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SCO Hints at *BSD Lawsuits Next Year, And More
osullish writes "The Financial Times reports that SCO is indicating it will sue an as-yet un-named Linux-using corporation within the next 90 days. Also mentioned in the article is possible action against Novell, which recently purchased Ximian and SUSE Linux."
Iaitos points to this rather stiffly-worded notice from Novell (on their site) regarding the non-compete agreement SCO claims would taint Novell's acquisition of SUSE:
PROVO, Utah Nov. 18, 2003: Novell has seen the November 18 InfoWorld article in which SCO CEO Darl McBride refers to a supposed non-compete agreement between Novell and SCO. Mr. McBride's characterization of the agreements between Novell and SCO is inaccurate. There is no non-compete provision in those contracts, and the pending acquisition of SUSE LINUX does not violate any agreement between Novell and SCO.Novell has received no formal communication from SCO on this particular issue. Novell understands its rights under the contracts very well, and will respond in due course should SCO choose to formally pursue this issue."
slavitos points to a ZDNet article covering the same ground, writing: "A characteristic SCO twist in the story: "McBride added that lawsuits likely will be preceded and possibly prevented by communications offering businesses an opportunity to get right with SCO. "We'll be communicating with users what our expectations are," he said.". Oh, that's helpful, Darl - and no, we didn't really expect you to be any more specific."
If your lips aren't yet too tired, ansak writes "PJ has done it again -- okay, "co-ordinated it" would be the better phrase. The transcript of SCOG's conference call is now available (and in danger of being slashdotted without slashdot's help, even!).
#include <std.thanks.to.volunteers.h>"
Another legal theory being thrown about is that SCO's lawsuit (the one against IBM, that is) all leads back to Sequent. Petrol writes "The Inquirer has a story about SCO's action against IBM. 'Sources close to the action describe a trail of code that might well be the target of SCO's ire against IBM and the Linux community.'"
...of an unladen SCO bodyguard is?
Is this truly the only Earth I can live on?
"The more yarn you pull out the more you see," according to McBride.
Yup... Paranoia's like that.
We *know* you want to show everybody how big a pain in the ass you are and that someone should just buy you out. It's just not going to happen.
I'm also starting to hope that Boies will share the cell...
Save your wrists today - switch to Dvorak
Darl McBride now claims ownership of the new Finder in Panther, and Final Cut Pro.
Darl is like a blind man on the street, swinging a bat, hoping someone will pay him to stop. Hopefully, the cops will get him before he does any real damage.
The grass is only greener, if you don't take care of your own lawn.
So does this include OS X? That should be an interesting fight.
Sorta chubby. Plain, bordering on ugly. You need to get outside more and see what attractive women who wouldn't be caught dead at dork conventions look like.
"However, there are some elements who have an almost religious zealousness about Linux," he [Darl McBride] added. "In some ways, that can be scary for anyone opposing their positions."
As if SCO's position isn't religious zealotry to the max!
Then there's sanity on the other side:
"I just don't buy it," said Bruce Perens, a Berkeley, Calif.-based Linux developer and open source advocate. " This is just an effort to discredit the open-source community.
"If there were real threats, the police would be there instead of husky fellows with radio tubes in their heads," he said.
Infuriate left and right
Who's selling SCO computers? Who holds their repair contracts? Who is providing them their ISP? What company is selling them office space? Heck, who's selling them power? water? Let's put them out of business by cutting them off at the roots.
When do SCOs actions, threats to sue linux customers, and harrassment of linux customers reach the point where they become some kind of illegal thing? I'm sure there's some kind of line between marketing to your competitors customers and harassing them.
If the harrassment/lawsuit threats are already covered under the lanham act suit redhat/ibm (?) is bringing, then what line does SCO have to cross before redhat/IBM can start asking for injunctions, as opposed to having to wait until their lawsuits start?
And doesn't the SCO case verbal arguments begin on december 6? Once that happens, how long will it take for SCO's ball of yarn to fall apart?
^_^ I believe there is more to as OS than it's mascot. Look how far Windows has gotten with nothing more than a couple colored squares.
I guess the litany about suing Linux isn't working for them anymore.
So now they're declaring that they're broadening the cases.
So far, they've only filed one lawsuit.
Until they file another, this is just PR crap.
That's what you get when everyone can see your source code - sued.
Closed source prevents people from knowing you stole the code.
Anyone care to bite?
...because no way does SCO still exist in the second half.
Isn't it clear why? Linux peguin looks quite friendly and isn't harmful at all, BSD daemon on the other hand...
The IT section color scheme sucks.
Darl McBride is going for broke. The man is fucking insane and I feel for all the stockholders that are gonna lose big when this falls apart.
Mod me down but I gotta burn some karma sometime.
Just when you think this whole thing can't get any more assinine, Darl smokes another crack pipe.
I thought BSD was dying. I could swear I read that somewhere...
GMD
watch this
SCO hasn't put out a viable product in years, and frankly neither had Caldera. To me this just seems like SCO is using the legal system as it's new business model. Can't make a profit the ol' fashioned way? Now you can sue yourself to a profit. What a bunch of ass clowns.
This could be a fairly good thing. Now, there is enough outrage from the BSD camp too, and ofcourse Apple will also jump into the fray soon.
Kinda like the ents in the lord of the rings against Saruman.
S
I hear that SCO has found gratuitous use of the letters S, C, and O in BSD source code! Obviously there must be payment rendered!
Stop being bitches.
Pretty Pictures!
Let's find out.
SCO just doesn't know when to stop. To show how ludicrous they are, make a timeline in your head of all the SCO threats. Also, a list of every company/non-profit organization SCO has threatened would be an added bonus. To get started, do a query. Hell, a compilation of all SCO threats made this year would be even better.
AT&T tried. They lost their case: it turned out that AT&T had copied a lot of BSD code.
Oh, and just one more thing: AT&T had way more money than SCO ever had. They still lost.
Good Luck SCO, and may God be on your side... Because none of us ever will.
The right to offend is far more important than the right not to be offended. (Rowan Atkinson)
I guess those girls need love too but it would take a lot of beer. An awful lot of beer. Better make that a bottle of tequila and some horse tranquilizers. On second thought, I'll just sleep with the penguin.
He's right, of course, but it's not as if he was shy about screaming that Eric Raymond was threatening _his_ life...
Oddly enough I'm downloading the ISO's to install on our new server _right_now_ and I see this. Should I be concerned and put on SuSe or something?
-TLAY
So does this mean that they intend to sue microsoft too?
Thought microsoft's TCP stack had a little of the *bsd stuff in it.
Invalid Checksum. Retrying.
Oh I hope they STOp soon.. or next thing you know..
"Mom... what did u make for supper.."
mom:"Oh i can't really say i Made supper.. SCO claims they made it First.. "
Yeah I think eventually even the markets are realising SCO are on a one way trip to no-where SCO share value I'm beginning to think with all this paranoia that McBride must the the bastard love child of John Ashcroft, now there's a real scary thought?
my other sig is written in brainfuck
At any rate, McBride has no plans to compromise SCO's claims. The title of his address Tuesday night to the Computer Digital Expo at Mandalay Bay was: "There's No Free Lunch -- or Free Linux."
But isn't this exactly what SCO wants, in terms of their product development costs?
~ Whence do you come, slayer of men, or where are you going, conqueror of space?
Linux users are about as fanatical as anyone I've ever met. They eclipse mac users, which is really scary by itself.
Who here really doubts that these guys are getting threats from someo members of the community? And just because you hired bodyguards doesn't mean that you didn't notify the police. The police will investigate, but not stand around and wait for someone to attack you.
BSD Is dying... SCO confirms it
Going after the BSD settlement, they hope to reverse it. If they can do that, then some of the laughable examples of infringing code may suddenly become legally enforcable. What it tells the rest of the world is that they are running out of claims, and need to work on finding something to back themselves up. I think it means they've realised that the racketeering isn't working. Noboby is going to buy them, marque coporations aren't going to buy their licenses. So they need to either implode or find a new angle.
Welcome to the club. Glad to have you aboard.
Where shall we meet to plan the complete and utter extermination of SCO?
Sincerely,
Tux
Sdelat' Ameriku velikoy Snova!
One thing that SCO is obviously ignoring is one rather simple fact: You have to be absolutely, completely, utterly INSANE to sue a university; for any reason. I have yet to see anyone do it successfully. AT&T couldn't do it 9 years ago, so what makes SCO think they can do it now? AT&T had a MUCH better table to stand on.
There are plenty of examples of stupidity in suing a university.
How 'bout the 'copy-protection' that could be foiled by holding down the 'shift' key? (Sued a student of Princeton University; charges dropped after the University stepped in on the student's behalf)
There are THOUSANDS of cases a year where people sue medical students; just about every one ends up in the student's favor, because the university steps in. You can't get new doctors if you can't train new students; and part of the learning process is making mistakes.
And BSD is still techinically property of the Regents of the University of California.
Go ahead; sue them. Nobody looks kindly on a mad Chihuahua biting everyone that won't give it the world. Espescially when it starts nipping at schools. SCO has once again proven that they have nothing.
-- Sometimes you have to turn the lights off in order to see.
No on at SCO believes they are important enough to need bodyguards. This is just anouther public relations ploy.
----
"Ours was a free culture. It is becoming much less so."-Lawrence Lessig
Darl: "Bwahahahaha. Mom, mom, it isn't fair! That big bully, GPL is cheating. SCO is just upset because the average Linux user gets laid more than them. Soon, we're going to send in the diaper wearing users who accidentatly bought lindows computers from walmart.
This Comment was generated with the Comment-O-Matic for SCO Stories.
Someone should start a reward fund that goes to anyone who can prove there is Microsoft money funding SCO's attacks on open source. I'm normally not a conspiracy theorist, but it is difficult to see why SCO is engaging in such bizarre (and expensive) behavior that really benefits no one except SCO executives and Microsoft's crummy server software.
:)
Perhaps a little money might entice someone to expose the link. Or, I could just be paranoid!
If I change my name to James P. Unix, will I be sued next?
How do you attack a settlement, exactly? Get one of the parties to the agreement to reneg?
A settlement isn't something that can be appealed, as far as I know; and even if it could be, I'd bet certainly not by an uninvolved party.
To also be announced in the first quarter next year is yet another wave of lawsuits by SCO, this time they are suing all persons named Scott, for unauthorized use of their trademark everytime they use their name... SCOtt.
Its just going to take alittle while for the peabrain (Mcbride, boies et al) to get the message.
SCO's stock has gone from a high of 21 to 14 today, its no longer reacting to the press releases. Even Forbes is now referring to the canopy group as shakedown artists. McBride and company are increasingly running out of people who will buy their story or invest in their stock.
The last time sco had a teleconference they managed a 50 percent bump in share price. This time they got a 1.5 percent bump. This is despite the fact that they have now widened their suit to include contractual control over Novell and BSD.
The big worry will be what happens when sco does give up the ghost. Theres alot of people that depend on the software to run their businesses. They had nothing to do with the lawsuit and will be hurt when the message does at last get to the brain of the beast.
Assuming that the Inq is correct and some code violations came from the Sequent side of things this makes sense of the $50 million investment. Novell then is a distributer of the kernel, Novell has rights to the suspect code, therefor via the GPL (if I'm thinking correctly) since they're distributing everyone else gets those rights too.
I found this about 20 minutes ago on news.google.com. My favorite Darl quote: "First it's not our customers. I would say we're suing end users. There are only two industries who use the term 'users,' computers and drugs. Not sure if there's a connection there". So now we're all communist junkies.
At least I hope this kinda of case does not go before a jury. Can you imagine the average smuck not smart enough to escape jury duty trying to make sense of all this? Worse trying to make sense of it while getting the info from two different camps?
If it is trial by jury we better hope for a really smart and level headed judge who can properly instruct the jury.
Can this even all go before a single court? If they are really going to sue IBM + Novell + Linux customer + BSD + Little fluffy kittens, we might end up with a dozen trials. That is not counting the appeals.
Oh well at least now with BSD in the firing line as well we will see an end to the posts claiming BSD is safe because of some previous case. When a mad man is loose with a gun, noone is safe.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Since SCO's business model is now strictly litigation, shouldn't Darl and Co. just hire lawyers and fire all technically proficient people that still attempt to work for this bloodsucking cesspool of increativity. That would cut down on the legal costs and make for a more efficient business. That might help them when Apple throws in its resources against a *BSD suit.
thats right until SCO truly proves that they own all of linux (which won't happen till the gpl is struck down) I will still be booting my GNU/Linux boxen and I am quite certain that unless they write some obligatory patch that allows them to shutdown any "unlicenced" box. as will most of /.ers'. but I do have to say this is the most entertainment I have had since
I read the hitchhiker trilogy. maybe in ten years
they (being second rate film studios)will make a great made for tv movie on the sco vs IBM/linux debacle; something on the order of that apple flick a few years back. sweet! they could make it an action film like the song said "lawyers, guns, and money" woot
...what he's saying with this implication of chasing down BSD next is that there can be no free alternatives to Unix? Why? Are they going to claim that they own the *concepts* behind Unix as well? Why don't they just go after claiming that they own all key concepts to computing? Or... is his problem the fact that he doesn't like things NOT making money for his company? I'm sorry, but profit is highly overrated. Technical excellence and the pursuit of intellectual enrichment are far more lasting and valuable.
Look at it this way... Eminem (insert any large software company here) is making tons of money right now. Beethoven (GNU/Open Source) is barely selling. But, in twenty years time, ask young people who Eminem is and they will likely look funny at you and say, "who?". If the educational system doesn't get dismatled by greedy administrations like the current one, you will hopefully ask the same kid who Beethoven is and they will say, "some old classical music guy".
Think about it...
Un-news
Somebody's gonna burn SCO to the ground one of these days at the rate they're pissin' folks off left and right. At least, one could hope... I've probably wasted more time reading about these completely baseless lawsuits from SCO than I have dealing with SPAM!
fsckin' SCO...
-gam
"In theory, theory and practice are the same; in practice, they are not."
SCO going after BSD
Anybody else here think that Apple might find this to be an interesting "thought".
