps not.
Mabe they want 100 punters/customers to sign a statement saying 'I used their IP' but now I have come clean.
SCO in could, say look your worship - 100 of the biggest corporate linux users agree, therefore we must be right.
The obvious defence is yeah, but 40% of all Americans believe aliens as well.
"Microsoft, meanwhile, emerged as one of the first ISVs to take-out a SCO license."
Here is the microsoft payout.
Redmond?
Give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day, but teach a man to phish...
Now THAT's what I call a Switchers campaign!
Help protect civil rights from abuse by the TSA - visit TSA News Blog.
http://www.tsanewsblog.com
WHAT THE FUCK?
ascii art
The company was obviously crippled by the other 60%. The fact that the company survived this long is testament to Linux's wholesome GNUey goodness! :-D
The SCO Group
Dear Darl McBride
About "Linux Migration Incentives Planned by SCO" -
A proprietary Operating System? Of course, I've always had a hankering for Big Iron.
Yes, now you come to think of it, Linux really isn't all that good - not when you consider the alternatives.
I think a cluster of Z990s with z/VM with a source code license, with source code licensed z/OS and VSE/ESA running as guests, would be fine, just fine.
And of course, I was forgetting, a 32-cpu Alpha running OpenVMS for the terminal.
I mean, I have to have a serious games machine, don't I? Everybody'll laugh at me if I don't. And that takes serious IO , to control all the remote control aircraft and spacecraft and robots that one needs to b>play DOOM in a totally satisfactory and convincing manner ; and once again, thanks for offering.
Linux'd never fit the bill, would it?
And once again, thanks for the offer, and I take it that once having declared my intentions to take up your offer in good faith, you cannot now refuse to carry it out. And I gave my full postal address when I applied for the Free Unix Licenses, so you don't have any excuses, do you now?
I've never owned a mainframe before - and I owe it all to SCO!
That will be $1,000,000,000 per month
SCO's paying for migrating away from Linux? Especially, Linux? To even non-unix os?
Hmm, sounds pretty much like a M$-backed endeavour, totally.
Surely this must qualify.
So its about 8am EST and I just sat down at my comp at work. Pulled up slashdot for a little update. As I scroll down i see a few different articles all having about 100-200 replys. Then I see this one with almost 450. As usual you can always tell what the geeks are pissed about by the amount of replys to an article.
ps Thanks for the -1 troll
Ok, I will change to AIX.
I'm sure SCO wants to support me buying from IBM.
Nah, Gaylord, MI.
it is very simple... mod, and return after a while not doing anything, works for me. (konqy 3.2beta1)
I'm still going to use Linux and advocate Linux usage whenever there's an opportunity. Hopefully in one or two years there will be no SCO and Darl & co will be in jail where they belong.
Are there some clever reverse-engineers around here who could spend a minute looking at Interix ? Would not be suprised to find lots of GNU stuff statically linked in there.
I wonder how stronger microsofts IP really is when given a close look.
I've always thought that the actions of SCO fit the Bill's M$ agenda quite nicely. I'm sure if we dig deep enough there is a pretty good chance that we could find a connection.
And if there is one, what great grounds for yet another Anti-Trust suit against M$!
Can I register a company and then ask for money claiming I moved to Mac OS?
I can claim seven Mac OS computers right here.
--Won't that be grand? Computers and the programs will start thinking and the people will stop. - Dr. Walter Gibbs
Is there a Linux person who didn't wish Linux had the money to pay people to use it?
Didn't think so.
"Has [being a kidnapped teenage girl, raped repeatedly for months] changed you?" - Katie Couric to Elizabeth Smart
The combination of iptables and iproute2, even without any user-side extensions, is amazingly more selective and flexible than NT's firewall. Want a simple twenty-questions mode? Rate limiting, proxying, DNAT, the works? Pull down monmotha or any one of fifty other examples and use that.