Its really amazing. Before this is done every technology company in the world will be drawn into this.
This war will make corpses of us all
The more and more articles i read about sco the more they seem to have filled themselves with the belief that they have so much power and are just moveing further and further into the hole while filling there heads with there own image of how sucessful they are and aren't. Honestly its like france and the reign of terror except its surprisingly smaller. Its also much less successful.
Proably would be best called the reign of unsucessful FUD.
more like drugs.
whats a good CEO/addict reference without a penny arcade link? it looks like daryl and mark are on the same batch of smack too.
turn up the jukebox and tell me a lie
Bodyguards... please.
Anyone who would get mad enough to threaten them probably barely has the strength to lift a pie to heft at them.
Bill Gates is still alive, after all.
1) Your analysis is based on bad assumptions so your result is way off. 2) You're a sick bastard for fucking a horse.
They keep on multiplying, getting in the way and serving no apparent purpose.
"McBride added that lawsuits likely will be preceded and possibly prevented by communications offering businesses an opportunity to get right with SCO." I guess that they've retained Tony Soprano to do the negotiations. IANAL, but if this isn't extortion, I don't know what is...
I thought AT&T already settled the whole BSD despute. I guess SCO is just out to sue anything that even remotely functions like Unix. I really hope McBride gets shot down by the courts, and I wouldn't shed any tears if the SEC decided to investigate SCO.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
But they've overreached. In fact, they've managed to do what even Microsoft has been unable to do so far; they are directly threatening almost everyone in the *NIX world, which will only bring the disparate camps together. There's big money behind Linux, and there are a lot of companies interested in keeping BSD alive as well.
The mouse that roared is going to get stepped on eventually. Whether they can make enough money in the mean time in order to carry on after their legal shenanegans are put to a stop is the real question. If they can't, I expect SCO to die quite rapidly as soon as they lose in court.
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
In other news, it's sad how the open-source community has gone from being open-minded, creative, progressive innovators to drug-peddling terrorists since SCO decided to assert their intellectual property rights. Poor Darl....how does he sleep at night, knowing all those open-sourcers are out there, thirsting for his blood? (of course, maybe all the morphine and anti-psychotic drugs help)
... I'm going to mail Duh-ryl a box on my own fecies.. shyte on me, I shyte on you.
"It's not like your minds are as open as the source you love..." - Me to the majority of Slashdot.
SCO will be history by this time next year.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
And is there a law school at CMU?
There is a spark in every single flame bait point.
Microsoft also had several BSD copyright notices in the past during boot-up. Reckon SCO will go after them, too?
In any event the BSD guys should be able to get the case dismissed immediately using the legal records from the original AT&T case. Hopefully they'd couter-sue for legal costs and time wasted.
Speaking of which, why haven't any Linux copyright holders sued SCO for copyright infringement yet? SCO obviously does not agree with the terms of the GPL and last time I checked they were still distributing the Linux kernel. It'd be great to see several hundred (or thousand) separate lawsuits filed in various states and countries...
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Look how far Windows has gotten with nothing more than a couple colored squares.
There are four colored squares, (eight if you count the faded ones) surrounded by wavy lines! They've spent billions of dollars designing, modifying, and marketing that logo, and if they have an inkling that there is someone out there that can't draw it from memory, they're liable to do it again! Now apologize - I don't want to see any more of their commercials!
Sure I'm paranoid, but am I paranoid enough?
Maybe NASA will develop a weapon to kill him with an earthquake. Not exactly something you can jump on, is it. (Ok, so I took that from Conspiracy Theory.)
"However, there are some elements who have an almost religious zealousness about Linux," he added. "In some ways, that can be scary for anyone opposing their positions." - Darl McBride
Pfft, wait till you make a beowulf cluster crack darl...
Wasn't that case settled because of the fact that AT&T had copied a bunch of BSD code, and the realization had been made that both had screwed up and the easiest course of action was to say "From this day forth..." both were legal? that's always been my understanding of that settlement.
If SCO attacks it, don't they also open themselves back up to claims against AT&T (which SCO would now have to defend) of stealing code from BSD and putting it into their codebase (UNIX, SVWhatever)?
My question would be, can they really open up that can of worms again? And if they do, don't they open themselves up to accusations of IP infringement? Would they have to then clean up the UNIX codebase to remove any infringement that the settlement allowed?
Ryan Stultz
The title of his address Tuesday night to the Computer Digital Expo at Mandalay Bay was: "There's No Free Lunch funny, isn't that exactly what McBride is looking for? /.
Rather than build a viable buisness on the merits of their own product he's taken to filing lawsuit after lawsuit, each more insane than the last to drive up his stock prices in the hope that he can cash out before the perverbial house of cards comes crashing down.
I for one hope there is no free lunch here, i hope McBride and his band o' nuts aren't able to profit by slandering the hard work of the open source community.....But then again, not to many investment bankers read
Anyone remember the artice about WWII?
"Germany declares war on Austro-Hungarian Empire declares war on France declares war on Britain declares war on Belgium declares war on Spain declares war on Portugal: Austro-Hungarian Empire nearly declares war on itsef"
Cue The Sun...
Only one remote hole in the default install, in more than 7 years!
Comment: Yes I realise the username 'fuckfuck101' makes me sound intelligent, no you cannot buy it from me.
"I have a red sign on my door. It says "If this sign is blue, you're going too fast.""
dear God, I about sprayed soda all over my monitor when I read that.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
How many lawsuits before even ignorant investors see SCO as a risk not worth taking?
Couldn't this precisely be what ends up blowing up in their face?
I don't know the meaning of the word 'don't' - J
When I first heard of this case back in March I thought SCO was trying for a quick settlment and I can't believe that they are still in business
There in no religion higher than truth.
The record is clear on one thing: no operating system has ever come back from the grave. Efforts to resuscitate *BSD are one step away from spiritualists wishing to communicate with the dead. As the situation grows more desperate for the adherents of this doomed OS, the sorrow takes hold. An unremitting gloom hangs like a death shroud over a once hopeful *BSD community. The hope is gone; a mournful nostalgia has settled in. Now is the end time for *BSD.
Hmmm. I can't imagine why SCO executives feel that they need to hire bodyguards."
Completely honest question: what has SCO done so far that actually justifies death threats (as the submitter is not-so-subtly implying). Angry emails, yes, anonymous death threats o_O.
I understand that they are arrogant so on with this whole mess, and that linux developers have invested both personal and emotional energy in the OS development...but death threats? WTF?
But I still love you, because you are like me! *sigh*
A company in its death throes will resort to any legal tactics available to it, regardless of basis or validity, to continue to survive.
On another note, the press really has to start ignoring these wild claims. Part of SCO's strategy is that they know that they will be covered by the press and potentially bump their stock price. The only thing missing here is a law such that the plaintiff pay the legal fees of the winner if the claim has little to no basis. If that was the case, Boies wouldn't touch this turkey with a ten foot baster.
If the educational system doesn't get dismatled by greedy administrations like the current one
Is that comment meant just to snare morons like me, or do you have some proof to back that comment up, sparky?
Those of us over here on the right are angry that the current administration increased spending on school way too much...
Maxim: People cannot follow directions.
Increases in truth directly with the length of time spent explaining them
The Godfather behind his desk calls his consigliari and wispers "Daryl and I must talk. This BSD thing is cutting too close to the bone. Daryl cannot steal from our vineyard. Convey my words to him....."
Steve Ballmer exits the room.
This is more than a corporate-on-corporate war. At stake is the ability to for people to create content and to invent technologies on their own terms.
- JML
Since Microsoft uses a ton of BSD code in Windows, does that mean SCO will sue them too?
:) fp!?
IANAL.
It seems to me the only way you could "attack" a settlement would be to prove that some or all of the settlement terms were not legal. For instance, if you and I run corporations and we get into a lawsuit whereby the settlement involves my company stealing money from at least two large banks and giving the funds over to you, that would not be legal.
In this case, I would imagine they would have to prove someone didn't have rights to something, but I can't imagine they could do it.
Any other thoughts?
Thats going to be a pretty long wait, considering the amount of crap these assholes are able to shell out every 2 days.
There's got to be something we can all do to kick those asses -without getting into contact with they're personal robocops-. we need IDEAS!!!
We've got to mount a popular counter attack. M$, SO, hell, EVERY company can get a great load of media contact. Linux just has very big books in bookstores and lots of webpages rambling about source-code (nothing the normal computer user wants to deal with). Here again, need IDEAS!
There's a major lack of communication, and SO are taking advantage of that. They fling watever shit they want to the media, who eat it up and spit it out shiny.
We can't let this mad man go around threatening lawsuits to people who dont comply with an obviously crooked License.
What can we do until march??
So really, did SCO stock went up with this "recent revalation?"
ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI!?
#include "
That's a line from SCO's SysV intellectual property! Now slashdot is a 'derivative work'! Now SCO owns slashdot!
WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?
That would definatelly send SCO stock soaring. But no byguards can protect from this - http://www.tabletpctalk.com/pictures/comdex2003bil lg2.shtml
time to buy up SCO stock to put McBride out of buisness pernamently
Don't Tread on OpenSource
BSD now. It was my understanding after reading through the history of BSD that the legal wrestling has been worked out years ago.
Interesting they are challenging the ruling. The last part in newsforge pretty much explained it all.
"Since they cannot show infringement of SCO Unix code, SCO now plans to challenge the 9-year-old settlement between AT&T and BSD. If it can successfully do that, then its claims that Linux contains tainted code can be substantiated. If it can't, SCO is dead meat."
Dead meat is right. I for one look forward to seeing SCO crushed into the dirt and just plain gone.
Has Comcast disconnected your Internet account? Same here. You can read about it at http://comcastissue.blogspot.com
can you say "Fuck you SCO...Stop being bitches" and be modded Insightful.
What going after BSD means is that SCO has no case unless they can blow up an agreement made between AT&T and BSD before SCO was even involved. Basically, they will need to meet the IBM/Red Hat motion that they provide offending code as a part of the discovery process. When that happens, IBM will move for dismissal because all the "IP" SCO claims will be found to be BSD covered in some way. Basically, this just confirms that the emperor has no clothes.
"Curiosity killed the cat, but for a while I was a suspect."- Steven Wright
Now we can stick the pitchfork where the sun doesn't shine.
Doesn't taking aim at BSD put SCO into the position of aiming it's sights at Apple?
I thought BSD was dead ....as I type from my OSX laptop. :)
DEAR SIR/MADAM:
...
... THE FULL AND RIGHTFUL OWNERS OF THE OPERATING SYSTEM SOFTWARES KNOWN AS UNIX. OUR ENGINEERS HAVE DISCOVERED THAT NO FEWER THAN SEVENTY (70) LINES OF OUR VALUABLE AND PROPRIETARY SOURCE CODES HAVE APPEARED IN THE UPSTART OPERATING SYSTEM LINUX. ... THIS GIVES US A CLAIM ON THE MILLIONS OF LINES OF VALUABLE SOFTWARE CODES WHICH COMPRISE THIS LINUX AND WHICH HAS BEEN SOLD AT GREAT PROFIT TO VERY MANY BUSINESS ENTERPRISES. OUR LEGAL EXPERTS HAVE ADVISED US THAT OUR CONTRIBUTION TO THESE CODES IS WORTH AN ESTIMATED ONE (1) BILLION U.S. DOLLARS. ...
... IT IS OUR RESPECTFUL SUGGESTION, THAT YOU MAY BE IMMEDIATELY A PARTY TO THIS ENTERPRISE, BEFORE OTHERS ACCEPT THESE LUCRATIVE TERMS, THAT YOU SEND US THE NUMBER OF A BANKING ACCOUNT WHERE WE CAN WITHDRAW FUNDS OF A SUITABLE AMOUNT TO GUARANTEE YOUR PARTICIPATION IN THIS ENTERPRISE. AS AN ALTERNATIVE YOU MAY SEND US THE NUMBER AND EXPIRATION DATE OF YOUR MAJOR CREDIT CARD, OR YOU MAY SEND TO US A SIGNED CHECK FROM YOUR BANKING ACCOUNT PAYABLE TO "SCO GROUP" AND WITH THE AMOUNT LEFT BLANK FOR US TO CONVENIENTLY SUPPLY.
I AM MR DARL MCBRIDE CURRENTLY SERVING AS THE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF THE SCO GROUP, FORMERLY KNOWN AS CALDERA SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL, IN LINDON, UTAH, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. I KNOW THIS LETTER MIGHT SURPRISE YOU BECAUSE WE HAVE HAD NO PREVIOUS COMMUNICATIONS OR BUSINESS DEALINGS BEFORE NOW.
MY ASSOCIATES HAVE RECENTLY MADE CLAIM TO COMPUTER SOFTWARES [sic] WORTH AN ESTIMATED $1 BILLION U.S. DOLLARS. I AM WRITING TO YOU IN CONFIDENCE BECAUSE WE URGENTLY REQUIRE YOUR ASSISTANCE TO OBTAIN THESE FUNDS.
MY ASSOCIATES AND I OF THE SCO GROUP ARE
I HAVE BEEN GIVEN THE MANDATE BY MY COLLEAGUES TO CONTACT YOU AND ASK FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE. WE ARE PREPARED TO SELL YOU A SHARE IN THIS ENTERPRISE, WHICH WILL SOON BE VERY PROFITABLE, THAT WILL GRANT YOU THE RIGHTS TO USE THESE VALUABLE SOFTWARES.
KINDLY TREAT THIS REQUEST AS VERY IMPORTANT AND STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL. I HONESTLY ASSURE YOU THAT THIS TRANSACTION IS 100% LEGAL AND RISK-FREE.
q1. Why did SCO sue IBM?
a: because they're crack-smoking redmond boyz' bitches.
q2. Why are SCO attacking Linux?
a: because they're crack-smoking redmond boyz' bitches.
q3. Why are SCO attacking the GPL?
a: because they're crack-smoking redmond boyz' bitches.
q4. Why are SCO trying to extort money from Linux users?
a: because they're crack-smoking redmond boyz' bitches.
q5. Why are SCO now attacking *BSD?
a: because they're crack-smoking redmond boyz' bitches.
q6. Why do SCO want to destroy Linux at the same time as they claim to 0wn it?
a: because they're crack-smoking redmond boyz' bitches.
q7. Why do SCO appear to be the crack-smoking bitches of a certain gang originating in redmond?
a: because they're crack-smoking redmond boyz' bitches.
q8. Why...
a: CSRBB, dude!!
Ceci n'est pas une signature
First they came for the Linux users and I did not speak out because I was not a Linux user.
Then they came for the *BSD users and I did not speak out because I was not a *BSD user.
Then they came for the Apple users and I did not speak out because I was not an Apple user.
Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.
With respect to PastorMartin Niemoller.
Also:
Benjamin Franklin's.
Only Women Bleed (Sex, Sharia remix)
Daryl running up onto the stage at an internal rah rah meeting doing the Ballmermonkey dance and yelling "Lawsuit! Lawsuit! Lawsuit!"?
To me, this is increasingly sounding like SCO desperately seeking a buyer. While I know that the /. crowd has often raised this flag especially in the early stages, but when it was clear that IBM wasn't biting the bait (drinking the koolaid) the tactic seemed to shift.
Now with the attack on BSD, I think they are trying to get APPLE to bite. I doubt very much that Apple will bite, because Apple knows apples and this one is poisoned.
No company in their right mind is going to purchase SCO at this point. McBride and Co, have tainted with so much vile crap that it will be impossible for SCO to ever come out smelling like a rose. (enough cheezy oneliners yet?)
Anyway, the BSD attack is directed at Apple, and Apple should understand this.
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
We see this over and over again. When a company is going own the tubes instead of refocusing their business or getting back to their core competencies, they squander their few remaining resources on lawyers in an attempt to litigate themselves back in relevance. The good news is: few succeed.
Hey, since Microsoft took their TCP stack and their FTP code from BSD, does that mean that SCO is gonna sue Microsoft?
Somehow SCO's UNIX is Julius Caesar, Linux was the conspirators, and he (Darl) is Antony:
And Caesar's spirit, ranging for revenge,
With Hate by his side come hot from hell,
Shall in these confines with a monarch's voice
Cry 'Havoc,' and let slip the dogs of war;
That this foul deed shall smell above the earth
With carrion men, groaning for burial.
- Julius Caesar, Act III, Scene i
Or he's just watched Star Trek VI too many times, if you'd rather a nerdy reference. He's certainly wreaking Havoc, in any case.
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.
So that's it, folks; we now have more than a single complaint. We know what SCO is after: they want all *nixes nixed, so they can claim the market as theirs and theirs alone. But the *nixes are not successful because there's only one; they are successful because there are computers all over the world running a variety of Unix and Unix-like platforms.
Bad idea revealing that they are looking into the BSDs, though. Two reasons: first, the BSD case was already tried and closed. Second, the statements can likely be used to prove that SCO is unwilling to play nice.
Most Unixes out there are perfectly legally licensed versions. If SCO goes after IBM, Linux and BSD, it's a safe bet that Sun, HP and all the other Unix vendors are next, and they're probably calling their lawyers right now, telling them to sharpen their knives.
The fact that SCO wants to go after the BSDs goes to show that they don't understand how the *nix world works. My reading on this (and I'm not a lawyer) is that SCO wants to be like Microsoft; one OS, distributed by one company, binary-only, and DMCA'd up the wazoo.
Somehow I have a feeling Eric Raymond would just *love* to shoot somebody.
He seems to leave out the part where he made legal and financial threats to over 1,000 companies. Sometimes I wish the legal system was much faster. Then we could see the legal equivalent of a smoking hole where SCO used to be.
Learn what? That Joe Barr is speculating?
Joe shows no proof, just his "wishful thinking".
Since McBride has insisted that the GPL forces SCO to go after end users, shouldn't each user file a lawsuit for a declaritory judgment similar to RedHat - don't know about you but I'd spend $215.00 (the filing fee where i live) and $25 for service of process just to get SCO to have to spend some of that $60 Million in cash. Beats spending $699 for a license from them.
Would not even need to use a lawyer - the RedHat filings would make perfect templates. Who knows if enough end-users want to maybe a class action would be in order!
Really means "Execs hire bodyguards for execs, with SCO money"
If SCO wants to assert that BSD contains code that is in their IP portfolio, they're going to have to invent a time machine.
Remember, this settlement is the one that established a legal precedent about BSD4.4 Lite being unencumbered by AT&T IP rights.
"We have enough sorted out, but we are so focused on the [IBM litigation]. With our limited energies and what our guys are going through, we probably won't file any suits against BSD until sometime in the first half of next year."
I wonder what would happen if all the interested parties filed lawsuits against SCO - much like Redhat has done. Stretch their 'limited energies' a little more. They already have requested to get the Redhat lawsuit merged with the IBM lawsuit.
I would imagine such a barrage could burn up their 60 million in no time. Hell, maybe someone would be sucessfull in getting SCO to actually disclose proof of their claims.
"Those skilled in war bring the enemy to the field of battle and are not brought by him" - Sun Tzu The Art of War
I would answer: "There is no Next Year for SCO, you insensitive clod!"
Try Ubuntu GNU/Linux, it's great!!!
lawyer farm in upstate NY where they breed them. Their typical yearly output in farm-fresh, free-range lawyers is 3 times the output of all of the "Law Schools" put together. And IBM raises them organically, not pumping them full of antibiotics and growth hormones like Hardvard, Yale, Columbia and such.
I wonder how much 'stolen' IP they would find if they dug into Windoze code. Maybe they can get some bucks from DOS's use of 'cd' and other unix like command line stuff. Or command line stuff in general. It never ends...
Due to the troubles of Walnut Creek, abysmal sales and so on, FreeBSD went out of business and was taken over by BSDI who sell another troubled OS. Now BSDI is also dead, its corpse turned over to yet another charnel house.
The numbers continue to decline for *BSD but FreeBSD may be hurting the most. Look at the numbers. The loss of user base for FreeBSD continues in a head spinning downward spiral. In truth, for all practical purposes FreeBSD is already dead. It is a dead man walking. It's a fact: FreeBSD is dying.
I used to believe there was some sinister motive behind Darl et al. I, like many here, thought I could see a microsoft shadow behind SCO.
Now it's obvious what we are seeing is the ramblings of a crazy man. Out and out sheer lunacy. Someone probably showed him a line or two from BSD source and said "look, we have the same in our code -- they're stealing!"
"The market alone cannot provide sufficient constraints on corporation's penchant to cause harm." -- Joel Bakan
A settlement isn't something that can be appealed, as far as I know; and even if it could be, I'd bet certainly not by an uninvolved party.
Even if it could be appealed (and I forgot that it was a settlement, not a judicial ruling), we're long past the final date for filing an appeal.
As for an uninvolved party -- that's not true. AT&T sold all rights on the source code in question to Novell, who then sold it (with strings) to the company that is now SCO. So they are an involved party, albeit several purchases removed. Of course, that weakens their case -- they should damn well have known what they were and weren't purchasing, along with the legal entanglements involved. Failure to do so may very well be illegal, but in this case it would be the stockholders suing the company over failure of due diligence rather than the company suing anyone.
The more I read on this the more I wonder wtf is going on. It has long since passed the point of being rational. SCO may very well have a beef with IBM and contract violation, but it ends there. All the ranting and raving against Linux, BSD, and the rest of the industry is insane.
On an unrelated note, I'm glad to see IBM handling the case the way they are. I'm sincerely hoping that IBM is subpoening Canopus in order to pierce the corporate veil. This kind of intellectual property blackmail is exactly the kind of thing a large corporation doesn't want to see. It's very much in IBM's interest to burn the fields and salt the earth as a warning against anyone else who would try such spurious claims against them. They have to not only take down SCO, but also Canopus. And if the lawyers pull the same level of crap in the courtroom as they're pulling in the press then IBM will probably push to have them disbarred for conflict of interest, improper conduct, etc.
Anyone who has a legit complaint against IBM, Redhat, Linux, BSD, etc. should certainly pursue it in court. But so far SCO has failed to prove that they have any such complaint, and they appear to be throwing up a smokescreen to hide that.
I guess we all knew that SCO was going to go after the 1994 settlement somehow. Destroying the findings from 1994 would definitely clear the way for more madness. However, Wasn't it determined that AT&T/USL was stealing code from BSD and incorporating it into System V? That is going to be a hard fact to invalidate, although SCO lately has show little regard to the facts. Does anyone have a better grasp of how SCO could possibly invalidate the 1994 settlements and its findings?
Are the voices in my head bothering you?
Maybe this was already mentioned - but, I have a couple of painful observations that I believe will haunt us for a while to come, if SCO succeeds at their game:
1) they will pretty much damage our open source/free *nix climate for years to come - it is bound to affect many companies, projects, individuals. I can only hope that they have some long-term vision, as the effects of their arm-waving will ripple through this industry for a long time.
2) it's really nice that they are going after the top however-many companies that are supposedly Linux users. In North America. What about the rest of the world? Do you really think that companies in, say China or India, really care about what SCO does here? Will they ever pay up? Most likely, not. Our laws don't apply there - and, of course, as related to #1, they will gain a leg up in this already competitive IT global market.
So, who's going to be hurting at the end of all of this? Are they just shooting the industry in the foot, to spite the face?
jaz
How does this affect Apple's 'nix variant OS X (aka Darwin)?
Does SCO seek to attack Apple? Or does something in the development of Darwin preclude such an attack (ie Darwin, or at least the Apple variant, does not contain the unknown but infringing code)?
cabalist
150 Opening BINARY mode data connection for slashdot.sig (129323052 bytes).
dumbass
There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
Let's give Novell a good hip-hip-hooray, as they're the unsung hero in this fray. IBM among others are giving great support, but Novell is consistently issuing strong anti-sco press releases. Check out their press room. My fave quote so far:
5 /p r03033.html
"To Novell's knowledge, the 1995 agreement governing SCO's purchase of UNIX from Novell does not convey to SCO the associated copyrights," Messman said in the letter. "We believe it unlikely that SCO can demonstrate that it has any ownership interest whatsoever in those copyrights. Apparently you share this view, since over the last few months you have repeatedly asked Novell to transfer the copyrights to SCO, requests that Novell has rejected."
http://www.novell.com/news/press/archive/2003/0
(This is from way back in May, FYI)
Returned Peace Corps IT Volunteer
You guys can take them..
Go on, somebody kick the shit outta Darl.
How do you attack a settlement, exactly?
You can't attack a settlement per se. I'm guessing that what SCO are planning to do is to litigate some of the issues that people believe were decided in the settlement.
Because it was an out of court settlement, you don't have any final decision. You don't have any case law arising out of it. If SCO thinks that they have legal arguments that will prevail, there's nothing at all to stop them refighting that case.
Whether or not they'll win remains to be seen, but I don't see any obstacles to their attempts to try to have the fight. Mind you, IANAL, so take all this with a grain of salt
If true, that would be sort of ironic...
SCO sues IBM in order to trigger a buy-out, but only triggers a buy out of a competitor (SuSE) by IBM using Novel as a proxy.
Meanwhile, SCO pisses off all its customers, who flee to.... IBM/SuSE/Novel.
Oops.
Robert X Cringely wrote about the IBM/Sequent connection several months ago. See here -> http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20030619. html
When I was a kid, and explaining to my parents that I needed a modem to call BBSs, they asked me how much it would cost. When I said most BBSs were free, run by people for fun, they didn't believe me. They said that nothing is ever free.
Now, you have all these guys out there who are extremely suspecious of how Linux works. They just don't understand how you can get something for nothing.
Then SCO comes along and confidently says what they've been expecting all along.
"I knew it!" says average Joe, "Its SCO that's going to get the money for Linux! BUY BUY BUY!"
Now that more mainstream publications are exposing SCO for the con artists they are, they're losing that edge.
Screw SCO. with all these lawsuits, their LAWYERS will be pulling in a hell of a lot of money! Even if they lose! The profits will be amazing!
Wait, Lawyers never offer stock. I guess we see who's the big winner here.
Since most terrorist activity originates overseas, and these third world contries don't have the capital to buy closed software, should we be looking for another plane to crash into the SCO building? Would be poetic justice at its best, and might even win them a sympaty vote when they are caught.
The music is all around us. I can hear it. Can you?
If I am not utterly mistaken, the arguments on Dec. 6 are not arguments on the case. They are discovery arguments.
Meaning their sole focus is that both sides HAVE to present their evidence then. If they don't present it then, they can't do so later in the case.
If SCO presents its evidence, the "linux community" wins.
If SCO can't present its evidence or its evidence doesn't exist, it's possible the judge will throw out SCO's lawsuit without SCO's lawyers getting to say a word about "Intellectual property".
Hey maybe that is their strategy. They come up with more and more ludicrous claims, fool all the ignorant investors into buying up their stock, and meanwhile they are in the backoffice shorting their own stuff.
As someone who has used SCO before, I can say that they're sticking with what they know. They've been selling a dead OS for almost a decade. The fact that anyone is still using it means that the software embalmers over there know what they're doing.
- doug
I gotta admit - as soon as I read the title of this story I snorted out loud and almost choked on my popcorn. SCO stories are really getting to be more entertainment than anything else.
Who *isn't* glued to their PC in wait for the next troll^H^H^H^H^Hentertaining SCO story?
Not for a long time, that's for sure. These cases will take years to wind through the legal process, and in the meantime, broadening the scope only serves to make the potential windfall look larger in the eyes of "ignorant" investors.
This is why SCO is out beating the PR drums, while IBM quietly prepares its legal attack. SCO is clearly playing a short-term gambit to cash out the company's assets at the highest possible price, while IBM is seeking to secure the legal foundation behind an open computing platform that provides them with an ample marketplace for their service offerings.
Stop by my site where I write about ERP systems & more
McBride: Wolf! Wolf! There's a big nasty Wolf out here... Somewhere! I swear I saw it! Hey! Hey! Wolf! Everybody! W - O - L - F! WOOOOOOOOOOOOLF!
[crickets chirp]
McBride: TWO Wolves! I really saw TWO Wolves! There was one on one side and one on the other! They're everywhere! Wolves! Two WOOOOOLVES!