You also (in 1) seem to have ignored CODA, GlobalFS and a whole passel of networking FSes. You don't mention any of the layer, cacheing or other FSes, devfs, usbfs, built-in loopback capability, yadda yadda yadda. I'm left wondering when you last actually used a Linux kernel in anger.
Micro-ironies abound. For example, Linux can create and use a valid NTFS CD (ISO), but NT won't read it because it "knows" that NTFS CDs don't exist. <thwack>
WRT 3, it's called NetCraft. The article on "what webserver does that candidate use" was a good, er, representative example.
Lotsa other stuff, I could spend hours on it, but would it get read?
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
He told an Indian crowd that he was the smartest man in the world. Modest, I thought. He didn't even mention parachutes.
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
In many places attempted suicide is a crime.
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
"This will stimulate growth in the auto industry," a Ford executive was quoted as saying, "except for our company, of course."
Manipulate the moderator system! Mod someone as "overrated" today.
The truth is coming out at last. The whole thing is part of a plot by Gates and Ballmer. The continuing existence of Unix, especially the SCO variety, is irrelevant, they simply must get rid of Linux. We should also see attacks upon the various BSD variants soon, as they would be next in line if there were no Linux. It explains why M$ invested in SCO, when Bill is known to hate Unix. If they can push users away from Linux, it does not matter to them if some go to SCO instead (Bill wins both ways anyway) because when there is no credible alternative left, they will eventually be forced to M$ anyway.
IMHO the law enforcement agencies ought to be looking urgently at the possibility of some kind of criminal conspiracy here. I don't know how the system works in the US, whether it is an FBI matter, or not, but something needs to be done.
Meanwhile, the Convicted Monopolist just sticks his tongue out at the courts, and carries on increasing the monopoly.....
English is dumb.
HI, MY NAME IS ISAAC.
They'd have to pay me a substantial amount of cash to stop using Linux. However If they want to pay me to stop using windows i'll do it for 1pence !
Electronic Music Made Using Linux http://soundcloud.com/polyp
As someone who just migrated from UnixWare (UnixWhore) 7.1.3 to RedHat Enterprise Server 3, I will say that they can not pay me enough to get off Red Hat. Our company uses a lot of old obscure technology in its custom applications. Setup of this stuff on AIX took years, on Unixware it took months, on Windows it failed. On Linux, It got started on Monday and entered test phase on Friday. It seems in 2 weeks I will probably put it in production (pending test results which look promising). Linux developers paid me in terms of actual implementation costs (cut down time = saved a bundle). Until Mi$cosoft can offer THAT type of incentive I politely decline.
Imagine SCO funding a Beowulf cluster of...
Oh, never mind!
I've got NetBSD and FreeBSD installed so where is my cold hard cash SCO f***ers!
Only 'flamers' flame!
Does slashdot hate my posts?
VirtualPC
Call me old fashioned, but I like a dump to be as memorable as it is devastating - Bender
Before SCO shut down it's download site, I downloaded the SCO Linux kernel files from the ftp site (ftp://ftp.sco.com/pub/scolinux/server/4.0/updates /SRPMS). (At least I think it's the kernel files, they all start with kernel-source[stuff here].rpm) 10 files, totaling 123 MB. Are these things the SCO kernel? Would anyone benefit from having them available on a mirror site? If they are, I'd like to make them available for download.
I seem to have left out the / tags from my post.
Sorry for the inconvenience.
No, ironic as in acting as if you're better than everyone while the point of your message is ironically an appeal to the very bourgois you claim to be above, and also ironically, it's an appeal so you might achieve success in a system designed entirely to attract the favour of the bourgois.
It's been a long time.
I like you, you're my kind of smartass.
ps: are you hiring?
--
This is Neo... free your mind, you are in the matrix and I am not dead. The SCOurce did not kill me, Agent microSmith did not prevail... FREE YOUR MIND
Just follow the white (and black) penguin.