When I drove through Utah at the beginning of October, I had to fight the urge to find Darl and sap him around like the bitch he is. Now, I'm seriously regretting that decision.
I think, they just start licensing BSD code as their IP and I can name at least two companies who gladly buy licenses.
now SCO is targetting DEAD OSes! ;-)
Aww, man! Does this mean I might need to fork over $699 to keep using CP/M on my DEC Rainbow to run Hack (as in, precursor to NetHack)?
Bummer. At this rate, I might as well just install Windows on all my machines.
Hmm, Now who gave $50M to SCO to keep this crap alive, and what possible motives might they have?
They first came for the Linux users,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Linux user.
Then they came for the BSD users,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a BSD user.
Then they came for the OSX users,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't an OSX user.
Then they came for me -
and by that time no one was left to speak up.
-----
Free P2P Backup, Windows & Linux
an anonymous SCO-Analyst says, that more 60% of kernel developers ate bread before they inserted the infringing code into the linux kernel. SCO CEO Darl McBride therefore announced, that there won't be any lawsuit against bread manufacturers and end-users in the next 90 days.
Um, sorry to go against the tide everyone.
I personally think that the SCO argument is bull...anyone can file lawsuits; it's up to the courts to determine validity, and I sincerely hope that they are rejected through the court process.
However, I can totally understand needing bodyguards when the active Linux/BSD community makes death threats. I don't care how right or wrong a position is, we are much better off letting the courts settle this. We only hurt ourselves in the long run by making threats.
nt
That is why he is fameous he beat the trust busters when they tried to prove ibm a monopoly.
and i dont mean the allegations of threats against scox.
...)
i know nothing about the law, but surely if rabid dogs are put to sleep, why cant the same be done here (again, i dont mean the allegations of
i mean, for how long is this going to continue?
i detest the real people behind scox now - their techies (i dont expect anymore [but didnt think it would go down so low either] from management). i dont care if they have to lose their jobs and be unemployed, but seeing this happen and remaining there is disgusting. its always the same everywhere, isnt it? techies are just happy sitting behind their monitors, and doing what the idiots who dont understand jack about what their company really does, orders them to do.
i cant imagine being the head of tech at scox, and attending a meeting with these fools.
also, i would like to know in which field nearly all the CEOs are not educated in that particular field. like, can a project manager from an IT company go and become CEO at a law firm, or maybe a hospital, or say financial institution. if not, then why do i notice nearly all the CEOs in IT companies coming from other disciplines?
and as per his resume, "From 1988 to 1996, he worked at networking leader Novell where he was responsible for growing Novell Japan's growth to more than $100 million in revenue. He concluded his tenure at Novell as vice president and general manager of Novell's Embedded Systems Division (NEST)."
i dont know what to make of that (him working at novell as VP, and suing them now).
Let's see, starting with litigation, finding no case, expending great resources to expand it until **something** sticks... sound a lot like the Clinton blow-job to me.
Murray Todd Williams
Otherwise, they'd realize that BSD is already dead. ;)
For the humor-impaired: take tongue A, insert into cheek B...
Diplomacy is the art of saying, "Nice doggie!" until you can find a rock.
Saw this one via google news earlier today on InfoWorld:
SCO: GPL threatens $229B software market
Citing WIPO data, McBride said that the value of the worldwide software market would approach $229 billion by 2007, and that it was being threatened by the ideas behind the Free Software Foundation's GPL, the software license that governs Linux.
"The world, especially here in America, is shifting to one that is an information society," McBride said. "In the future, is that $229 billion in software still going to be there? Or in the case of the Free Software Foundation's goal, is proprietary software going to go away?"
Who said Freedom was Fair?
Good thing they'll be a wholly owned IBM subsidiary by this time next year.
it'd be interesting to see ATT get involved.
if IBM is the 800 lb gorilla that you don't pick a fight with then ATT is the demon you hope you never even *see* let alone start poking with a stick.
now the market is starting to turn on them as well...
the end is near SCO
I came to the datacenter drunk with a fake ID, don't you want to be just like me?
Didn't SCO complain that the FSF selectively enforced the GPL in court documents?
Now SCO wants to sue just *one* company over using Linux with their alledged IP in it? Pretty darn selective move Mr. McBride & Mr. Boies.
If McBride was Pinocchio, he'd need to be made out of Redwood to handle that nose length...as a certain SCOX stock pumper said, "to the moon!"
As for an uninvolved party -- that's not true. AT&T sold all rights on the source code in question to Novell, who then sold it (with strings) to the company that is now SCO. So they are an involved party, albeit several purchases removed
Well, if they didn't get from AT&T what they thought they were getting, they can ask for their money back from AT&T and get licenses. But it doesn't make any sense for them to try to attack a contract that was legally and correctly entered into between UC and AT&T. Whatever rights AT&T gave away to UC as part of the settlement, they did so voluntarily.
This means the University of California will probably also get dragged into the mess.
1) Pick a fight with everyone.
2) ???
3) Profit.
Fortunatly for the rest of us, there is not possible answer to 2. If EVERYONE hates you (except of course M$) you are going to get trounsed out of existance sooner or later by one of them. Even if you win one fight, statistics are against you.
Spell check? Why bother. That is what grammer/spelling Nazi freaks who waiste band width posting "spell right" are for.
Their entire claims so far have been over derivative works from Unix. The SGI Irix code, the supposed IBM infringments. If they go after BSD, they are going after Microsoft and every modern OS that shares major portions of their IP stacks with BSD'd code. That would be a fun twist...
Tasmanian Devil!
People make jokes about SCO that are offtopic from the SCO story itself (in 2 pagedown scrollings I haven't seen anything relating to SCO vs. BSD), and are getting modded up, even to +5 funny. I take it pretty much everyone, even the evil MS developers (such as myself) are getting pretty annoyed by SCO (if that wasn't the understatement of my lifetime).
...in bed
When was the last time a SCO product was purchased? Or do they plan on reporting a major loss this year (legal expenses) and hope to make a profit next year?
SCO business plan...
1. Sue every *nix out there
2. ???
3. Profit!
The above never gets old to me...
"It takes many nails to build a crib, but one screw to fill it."
President Gore can attest to the power of persuasion empoyed by Boies
Thank you yahoo finance: SCOX Stock, last two years
It seems that SCO is having some success in proppying their stock up by making threats. Hopefully it won't last as even Forbes sees them for racketeers now.
SCO is also violating the GPL, shouldn't we be suing them!
If you cannot keep politics out of your moderation remove yourself from the Mod Lottery.. NOW!
Having used various *BSDs for years now, I'm always amazed at how well the Linux emulation works. Today, the *BSDs have added the ability to emulate Linux lawsuits. This completely blows away any type of emulation done on any other system, ever. ;^)
You sound like the type of guy who finds Ann Coulter and Pamela Anderson attractice. I'll take my plain, sorta-chubby, and incredibly cute geek girls anyday.
"America has done some terrible things. But I know that Americans don't cheer when innocents die." -Dave Barry
Ok, I've read a bunch of links between SCO and MS - so could IBM somehow create a legally sufficient link between SCO's RICO style law-suiting, and MS's funding / encouragement of SCO, and end up prosecuting/suing MS for conspiracy?
Possible; but SCO didn't have any legal rights to Unix code of any description until a year after the settlement between AT&T and BSD.
And Caldera didn't have any rights to Unix code till a damn sight later than that. Nonetheless, their claim, whatever its merits, appears to be that AT&T's rights in Unix have been transferred via old SCO to new SCO. Therefore what rights AT&T had at the time of the original suit will surely have been transferred to SCO.
I know that there are scores of objections as to why their claims should fail, but surely this is their position?
If SCO wants to assert that BSD contains code that is in their IP portfolio, they're going to have to invent a time machine.
I'm not following you here. Why would this be necessary?
As somebody else pointed out, SCO is USL's successor in interest to the SysV code, so they actually are an interested party in the BSD case. Beyond that, they wouldn't actually be attacking the settlement, per se. Instead they'd be attacking the behavior of the other settling party by claiming that they weren't living up to their side of the bargain.
This might actually be a vaguely clever move. The settlement in the BSD case is under seal, so an ordinary person won't actually know exactly what its terms are, and the other side isn't allowed to disclose the exact terms. That makes it a perfect FUD target. SCO is free to imply all sorts of things about the settlement so long as they don't say anthing specific. They can even say that they'd love to specify exactly what the BSDers are doing wrong but they're forbidden to by the secrecy around the settlement. Nobody can rebut them without actually spelling out the terms of the settlement, which would be illegal. It might even have been effective if SCO hadn't shown itself to be all bark and no bite by now.
There's no point in questioning authority if you aren't going to listen to the answers.
...if they're still around long enough to do it, that means sooner or later they're going to be going up against Apple, too.
Why don't they just go ahead and sue "everybody else in the computer industry" while they're at it?
Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
It's not dead, just dying... slowly...
It was me, I did it, I moved your cheese
Actually, Bois lost Florida because he didn't want the recount required by Florida law... or more specifically because the Democrats didn't. They wanted just three areas recounted, not the whole state.
Sort-of like the problem with the Linux suit... SCO wants just a portion of the process (the bit where they bully people), not the whole thing (a recount of all their claims.)
Bois support bullies trying to circumvent the real law, and he wins in the public arena even when he loses in court. (Example: You believe that, despite the law, the Democrats should have won the right to only recount a very few areas of Florida while excluding military voters.) It's your BELIEF that hiring Bois buys.
What exactly did Novell license to SCO? Can they revoke it or refuse to relicense it?
That is all.
Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
from the legal team representing SCO. As long as he keeps getting his scratch he could care less as he bankrupts SCO with "manage via litigation" strategy.
At the rate this is going, Darl is going to save BIG money on taxes... he'll be paying long term capital gains taxes when he dumps all of his stock rather than short term gains. That is a huge chunk of money. The lawyers probably will make it to long term gains at this rate...
Darl is acting like Scarface. Paranoid.
His lawyers know that expanding the scope of this ridiculous witch hunt make for free press, and will lengthen Wall Streets' interest in their stock, allowing them and their attorneys more time to get their money out. I think all stock sales in this lawsuit should be frozen.
Darl has a think tank, and he's asking them how long will they can last, how long can they string out these lawsuits? Who else can they sue?
I'd like to ask the SEC who benefits from all of this? The lawyers, Darl, and cronies. The press keeps giving him free PR. That keeps the stock afloat. A nice big media circus. I wish the SEC would freeze the stock held by directors and executives at SCO.
I wonder why he doesn't have any politicians on his side. Maybe they won't touch him? I'm sure his lawyers have urged him to get in bed with the politicians. Maybe Orrin Hatch has already told him to take a hike?
-- No sig for you!
I wrote a short poem about Darl McBride since I had nothing insightful or informative to say. Can you tell I'm out of practice? /begin/
/end/
Darl McBride thinks he's the shit
When that best describes his wit
Ethics are above his means
As is his lack of human genes
Monkey see and monkey do
He licks and worships Bill Gates shoe
When he's through being a goon
A Hallmark we'll send, saying, "Get Smart Soon!"
I'm kicking myself for giving up poetry writing a while back. If I had more practice I'm sure I could come up with something really good. Hey, at least it's short!
You say the shadow of doubt is hanging over my head; it's just an angel whose wings hide the sun.
What I meant by "uninvolved" is that SCO wasn't a party to the agreement to settle. Since the case was closed previous to their involvement (they aquired certain Unix rights in 1995, one year after the settlement) they'd have been aware of the settlement when they aquired those rights.
Though no case law was established since it was settled, there is a record of the findings - BSD code is unencumbered save 4 files, which were re-written to produce BSD4.4 Lite.
I'm still wondering why SCO thinks they have anything at all about this. The settlement is history.
They now know that SCO deems it is a worthy target for a lawsuit. Perhaps FreeBSD, NetBSD, or OpenBSD can get McBride to mention them by name, the publicity would do them a world of good.
It's time for IBM, or anyone else capable (heck, even M$ ain't _this_ bad), to step up and kill SCO. As for McBride, he should be stripped of his US citizenship under the Patriot Act (to prove it's really meant to protect American ideals, values, freedom and way of life).
Must-not-watch TV!
Ok, I admit it. I have been developing in the loathsome VB/ASP language for years. However I was annoyed from Day One over this SCO suit. I have nothing but contempt for liars and that's what SCO is. You have to be a nitwit to think this means good things for MS developers. Let's see, decreased competition, even more crappy products from Redmond.
Viva la Linux!
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Lois, this isn't my Batman glass. - Peter
Look at their product line: it is obsolete! The features SCO's softwares offer are already present in open source alternatives.
Who buys SCO except companies that may switch for Windows 2003/Linux/BSD/OS X Server in the near future?
I don't think they can afford to loose other clients: their buisness model probably won't support it...
I can understand why they want to go after the biggest number of direct competitors... However, I do not approve this.
Booo! I'll cold blood murder that son of a b*tch if he dares to touch Darwin inside my Mac.
Darl McMagicko waves his hand and pulls yet another lemming from his boot! :-)
He's boo'd off stage, but alas he owns the soapbox and cannot be moved.
If only he'd learnt something of Houdini
When shit hits the fan get some of these https://youtu.be/pY-GncsZ-UE
when he successfully defended IBM against the Feds who said it was a monopoly.
The courts said it wasn't.
Bodygaurds? So what. They can't stop the One. And Tux is the One.
He's sure to go in there with herring cannons blazing, dodging their FUD pistols, and having tremendous uptime as he walks on the ceiling and across the walls.
~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
Since it was created to get around any 'ownability' issues created by the original berkley vs AT&T lawsuit, it is 'Free' of anything in it's code that would belong, or could concivably be owned by SCO, no matter how convoluted they want to make it.
Oddly enough, the new BSD license was created to prevent exactly the kind of insanity SCO is working on right now...
Let him prove his claims by publishing the threating letters, email, or playing the phone conversations.
PUT UP OR SHUT UP!
" You sound like the type of guy who finds Ann Coulter and Pamela Anderson attractice"
Pam Anderson *is* attractive, you homo.
Oh, and its spelled A-T-T-R-A-C-T-I-V-E.
Moron.
As far as I can remember but is too lazy to look up right now, the Microsoft case wasn't so much 'overturned' on appeal as it was remanded back to a district court for a new trial. Due to Judge Jackson's publicly stating that Bill Gates was a lying bastard (I'm paraphrasing) the Court of Appeal (cannot remember which one) felt that Microsoft may not have recieved a fair and unbiased trial. It therefore ordered a retrial. However, in the meantime George W. Bush had not only won the election but also been inaugurated. His administration decided to settle the case rather than pursue litigation. (Incidentally, during the Reagan/Bush I administrations the joke was that the Justice Department never met a business practice it didn't like. It may seem the Bush II Justice Dep. sought/seeks to operate along the same line.) This outcome may be seen as 'losing' the case. I suppose it's a matter of opinion. However, the outcome can hardly be blamed on Boies.
Parenthetically, I disagree with the Court of Appeal assessment of what might constitute an obstacle or impediment to a fair trial: if a judge conclude after hearing the testimony of a person, that said person is a lying bastard then that is a conclusion based on fact, as opposed to a judge 'concluding' before any testimony that a person is lying bastard, which would seem be based on prejudice (or possibly prior personal knowledge, in which case the judge should recuse him/herself). The latter case obviously imperils an unbiased trial, but the former case? I don't think so. Why should it? The judge has heard the evidence and drawn a conclusion. In that way it appears to me no different than any other conclusion, based on fact, that the judge has to make in a particular case. It may not be very flattering for the person in question, bu massaging of egos is not necessarily the prime objective of litigation.
The liver is evil and must be punished.
YHBT YHL HAND
I'm not following you here. Why would this be necessary?
The settlement in question was when BSD countersued AT&T, since the AT&T codebase contained copyrighted code produced at UCB. The original suit brought by AT&T against BSD concluded in a finding that BSD's codebase was unencumbered save 4 files, which were replaced to create BSD4.4 Lite, the codebase upon which all the current BSD derivatives are based.
That finding says there is no AT&T code in BSD's codebase. If SCO wants to say there is, fine; but they'd have to have aquired rights to the AT&T code -prior- to the creation of BSD4.4 Lite to do so, wouldn't they?
Unix has a complex history, and I may have confused myself. SCO saying this stuff doesn't help. =) But I can't see how they can lay claim to ANY code in the current BSD (or derived) codebases since 4.4 Lite was created as a result of the litigation in '94.
'Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?'
'That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,' said the Cat.
'I don't much care where-' said Alice.
'Then it doesn't matter which way you go,' said the Cat.
'-so long as I get SOMEWHERE,' Alice added as an explanation.
'Oh, you're sure to do that,' said the Cat, 'if you only walk long enough.'
When shit hits the fan get some of these https://youtu.be/pY-GncsZ-UE
I've said this before, and I'll say it again...
Unless and until we all get off of our collective lazy butts and do something about this, there is absolutely nothing else that is going to stop it.
What this means is that US, the authors, movers and shakers in the Free Software community (not just us Linux folks, but you BSDers, too), have to attack back lest we risk loosing our hard work.
If we can not defend what is ours, then we will loose all rights to our work. How can this be put any more simpler. SCO is attacking our property and we are all waiting for "someone else" to defend it. This includes people like Linus and Andrew Tridgell (Samba) as well as the little folks like myself.
People, get this straight... if we do not attack back (using the courts), then we WILL loose our property and our community. We can't afford to wait for the IBM and/or RedHat cases to play out. We can't afford to let "someone else" deal with it. We MUST act today, now!
My proposed attack method is akin to a bee-sting. Except in rare cases (allergies), a bee-sting is not fatal, but 1000 bee-stings almost certainly will be. What we need to do is file 1000's of small claims against SCO in your local courts, alleging copyright violation. Seek the maximum allowed for your jurisdiction. Be prepared to show that your work was submitted to the Linux Kernel (or any other project that SCO is distributing like Samba) and that said project is indeed licensed under the GPL. Yes, you may need to consult a lawyer to be effective, but this is the price we MUST pay to attack SCO back, and be effective.
As long as our dislike of the legal system keeps us from using it, we WILL loose because of it.
Ron Gage - Westland, MI
SCO seem to be on a heading for nowhere if they think challenging a case that was settled before the current company was formed.
Yes they may have taken over some of the previous companies property/assets. But for them to even contemplate challenginge the AT&T/BSD decision/settlement is silly.
Next they'll sue Linus's great great grandfather in the hope that Linux wont have been created.
On the other hand, if they sue an win against the BSD settlement, could they then sue Microsoft (as MS has embraced so much BSD code/data (just look at the services file))
to one of our favorite open-source games out there?...
The Ur-Quan Masters
Here is the line-up:
SCO = The Korh-Ah, bent on destruction of Open Source
Microsoft = The Kzer-Za, bent on enslaving all sentient species
Linus & RMS = Humans with a precursor service vehicle...
So what will be our secret weapon to destroy the Sa-Matra that SCO & Microsoft hold in their hands?
True enough, but this same 1994 litigation is what gave us BSD4.4 Lite, the legally unencumbered public version of AT&T's code. This is precedent; the current BSD derivatives are based on a code fork that was found to be non-infringing, once four files were replaced.
The settlement we're talking about was for the countersuit brought by BSD against AT&T, asserting that AT&T had BSD code in their codebase. It was settled out of court for an undisclosed sum, as you point out.
It is this settlement that I assert SCO inherited no interest in; since the creation of BSD4.4 Lite absolved BSD of infringing upon AT&T's IP.
body guards won't always be between you and a sniper rifle.
Mcbride Darl C
;)
1799 E Vintage Oak Ln
Holladay UT 84121
(801) 424-2006
just watch out for the bodyguards
And the one day I don't have moderator points myself.
Sorry...
Great post!
It's OK, they had Subway for lunch.
Subway, good so you don't always have to be.
Nobody looks kindly on a mad Chihuahua biting everyone that won't give it the world.
True. A Chihuahua barking at a Rottweiler has the following happen to it:
1) First, it's growled at
2) Then, it's pissed on.
3) Finally, it's devoured.
And this Chihuahua thinks it can take on a pack of Rottweilers by itself.
Dinner anyone?
Some companies have product roadmaps, SCO publishes lawsuit roadmaps... I guess that *is* SCO's sole product nowadays.
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
Sure, Pam Anderson is attractive... ...if you like unnaturally blonde horse-faced bimbos who are so insecure they need to resort to plastic surgery.
"America has done some terrible things. But I know that Americans don't cheer when innocents die." -Dave Barry
Headline: Cat chases tail...
In a strange turnabout SCO sues itself for using Linux http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/graph/?host=sco.com
Fourth quarter earnings will show a revenue of 1 billion dollars from litigation of company using Linux and a writeoff of 1 billion dollars worth of shares.
When shit hits the fan get some of these https://youtu.be/pY-GncsZ-UE
The simplest way to short their stock would be to sell on the options market, an option for SCO to be bought out at $1. Yep. You heard it. Not $1 per share, but $1 for the entire company. I reckon ten of thousands of people can offord that. So do it, after all, at the end, they can only sellout to ONE person of their choice. And since it is only an option, it costs nothing to offer it and then let it expire. I have no idea how the mechanics of the options market operates, but imagine if 10000 people each were to offer Darl to sellout at that price repeatedly. Likely Darl will ignore it, but will other people ignore the fact that 10000 investors each trying to buy SCOX at $1? If that's not a reflection of how worthless they are, then what is?
First we ignored them.
Then we laughed at them.
Now we are fighting them.
Uh-oh...
Someone should tell SCO that Scientology's using Linux - perhaps they could sue each other out of existance. Litigious SOBS.
Why can't anyone in the U.S. do this?
Liberty.
It would almost be worth it to pay SCO to continue their rantings. This is simply going to solidify the foundation that the GPL stands on. They are becoming the perfect Devils Advocate, which in the end looks like it is doing Linux more good than not.
Confused about all this mess? Me too. Is this what (allegedly) happened?
/home/SCO/SysV/mysterycode.c /home/Linus/Linux
[root@unix]$ ls -ld SysV
drwxrwx--x 2 Novell Novell 512 1970-01-01 12:00 SysV
[Novell@unix]$ chown SCO:SCO SysV
[IBM@unix]$ cp
[SCO@unix]$ chown Caldera:Caldera SysV
[root@unix]$ usermod -l Tarentella SCO
[root@unix]$ usermod -l SCO Caldera
[root@unix]$ ls -ld Linux
drwxrwxrwx 2 Linus Linus 512 1991-09-17 12:00 Linux
[root@unix]$ userdel -r SCO
I think the shareholders should get an injuction against the executives and attorneys so they can not sell their stock until after this whole thing blows over. Better yet why dont we all go and purchase SCO stock until we own 51% and then we can vote everyone out, disolve the company and make the modify the UNIX license to BSD license so it is free to all. I would put in $100 to stock. How many shares do we have to have and how many are available?
sco.slashdot.org for all the SCO-related news, anyone?
Founder of Mirror Moon - Tsukihime Game Trans
You are not paranoid when everybody really is out to get you.
I wanna see the day that a judge just gets fed up with SCO and bitchslaps them. Let's gooooooo supreme court!
This story obviously strayed from the herd during the recent roundup.
Amen, tell the bitch to eat a hamburger or something. I never understood the fascination with Pam Anderson. Angelina Jolie, yes. Pam Anderson, no.
Although, the BSD chicks are *NOT* cute. Sorry dude.
ymmv
Repeated search for string "Berkeley." Found 11 matches. One DLL with the following copywrite embedded: "(Berkeley) 02/21/93"
Don't believe me, do it yourself.
I think you mean Canopy, not Canopus.
0xfeedface
Ann Coulter is hot.
As a general rule, the more emaciated the chick, the hotter she is.
The SCO Group's CEO Darl McBride has announced today his company's intention to file legal charges against Santa Clause, the jolly old elf of the North Pole. The announcement comes on the heels of SCO's recent assertion that they are the true owners of the Christmas Holiday, which they claim was acquired through their acquisition of sources of Holiday code, also known as 'Christmas Cheer'. "We have been placed in a tug of war between those who think presents should be given freely to the children of the world and those who want to assure consumers purchase them." McBride said during a recent press conference.
Mr. McBride urged companies to be wary of those who view Christmas as a time for giving, and that there's no such thing as a "free gift" to children. Santa Clause responded to SCO's claims with a puzzled look and a bit of a laugh "Ho ho. Well, I'd like to help you reporters with your story, but I'm afraid I'm quite busy in my shop making toys and getting my sleigh and reindeer ready". Darl McBride responded "The more reigns you pull, the more you see. This man is a danger to the capitalist system. How are companies supposed to compete if toys are given away at no cost? It just doesn't make sense". SCO also intends to name additional litigants in their case, including Dasher, Dancer, Donner, and Blitzen. "As we go forward we will continue to do battle against the notion that gifts should be given freely, but we hope for a position where we can settle this amicably."
SCO's legal department was unable to be reached for further comment, as they are currently preparing a billion page document showing proof of their claims, to be delivered to the defendant and courts later this week.
Ruby on Rails Screencast
You start seeing the rear window stickers ala the chevy boy pissing on the ford trademark, redone to Tux pissing on SCO?
On an unrelated note, I'm glad to see IBM handling the case the way they are. I'm sincerely hoping that IBM is subpoening Canopus in order to pierce the corporate veil.
1) Canopy, not Canopus.
2) IBM's subpoenas have nothing to do with "piercing the corporate veil". In fact it makes it even more of an action against a corporation than any real persons.
3) You don't push to have lawyers disbarred no matter what meanie stinkie poos you think their clients are. Boies is just another shark in the pool, and quite probably as professional as they come -- they're not the ones issuing the press releases.
I've finally had it: until slashdot gets article moderation, I am not coming back.
Below is what you submitted to dict-file@dict.org on Wednesday, November 19, 2003 at 14:03:03
Word: Asshat
PublicDomain: on
Definition: Daryl McBride
well, not everything , but a heck of a lot of software does. That's the beauty of the BSD licence.
...uh, wait, they're doing that already. ... nevermind
If SCO can successfully attack the AT&T / BSD settlement (and don't get sued for copying BSD), imagine the carnage. They could sue *everybody*.
I am living proof of the Peter Principle
Knowing the US legal system (as an outsider, not as a lawyer), it wouldn't surprise me if SCO wins a few cases. Since they seem to be suing a whole hoard of people for many different things (IBM violation; GPL is a threat; customer of Linux (I wonder who this is?); etc), the chances are they will win some cases. Just like the recent Microsoft Internet Explorer loss against some bogus lawsuit.
IBM likely won't lose (since it spends a ton of money on lawyers and has the legal system "under its wraps") but some of the other parties that are caught up may lose. If SCO sues Linus Torvalds (it's not clear if they are or not), what are the chances of Linus losing? Much higher than most people here think. I know the open source organization is paying for his lawyers but I highly doubt they are as good as SCO's lawyers.
The legal system in developed countries basically come down to who is richer and can afford the best lawyers. One just needs to look at OJ Simpson, Robert Durst, Microsoft, Intel, IBM, G.E., ExonnMobil, BP, Enron, Arthur Anderson, etc. They can still be convicted but with lower terms, if not freed outright. Does anyone think the Enron and Arthur Anderson criminals will get more than 5 years? The latest case seems to be Robert Durst. Now, someone explain to me if this guy would have been freed if he were not rich and had the best lawyers? If it were me, I would get jailed for sure. If anything, I would get some jail term for chopping up the body and hiding it.
Sivaram Velauthapillai
Sivaram Velauthapillai
Seeking the meaning of life... @slashdot of all places
Well... regardless of who is right/wrong, if SCO execs are hiring bodyguards, this is a pretty bad statement (and very bad publicity) on the Linux community. Speak bad or go against the Linux community and you risk physical harm? Once you embrace Linux, if you decide to do something else you risk physical harm? This type stuff will surely win support from folks. Typically this type of thing is reserved for folks who are testifying against the mob or something. If they really feel the need for bodyguards to protect them from the Linux community and they have real reason to fear for their physical safety, it really says some really bad things about the Linux community.
If this is true, the people who are attacking, or threatening to attack (electronically or physically), SCO and/or SCO's employees are doing FAR more harm to the cause than good.
To Joe Sixpack who might consider switching at some point, they see stories like this and wonder if the Linux Cult will come burn their house down if he decides he doesn't like Linux and wants to switch back to Windows or whatever.
If you're gonna do something, do it.
You've got to give SCO credit for that much, anyway.
Look out honey, 'cause I'm using technology; Ain't got time to make no apology
I think that this is the first time that BSD users and Linux zealots are appearing for the first time to get along in a major forum. This is truely a historic moment. Will it last? Probably not. But nonetheless, now the two camps have a common threat...
The views expressed are mine own and do not express the views of my employer.
Darl has taken trolldom to a higher level. Slashdot trolls can only stand agape and marvel at his trollish magnificence, hoping that one day they'll be 1/10th the troll he is.
It's not enough to bash in heads, you've got to bash in minds. - Captain Hammer
Who is the principal beneficiary if SCO wins?
Microsoft.
Who is under threat from Linux?
Microsoft.
Who already paid SCO?
Microsoft.
Which OSS OS will take over if Linux goes down?
BSD.
Ergo, SCO must also attack BSD.
Q.E.D.
Let's be fair. Darl is being truthful here. What he's really talking about is SCO's sharing of information with various industry pundits and investors. The more wool you manage to pull over their eyes, the more wool they see.
This particular wool is simply very carefully processed and crafted. In to a yarn.
If that's the case, I couldn't imagine a worse scenario for him - a client he can't control, and an opponent with unlimited resources and the resolve to smash him like a bug on the great IBM windshield.
I know /. seems to have a bit of groupthink going on here as regards SCO's success. That said, I really do think Boies best-case scenario is to drag things out long enough to get everybody on their side mucho dinero. But that's not going to impress the former partners.
Folding SCO's case everyone cashes out won't make him look good. Losing in court after the same will really make him look bad. Either way, it's a lose/lose situation in the prestige department - it's only in the rankings of "America's top ambulance chasers" that he'll increase his standing.
The only way I see him increasing his legal prestige is either winning in court or strongarming a great settlement. IBM has made it pretty clear that the chances of either of those is near nil. So while you may be spot-on regarding Boies' motives, I can't see what he's thinking. Or the whole thing could be coincidence.
Great post, btw.
-Looking for a job as a materials chemist or multivariat
... to prevent refighting a court case? I don't think I've ever heard of an out of court settlement that didn't include an agreement by both parties that the settlement overrode (one might even say, "settled") whatever legal contentions originally forced the negotiation.
I know there's a lot of sealed information about the BSD settlement, but I'm doubtful that one of the secret clauses is "AT&T or it's successors in interest don't agree that this settles anything, and can sue you again at any time." I'm absolutely certain that the secret clauses don't include "AT&T or it's successors can magically retroactively repeal the license with which you'll be distributing your source code for the next decade," and that's the kind of thing SCO would need to make a relitigation worthwhile.
Does this mean I might need to fork over $699 to keep using CP/M on my DEC Rainbow to run Hack (as in, precursor to NetHack)?
Until they removed it from the base system last year, classic hack was part of the FreeBSD base system. Now it's available in the freebsd-games port. Of course, that's only until Darl gets around early next year to charging $699 for it.
Don't blame me, I didn't vote for either of them!
Where might BSD and linux users both be en masse sometime in the next month...
...couldn't be the LOTR-ROTK opening, could it?
See you in line. I'll bring my pitchfork and penguin bill.
-Looking for a job as a materials chemist or multivariat
Yeah sure, and in a few years who will remember him when the industry puts out the next contraversial artist that is very popular with the rich white kid demo graphic?
As I said last nite.. watch out Billy G, they'll be coming for you next! Its always dangerous to feed the animals.
"The more I read on this the more I wonder wtf is going on. It has long since passed the point of being rational."
It's actually perfectly rational, and rather easy to explain. Just take a look at this line from this interview in CRN:
"David comes on, he's now a shareholder, he's rowing with us, and let's face it, he's added significant value to our company since February. Our stock was around a buck, now it's $14. That's some of the best money we've spent, not even money, some of the best stock we've issued."[Emph Mine]
Look at what SCO has done so far: made a bunch of far-reaching claims and launched a massive lawsuit against IBM. It doesn't matter that the only 'evidence' they've shown so far was debunked as ridiculously overused code that's been out and around publicly since the 80s. It doesn't matter that they haven't been able to substantiate a single claim. None of this matters, because investors are purchasing the stock, hoping for the big pay-off because they don't know that the entire lawsuit is doomed to failure. Daryl took a dying company and got its stock to jump 1400%. That's not to say that Daryl isn't more evil than Bill Gates, (he obviously is), but he's neither insane, nor stupid. It's about the money; it always was. Now he's paying his legal team with stock that was worthless before the claims began, so he's not even dipping into his operating capital. That's just ingenius.
-- "Government is the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else."
and so on and so forth and scooby dooby dooby...
Remember how badly Clark botched the slam dunk OJ case? Boies is more of the same.
The glove does not fit - you must acquit.
too funny
if my mother ever gets through you, she will wash your mouth with detergent !
I'm waiting for my subpoena for that batch file I wrote that backs up my pron collection once a month. Then I'll be somebody! They'll all have to take notice then, Eh!
tea
EXTORTION - The use, or the express or implicit threat of the use, of violence or other criminal means to cause harm to person, reputation, or property as a means to obtain property from someone else with his consent. USC 18
The Hobbs Act defines "extortion" as "the obtaining of property from another, with his consent, induced by wrongful use of actual or threatened force, violence, or fear, or under color of official right." 18 U.S.C. S 1951(b)(2).
"Science is about ego as much as it is about discovery and truth " - I said it, so sue me.
SCO- All your OS are belong to us!
Manipulate the moderator system! Mod someone as "overrated" today.
the so-called "open source" community
You don't see any one saying 'the so-called "gay" community' or 'the so-called "republican" party'. Why does this reporter feel the need to make open source developers look like a bunch of death threat sending hackers? And Darl McBride can hire all the mercenaries he wants, the sissy. All I have to say is 'recoiless rifle'. His undoing will be snide remarks like "There is no free lunch, or free Linux". At the rate he is losing customers, I doubt SCO will be around long enough to file suit against the BSDs.
TallGreen CMS hosting
I'm waiting for
SCO finds copyright code in MS Windows
SCO finds copyright code in PS2 OS
SCO finds copyright code in Babbage Machine
Then SCO owns everyone.
Jokes tend to cease to be funny when the person telling it has to explain it.
Karma: Non-Heinous
o/~ Join us now and share the software
Isn't Darwin BSD-compliant?
And OpenBSD has had support from a government or two because of its security, hasn't it?
BSD is far from dead. The only reason everybody thinks it's dead is because its hardware support isn't as expansive as, say linux. Well, so be it, it's not designed to run on anything, it's designed to run well.
Karma: Non-Heinous
Surely BSD will be dead by then anyway.
No, I'm the sort of guy that finds slightly chubby, plain looking women not very attractive. This chick is far from cute - you just haven't been outside in the sun light (GAAAAAAAAH!) and seen attractive women before.
Pam *is* kinda scary, but better looking than this boy with boobs and long hair. Bleck.
and generate the most posts.
Darl Mcbride sues slashdot for linux use.
id like to see how many posts go to that one.
Well, assuming your senerio...
The purchase agreement said Novell could not compete with the buyer using their Unix rights. So, they couldn't GPL it into Linux as to compete with the buyer.
That notwithstanding, the agreement also ends the compete clause if the buyer causes a change of control over the asset.
So, Novell sold Unix to old SCO Nasdaq:SCOC, which was then bought out by Caldera (a change of control - thus ending the non-compete), which then changed its name to The SCO Group, then split into Nasdaq:SCOX (new SCO) and Tarantella.
Ok, the non-compete doesn't stand in Novell's way any longer.
But who has what rights in the "suspect code" is somewhat unclear at this point. SCOX seems to have produced a valid copyright ownership claim, thus Novell's "rights" to the suspect code would likely exclude any right from them to place it under GPL.
Novel may have rights to use the code in any of a number of ways, but without ownership of the copyright itself it probably cannot license the code under the GPL. Maybe they can, but I really doubt they left such a loophole in the contract.
SCO bought "value", some sort of value, and Novell has not right to directly destroy that value. It can compete them into the dirt, using Linux, but cannot "use rights in the suspect code" to destroy them.
If they did try messing with Bill's money machine, I bet we would see SCO execs falling from the sky (and into rivers, ditches, etc.) right and left.
Anyone see SCO as the Centauri, and Microsoft lurking in the back as the Shadows?
:)
That big alliance forming of everybody vs. SCO seems to add up too. And IBM playing the Vorlons, the silent old powerful beings.
Ok, so it's not a very original theory... but it got a lot funnier as a B5 conspiracy theory
Kjella
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
That finding says there is no AT&T code in BSD's codebase. If SCO wants to say there is, fine; but they'd have to have aquired rights to the AT&T code -prior- to the creation of BSD4.4 Lite to do so, wouldn't they?
Oh, OK, I see what you're saying. However, it's my understanding that SCO/Boies know this only too well, and believe that they have arguable grounds that they can bring before the courts.
Because there wasn't actually any real decision in that case (as the judge persuaded AT&T it was in their interests to settle), and because there would be a different defendant in the case, as I understand it, legally there's actually nothing to stop SCO refighting this battle again if they believe they can make it come out differently -- no matter how wrong-headed and foolish such an action might appear to the rest of the world.
As people are always pointing out here, you can sue whoever you like, provided you've got the money to do so. That doesn't mean your action will prevail, but I'm not convinced that SCO are actually looking for a judgement anyway.
That finding says there is no AT&T code in BSD's codebase.
I think you'll find that it isn't a finding, and settlement decisions in earlier cases aren't in any way binding on people who choose to litigate against other parties, even though the object of the litigation happens to be the same.
IANAL, so don't take my word on it, but that's how I understand the law to be on this issue.
A microkernel is not something that rests between a "real kernel" and the hardware. It's not much like a hardware abstraction layer (HAL) at all.
It's a kernel that has a limited set of base functions (usually thread/process scheduling and communication). Other services (device drivers and even filesystem) are run as seperate processes, and the kernel provides a means for such prosesses to communicate.
- Ost
---- Sig. gone.
IANAL, but the only way I can think of to get a settlement nullified would be if the settlment itself was illegal. For example, if the settlement included granting rights that were not owned by the settling party.
Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face
The more I read about SCO's lawsuit against IBM and the more strange claims they sound off to the press and in legal filings, the more I have the feeling that McBride and Boies are doing sort of a pyramid scheme.
Of course this scheme does not work in money directly. Its working with legal claims.
So basically, they have an unreasonable claim (IBM in breach of contract). That is backed up with a another claim that is even unreasonable (GPL is illegal), which is backed up with yet another even more unreasonable claim (Novell has a non-compete agreement). And to back that up, they don't hesitate to cross the border to the absurd and outright dangerous - sue UCB because of BSD.
All along the way they threat every bystander to sue them for using Linux.
And come next week, they'll sue somebody else.
And the funny thing is, Stock Markets like that pile of legal threats and drove up the share-prize of that amok running company.
And Boies already got money, because the SCO-IBM case will go on trial 2003-03-11. That's two years from start of the action.
That should give McBride, his cronies and investors enough time to legally secure their share.
Then we'll see a case that drags on, because already now amount of paper to be read is enormous (millions). Plus a gazillion subpoenas. How long will it stay in court?
I don't know. But there are two things I know. Pyramid Schemes have an end, and the propper way to end an amok run is suicide.
chess
Or even this.
CLONE WARS
Little Brother, watching the watchers
Use ISO 8601 dates [YYYY-MM-DD]
Which is deflating like the Hindenberg-- except there's no "humanity" to bemoan. They'll make whatever bizarre claim they think may influence a few speculators to keep their flagging stock from completely tanking. But it ain't working so good anymore, as they now look like the boy who cried wolf. They won't be around long enough to sue *BSD, in fact they should consider themselves lucky if they make it to Christmas...
now SCO is targetting DEAD OSes! ;-)
Umm numb nuts, most firewalls, load balancers, etc run BSD. Its not advertised like Linux, but Nokia, F5's, etc, etc...List really goes on, run BSD. Imagine for every certain router/firewall/load balancer you had to pay $1399 ontop of paying for your linux servers too.
Also the hard working people on the *BSD teams, I'm sure they dont appreciate you calling their OS dead since practically every OS out there in main stream borrows from them, *INCLUDING LINUX*.
God! I hate trolls that are moderated funny or insightful.
So. Where were the cops then? When are we gonna see some of these 'zealots' as McBride calls them running away with their shirts off and getting thrown to the ground and arrested by the cops with a footnote to say that 'all suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law?'
Drill baby drill - on Mars
McBride: All your base are belong to us. ALL of them.
when SCO goes after HURD...
IANAL, so could someone please give me a hint as to how this NINE YEAR OLD legal settlement can even be raised if there is a SEVEN YEAR statute of limitations.
Can they argue that AT&T didn't know what they agreed to, and subsequently allowed to happen, up until SCO bought the rights from them? "We, meaning SCO, didn't buy what AT&T thought they sold to us. We bought something much more. Actually we claim stuff that AT&T thought they gave away before selling the rights to us?"
If intellectual property can be handled in the law like real estate, then why not also apply eminent domain as in "SCO hasn't for a LONG time been the de-facto owner of anything anyone else cares about. Even if the old paper would have entitled them to something, they gave it up when all these years they allowed us to act as if we owned it and spent all of our blood and sweat to keep it useful. Now that what they have is unsalable, they are only trying to claim the fruits of our labor." What do you think about that?
--- Nothing clever here: move along now...
Hi, just FYI (I studied the election)
There was a recount that was initiated by Florida Law. This recount is the certified one. I'm pretty sure it included ALL the counties. The reason most people don't remember it is because the liberal media was blabbing about some "disenfranchisement" evidence of which was never established (akin to liberal FUD). And Gore was also in front of the camera trying to explain how to change the method of counting the votes. Gore didn't get his way, and started his own recount (bullying some election officials in democratic counties of course. The republican counties he ignored, but they probably wouldn't have been so nice to change their method of counting to help him out.)
Luckily, the recount that abided by Florida Law was certified proving the validity of the election. If the recount wasn't finished, Katherine Harris would have certified the original count. If somehow a Florida Court blocked Harris from certifying it (It was threatened, but the Dems lost this one too) then the deadline for certification provided by Florida Law would have passed (it was certified like with in THAT day), and the Florida electors would not be counted in the electoral college, throwing the election to the US House of Rep. If the election did go to the House, everyones vote basically would have not been counted for squat (Way to go, Thanks Dems, trying to disenfranchise everyone!!) But bush would have won still. (The house has/still is largely republican) But probably the reason the Dems finally allowed the certification to slip through was to prevent a larger disaster of course. Even they were afraid about the certification not making in time, because that probably would mean they'll never be at least semi-legitimate (they didn't want to violate two+ laws, and produce a legal mess).
So, my comment basically agrees with yours if you follow the events you explain . YES, it was good that the US SC upheld Florida Law.
Since I, DarkManaX, am the sole proprietor of the Internet which you are illegally using (I don't need proof) you must either get off, or send $1 to me.
ROTFL! I wish I had some mod points right now.... :-(
-H
Uhm, if SCO is suing everyone, then I've got to suggest a few more people who are infringing on their IP:
http://www.google.com/search?q=sco
Results in 3,480,000 possible people to sue, and it only took 0.21 seconds to find. At those expensive legal rates, I just made $1200 - who do I send the bill to?
|>>?
Just opened news.google.com.
Under technology's top stories:
Novell slams latest SCO claims
SCO Hints at *BSD Lawsuits Next Year, And More
SCO CEO claims top spot on Forbes List of World's Most Hated Business Leaders
SCO doesn't have much longer to live. They've managed to get on not only techies' shit lists, but now the presses'
It ain't gonna happen, but if BSD falls - so does Windows.
> SCO is about as dangerous to Linux and BSD as a blind, deaf quadrapalegic kitten. It screams like hell, but it's only a question of how quick you put the kitten out of it's misery.
Perhaps the worst analogy I've ever had the misfortune of reading. Please MOD PARENT DOWN.
3950 Las Vegas Blvd. South
Las Vegas, Nv , 89193-8880
Longitude: 115.1727, Latitude: 36.0922
This sig is exempt from disclosure under the privacy Act of 1974.
There are some similarities, don't you find ?
SCO sells dead OS.
BSD merely dying.
That is the difference.
We all know that SCO is on it's way out, or at least we pray they are, so why don't we give the companies that are using SCO products - a solution. A migration method/spec and the software to make that migration to Linux as easy and painless as possible?
In the views of SCO, this is the worst thing that could happen, companies know that SCO is on their way out and they don't want to support SCO anymore - but in many ways, are forced to.
Just my 2 bits.
I cannot confirm nor deny the allegation or allegations you may or may not have just made
To call for the rubber truck to haul this lunatic off to the laughing acadamy.
You don't have to be crazy to work here, but it sure helps.
Professional Politicians are not the solution, they ARE the problem.
Danger...
Darl Danger McBride...
I had to get the fire extinguisher because my display caught fire. It was just too much do display McBride in intellectual on the same page.
Maybe Darl has access to some old Novell documents that he is saving as his ace in the hole...
"From 1988 to 1996, Mr. McBride worked at networking leader Novell where he was responsible for growing Novell Japan's growth to more than $100 million in revenue. Mr. McBride concluded his tenure at Novell as vice president and general manager of Novell's Embedded Systems Division (NEST)."
View Entire Article
using namespace std;
directive. McBride says that the std namespace obviously belongs to them and their rights to std::AIDS, std::syphillus, and std::herpes are being violated.
Wh47 d1d j00 541, 31337 15n't t3h r0xor5 ne m0r3???
Darl McBride Claims SCO's Ownership Of All That Stuff You Guys Have Been Keeping In The Bottom Of Your Sock Drawers For Years
LINDON, UTAH -- According to a brief filed today on behalf of SCO, all that uncategorizable stuff you guys have been collecting over the years is actually the property of SCO.
Darl McBride, CEO of SCO, was quoted in a press release as saying, "Possibly millions of dollars in spare change, broken Star Wars action figures, paperclips, empty ball-point pens, and other various and sundry items are actually the property of SCO.
"That other stuff you've just been cramming into your glove compartments, that's all ours too," McBride added.
The are hinting at a lawsuit against BSD...but say that BSD is clear on the linux ip license faq.
Just look at the last question.
Stop signs are only Suggestions
Can't someone get them shut down for this? Or have they not actually filed any suits, they're just _threatening_ to file suits.
I'm confused.
Yay me!
This issue with BSD was already decided. Good luck.. all it will do is make bigger fools out of them and invalidate their claims, via 'prior case'..
Blah.. they need to go away. They are only making OSS look bad..
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Yeah. That was fake SMP before IBM came along. Beowulf was all IBM too, right?
McBride must be some Linux history expert, or something.
smelly, long haired man wearing taped glasses and a T-shirt with the DECSS code on it, attacks executive with railgun he made in his garage. Violent video games were blamed for the incident. Also found on his person were caffeine pills, a computer edited picture of natalie portman with what looks like grits poured all over her, and something witnesses can only describe as slimy hollow tube of squishy rubber....
"Computer games don't affect kids; I mean if Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms,
Man, I can't wait to see the flamewar when Darl McBride is going to attack Theo de Raadt of OpenBSD!
That's going to be a classic, it'll take the title "Mother of all Flamewars" from Torvalds vs. Tanenbaum.
And there'll be a theme for the song of 3.5-release..
There certainly has been no recount, formal or informal, would have given algore the electoral votes.
Not true.
The NORC study shows that under the state-wide recount oredered by the FL SC, Gore would have won.
Under other, partial, recounts Bush won. Ironically, under Gore's prefered recount method, Gore would have lost.
You probably saw this in the news as "Recount Shows Bush Would Have Won", with perhaps a footnote at the bottom about how actually Gore would have won, unless you used one of the recount methods that was never seriously considered.
I think this is strange.
The enemies of Democracy are
If SCO wins.. it puts the OSS camp out of commission for a year or so while the offending code is taken out. And years to undo the 'image' damage.
Microsoft has another year to gain market, and uses the bad image against us.
If SCO looses, it takes years to undo the 'image' damage, and Microsoft uses the bad image against us to gain market share...
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Seriously, if the guys who ran Enron into the ground (and destroyed thousands of people's plans for the future) haven't been whacked yet, nobody's going to hit a SCO exec
Unless of course, SCO sues Apple. Then some Apple Zealot is bound to go on a SCO rampage.
PS I'm an Apple Zealot
Darl isn't the only one who works at SCO, _and_ they have a law firm on their side. Darl can be as insane as you like, but how does he control the minds of so many other people and make them believe that he's right?
Being the CEO of SCO gives him power over his employees, but why hasn't Boies figured out that Darl's a lunatic and dropped him like a rock? Yes, I know that the law firm has SCO stock, but when you know you're going to lose, cut your losses!!
n/t
Someday it might even be true.
is beginning, finally, to wear a bit thin.
How much longer do we have to wait to see SCO start getting its ass kicked?
Furry cows moo and decompress.
hear (and see) the monkey speak
But it sounds like SCO has contracted a hit.
Constitutionally Correct
I am getting sick of SCO right now, its time to repay them.
if you have a service with SCO running, get out of the contracts, tell them why.
put SCO on your servers blacklists, ony your firewalls drop list, ban them from the network,
remove any SCO specific code from your software, with a comment that it would not get any maintainance anymore,
if the user depends on it, he ought to get rid of SCO and their software products.
we can play that game too, and no one is forced to provide free software like compilers, libraries, tools etc
to people for whom it is only pearls to the swine. if you realize you have a key component of your software in SCO distributed software,
write them a mail telling them you nullify all agreements with them and ban them now and forever from distributing that. if they not immediately stop, sue.
time to bring the damn darl to his knees. if the last provider cuts off network access, if your last customer wanders off due to your threats, you`ll notice that missing money doesnt pay for lawsuits months away, and there is no comfort for those wheeping in the silence of a unused datacenter.
favourite song quote "they featured ploughshares into swords" - runrig.
i say its time for collective network and software embargo against legal terrorists. ACT NOW !
After all, it's based on BSD...
...next SCO will claim ownership of the internet, because it's all running on Internet Protocol packets (an implementation of which can be found in AT&T Unix). "IP is our IP!" Darl will declare.
There was no overturning of the verdict, or a new trial. The Appeals Court upheld Jackson's finding of facts, and his conclusions in law. Microsoft is a monopoly and broke the law to maintain and extend that monopoly. What the court disagreed with was Jackson's remedies. Jackson ordered the company broken up, and the Appeals Court recinded that order.
Because Jackson had made critical remarks about Microsoft in the press, the court pulled the case from him and gave it to Kollar-Kotelly. She ran an extended hearing about the proper punishment for Microsoft and decided a slap on the wrist was the most appropriate remedy.
Massachusetts (and others) disagreed that her orders were sufficient to redress the offenses. They appealed her orders to the same Appeals Court who held a hearing on the matter a couple of weeks ago. And there is stands. Microsoft is a monopolist convicted of breaking the law, and Kollar-Kotelly's orders stand unless the Appeals Court overturns them as well. That would be a long-shot. They may add a few bits and pieces to "ensure" MS is deprived of the friuts of their crimes, but that's about it.
My first reaction to Darl's quote was no way would I ever touch that yarn knowing where its been.
But now, I'm not so sure. Read this little piece and then tell me you wouldn't want to see the expression on Darl's face:
http://torrez.org/archives/000556.php
here one is assuming that SCO will still be a going concern come next year...
AT&T sold all rights on the source code in question to Novell, who then sold it (with strings) to the company that is now SCO.
In fact, they sold the rights (with strings) to the company that used to be SCO. It is the company that is now SCO that used to be Caldera that bought the rights from the company that used to be SCO.
Does that even make sense?
Schrodinger's cat is either dead or really pissed off...
But they bought Classic SCO!!
dammit, stop feeding the trolls... erm.... the troll. i honestly cannot believe that more than one person can have such a lack of a life...
For those of us who are most definitely bipolar, there are other things that help to smooth the ride.
1. Regular sleep. Absolutely vital. If it's past 11PM, you're reading this, and you're bipolar, save a bookmark on this and come back and read it after you've had 9 hours.
2. Healthy diet. Plan a trip to the grocery store once or twice a week to get lots of fruit and salad; try to cut caffeine AND alcohol out of your diet.
3. Regular exercise. Do something regularly that helps keep your average activity level high -- such as biking or walking to work -- and once or twice a week do something that actually involves strenuous exercise, such as playing tennis.
4. Express yourself. Bipolar folks are typically more creative than non-bipolar folks -- something having to do with being able to see both sides of the issue. Pick an art -- an instrument you play, writing, painting, anything -- and improvise on it regularly. You don't have to record it, you don't have to let anyone hear or see what you do, you just have to do it to let that expression get out.
OK, and a beer now and then doesn't hurt. Unless you're an alcoholic bipolar. Then it does.
Well, anyhow, this works for me. And when I don't do it, it doesn't work for me. Any time you can avoid the ups and downs without using drugs is good.
Maybe it's a poor choice of words... But it was not version of AT&T code. Everything was rewritten from scratch and mostly it happened before litigation.
well, settlement is a contract, right? I think contract law may be applied...
What's funny about SCO having hired "bodyguards" is that now someone could view attempting to maim or kill a SCO exec as a challenge, and actually take up that challenge. The "oh, you're so important that you now need body guards, you're important enough to go after" mentality...
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
I thought that OSX meant OSX iS uniX. ;-)
Karma: It's all a bunch of tree-huggin' hippy crap!
I wonder what his religion grade was.
For some reason, I don't think of BYU when I think of great bachelor of science programs...
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
Apple uses *BSD...........
gun, knife, fists, or feet?
Looking at today's quote, it seems like their FUD is not having the effect that they thought it might. Perhaps that is why they are getting more desperate and far reaching with their accusations. Seriously, someone would have to have rocks in their head to believe anything they say at this point.
Wouldnt taking action against *BSD mean taking action against MacOSX? (thus getting the entire mac-world against you aswell, as if the unix-world wasnt enough)
GAAH! MY PRINTER IS ON FIRE!!! PUT IT OUT! PUT IT OUT!
... and I don't think I need to say any more than that. :-)
Karma: It's all a bunch of tree-huggin' hippy crap!
Back to threats, I know a lawyer that has received graphic threats of violence weekly for the last decade. He has no bodyguard, and the people who make the threats can find where he works in the phone book. He's had the unenviable task of going into prisons and telling murderers that their wives have started divorce proceedings against them. So far he's remained completely uninjured, and he's not a big guy. If Darl McBride is going take a few insults seriously enough to hire a bodygaurd he's deluded.
So a lot of people carry handguns in Salt Lake City, but who's going to shoot him? He's not going to stop linux tomorrow, IBM tomorrow, of *BSD tomorrow he's just a rodent nibbling around the edges over time.
I must be old: "husky fellows with radio tubes in their heads" brings up images of thick glass tubes with wire filaments sticking out of peoples heads borg stlye.
on http://www.sco.com/company/execs/,
its funny that almost everyone on that board is from the same university called "Brigham Young" (BYU).
is that the only university out there in utah?
amazing. buddies havin beer, talkin bout the good ol college days and talkin bout whatevers goin on right now, and where they will be. perfect.
As already mentioned here, SCO wants to undo the AT&T/BSD judgement in 1994. On the face of it, it looks like a good target, but there's one small problem:
The case ended in a settlement to avoid a judgement favouring BSD
Now why SCO thinks reopening this case is a good idea becomes murky. The University had a good case, and still does.
So what didn't that settlement cover? Because if AT&T avoided having to remove certain things, then SCO is likely to still have them. How could that possibly advance their case? Class??
insecurity asks the wrong question irritation gives the wrong answer
When did he inform the police?
Or is he lying about this one as well?
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Can we get that icon Google news is using (man pointing a gun at his foot) for future SCO stories? It sums up Darl's reign at SCO so well.
0 1 - just my two bits
So faced with an embarrassing code exhibition which backfired with the code being attributed to non-Unix sources, SCO refuses to admit the truth.
Instead, they are attempting to foster the illusion that they showed *real* stolen code, but may have been premature in identifying how it got into Linux.
It wasn't stolen from System V and placed directly in Linux..No!
It was stolen from System V, placed in BSD, and then was placed in Linux.
*smacks head*
Of course... that should be enough to keep the stock price a float a while longer...
Cunning thieves I'd say!
So, where did you get Windows for DEC Rainbow?
I'm sincerely hoping that IBM is subpoening Canopus in order to pierce the corporate veil. ... They have to not only take down SCO, but also Canopus.
The most encouraging thought I've read today. Thanks!
AP: In what can only be described as man's greatest folley, Darl McBride(SCO) was responsible for creating a singularity, otherwise known as a black hole, in Utah, USA, Earth yesterday after filing yet another lawsuit against a free software competitor.
"I always knew that one would be trouble," God was quoted as saying, "but I never expected him to fuck up my whole plan."
The singularity was the result of stacking several tons of legal documents in a basement, as well as several bags of what Darl called "Juju magic pixie dust", otherwise known as crack.
When asked for comment, Linus Torvalds' angel said "See, I told you he was smoking crack!"
The singularity consumed Earth in a matter of seconds, killing everyone aboard. Rescue angels were sent to evacuate Europa's blooming alge population, which was in the path of the singularity. Europa's alge is considered one of the more important of God's creations.
"Well as soon as we heard, the rescue team was dispatched," said God. "There was no way we could save Earth, but the alge had just enough time."
God was reported to have been in meetings all afternoon to assess the damage, and to decide if this universe was fit enough to continue.
Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.
now SCO is targetting DEAD OSes! ;-)
You mean next they'll be targetting SCO Unix? ...er..wait a sec..
Unfortunately for this idea, there is ONLY one law governing copyright in the USA (USC-17), and it says you have to file in a FEDERAL court. Your local small-claims court is going to take you filing fee, look at the suit and say "no jurisdiction". Leaving you standing there a few dollars poorer and no closer to your goal.
If SCO wants to assert that BSD contains code that is in their IP portfolio, they're going to have to invent a time machine.
They could always just patent a time machine and then sue people who make calendars for violating their 'future forecasting IP'. Hey, it makes almost as much sense as what they proposed in the last couple of days.
Try reading at 0 sometimes newbie.
Darl has shown from his comments that he belongs to this insular group. Silly little games like the greek character obfiscation at his presentation: He appeared to be saying - this technical stuff is all greek to me, ha ha ha. Things like that show the contempt he has for technical staff. It's the old barbarian/farmer split from days gone past, where the barbarian warlord equally partitions off the land to farmers, and can't work out why some are pissed off that they got swampland.
Darl has shown signs of the clueless end of business culture (far divorced from the company actually doing anything) but it is making him money so it is not clueless to him. I can't see this ending well, without more regulation even more outlandish scams will become commonplace, more regulation can be used by the unscrupulous against their opponents. There's plenty of people that will just say "look at the stock price!" and consider that all other details are the problems for other people. This is Darl's group, these are the people he associates with, and also the people he "feeds off" to make himself richer. I beleive a description used in the past is "robber baron". Expect lots of appeals to patriotism and various other cheap tricks to come out of his mouth if things get tough for him.
Let's see how well that works against Linux-powered drones.
When the Unix code is compiled to binary, it contains nothing but ones and zeroes. So it's only a matter of time before they lay claim to those digits and go after anyone who uses them. And since Microsoft has already patented it, the next step for SCO is to sue them for the rights.
Just think that we should all remember history. Yeah, that's the Julius Caesar who borrowed a ton of money, partied it out, and then had to repay it, so got a governorship, and eventually built for himself an army to conquer Rome.
Just a thought: ever-escalating incredible stupidity sometimes works when a country is highly disordered. The USA is arguably highly disordered.
You're also the sort of guy who should get used to slightly chubby, plain looking women, unless you want to look forward to a future being alone.
From an atricle at Byte
Didn't Microsoft use some BSD code?
Uh-oh...
I have no legal training, but I would imagine that if every writer or contributor that has been infringed upon by Caldera's added licencing took their particular issue (as in code or code snippets, or project(s)) to court against Caldera, they might not be nearly so easily combined into a class action lawsuit. Individual projects might still have to have the multiple contributors filing as one suit, but if the kernel SMP team, the filesystems team, the IDE team, the memory allocation team, and the like could each launch lawsuits, as well as the authors of every one of the GNU utilities, Samba, the NFS services, and the like, it bring lots of extra lawsuits, lawsuits that might not be covered by the stock options that Boies et al. are receiving as payment. The only real downside would be if the copyright holders on the projects lost. An upside is that once one suit is ruled favourably for the author, that sets precedent that can be used in the other cases, regarding Caldera's actions.
Again, I don't have any legal training, though I did have to fight a criminal traffic ticket once...
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
linux zealots are one thing, attacking bsd will awaken hordes of bsd zealots who can be just a brutal, if not more..
;)
I think by then, he'll want to get real bodygaurds in place
I'm gonna laugh when these suits dont see light because SCO litigates (due to people not buying stock, and lawyers fees) themselves out of business, and do you think darl is gonna go down with the ship? nope, he's gonna sell his stock and take a few briefcases filled with cash and go to the bahamas before it does.
I think all this is a final cry for attention before they start sinking...fast.
they ahve prolly noticed that their stock is starting to plummet, so why not announce that they're now pulling another controversial lawsuit? if that doesnt work, then they're gonna be gone and a distant memory before you know it.
And IBM raises them organically, not pumping them full of antibiotics and growth hormones like Hardvard, Yale, Columbia and such.
... some of them go to Standford, too. :)
Not just Hardvard
Cheers,
IT
Power corrupts. PowerPoint corrupts absolutely.
Are you honest in your dealings with your fellow man?
Yes, brain fart on Canopy.
And while piercing the corproate veil is, indeed, not the proper term, Canopy has long tried to shield itself from shady doings by wholly owned subsidiaries, largely involving money shuffling to benefit the primaries who hold position only at Canopy. With enough lawyers, time, and money it's possible to prove that SCO was not acting independantly but rather under Canopy's direction -- and that would allow IBM to include Canopy in the lawsuits that are being leveled at SCO.
As for Boies -- he's not issuing press releases, but he has filed false information in a court of law. Several of the statements in the initial filing are outright lies, which would be easily debunked by even a cursory fact check. If Boies starts filing false evidence during the course of the case he can be found derilict and disbarred. The exceptional amounts of stock being offered as payment, plus the buyout option, could also engender a conflict of interest and that would be another strike.
And it's still in IBM's interest to cause damage to everyone involved in the lawsuit -- including the lawyers and investors. I doubt they'll go as far as investors (and it'd be hard to do, even harder than the lawyers), but IBM has a definite vested interest in quashing SCO and related parties so hard that it'll make any other company think twice before doing anything similar. This lawsuit is going to cost IBM a great deal of money -- for what's looking increasinly frivolous. Governments aren't the only ones that seek to "send a message" by means of harsh sentences.
Mod the parent up y'all, he's correct.
I read the this McBride said the most BSD grabbed from their code would be a few dozen lines.
They were important line...but a few dozen.
This amounts to complete bull.....
This is a smoke and mirror while Longhorn is being developed.. a good PR for MS. Keep the attention of how you might be sued by SCO...Windows is safe....
I remember a Saturday Night Live skit in which they attempted to parody the "Iron Chef". For those who have never seen the Iron Chef, it's a Japanese TV show that is essentially a cooking competition, with a sportscaster doing play-by-play. The problem: the real Iron Chef is already so over-dramatic that the parody could not even match the original concept, much less exceed it.
If The Onion did a bit on SCO, could they really make up something more bizarre than the true story?
He is really Michael Jackson in diguise... if he keeps throwing up lawsuits, he hopes he'll keep the legal system so tied up they won't be able to track him down for his 'liasons' with small boys... :P
I can see this guy getting death threats - but I doubt they're from geeks... Geeks don't get physical, they get even.
Screwing with bank accounts, utility service, vehicle registration, NCIC records, credit records, items showing up by the *truck* load, sending all kinds of demented porn items, DDOS attacks, that's our style...
Then again, most people simply relent and go hide when they can't handle the onslaught... This guy is one tough-skinned mutherfucker who might just need the next level eh?
And geeks still don't need to even get near him or his Cro-Mangnan guards...Can you say EMP or HERF? How about low-frequency sonic attacks (IIRC 7Hz can kill you at high powers, make you shit your pants in low powers)? High-frequency attacks - just enough to make you nuts... Rail gun anyone? Biological attacks - maybe just the flu, maybe just a cold...
Shit, if anyone was *really* serious about doing him bodily harm, there are these little things known as sniper rifles - you can be a mile away and whack the moron - guard or not...
And if anyone could have him whacked - it'd be some large corp...
Fucking SCO - they're absolutely nuts... I just can't wait for this crap to end... I'm sick of reading it already
"the average annual salary for Cravath partners is somewhere in the neighborhood of $2.0 million."
Dude I can name, like, ten jockeys who make twice that, and I've never watched a horse race in my life.
Then again, since the source of said salary, in Boise's case, is leeching off the hard work and productivity of the non-lawyerverse, I guess it's pretty good.
"Oh, well I'm sorry if you don't appreciate my random murders!" - Crow T. Robot,
First, what exactly are they attacking? The TCP/IP stacks in *nix? Secondly, why don't we just write a new compatible layer. I'm sure that if all Linux and *BSD developers are mad enough and want to work together we can put an alternative in place that will be even better than what is implemented currently. Let's just beat them at their own game? How can they play any longer after game over and we've moved on to better things?
Are they sure it's not BSD code?
My Blog
No, Pod SCO only bought the operating systems division from Classic SCO. Classic SCO is now known as Tarentella.
How many times are we going to let them do this?... "We aren't going to sue anyone" -- lawsuits now going on with IBM... "we're not going to charge anyone for our software" -- bills in the mail... "we're not going to sue anyone else" -- whispers of a lawsuit against BSD... how many times will this happen before we take SCO on as a serious threat to open source... Wake up folks... this is the divide and conquer strategy... similar to the -- say one thing, and quietly slip your hand around the back and slit the throat from behind -- strategy...
I wonder what part of SCO the HURD stole? Doubtless BeOS has some code SCO will claim as well. Indeed, I bet Turing's Bombes stole from SCO as did Babbage.
This is Darl McBride. He hires bodyguards because people infringing on his "intellectual property", while in fact being very nice and harmless scare him. (There are more of them.) Am I really the only one not surprised?
Sincerely,
Pan Tarhei Hosé, PhD.
"Homo sum et cogito ergo odi profanum vulgus et libido."
Geez, wouldn't it be too bad if he had a fatal car accident?! Imagine: he'd probably have more folks at his wake/funeral than anyone in the history of computing -- mostly to make sure he was REALLY dead and it wasn't another SCO FUD job. And if his lawyer, "colleagues", and henchmen were with him, can anyone here say they'd be emotionally distraught? Understand that I an NOT wishing anyone ill fate; I'm just conducting a thought experiment ;^)
Same argument holds: Pod SCO can sue the successor of Classic SCO, and the successor of Classic SCO can sue AT&T, for misrepresentation, if they didn't get what they thought they got. But none of that chain affects the rights AT&T gave to UC.
In different words, if Art sells a car to Uta, and then, a few years later, sells the same car to Susie, who sells the same car to Sally, then none of that is Uta's problem: the contract between Art and Uta is valid, and no matter what fraudulent or deceptive actions Art may engage after that point, they don't affect the original sale.
>>This is not an official diagnosis, by any means,
There is bound to be a few slashdot readers who could make an official diagnosis and post it in an article...
So SCO is suing everyone but microsoft, whom it made a deal with earlier this year? Hmmm. SCO is acting pretty irrational unless something else is happening. Proving that would be hard, but would break microsoft apart if it could be proven.
...that Redmond isn't behind all of this? The only company that this benefits is Microsoft. It doesn't do SCO a bit of good to ruin their own business. If they successfully attack open-source (or at least create doubt about open-source) then Microsoft wins. It's as simple as that. You can't get any more anti-competitive than this. Even my mother can see through the spin. The only possible winner here is M$.
This is going to be fun ! Federal judiciary (Utah, Delaware) to move to Linux. Shall we we see SCO sueing the judges ?!
PEC Solutions' press release says: "PEC will support the transition of the Judiciary's mission-sensitive applications, including case management, finance and accounting, probation and pretrial services, and case-tracking management systems to the Linux standard. PEC will provide Linux operating system and applications technical support and assistance, including planning, advice and recommendations, help desk support, installation and testing support, and full problem resolution."
Also in LWN.net http://lwn.net/Articles/59104/
Mach itself is derived from 4.2BSD I believe. NeXT's OS was then based on Mach 2.5 with a modified version of 4.3BSD running on top of it. Basically two BSDs in one...
can't someone please just buy SCO and close them down? this starts to get annoying
Excellent article by Frank Sorenson on Groklaw:
The SCO Group's List of "Infringing" Files -- How Might They Have Come Up With This List?
Wouldn't any agreement between the two actually be between Novell and Tarantella (old SCO). AFAIK Tarantella still owns SCO's patents.
Sponsored by Microsoft, SCO will attempt to win several key lawsuits which will appoint them the power to charge royalties on every other popular OS besides Windows and their own products. The payoff? Their stock soars every week or two, and the execs cash in. Then Microsoft buys them out and charges Apple royalties on every copy of OS X, and possibly Linux if it's not completely ruined. This is a ploy to re-take the market once and for all.
It'll never work, obviously, but all the pieces are there. How lame.
CAn'T CompreHend SARcaSm?
I'm sincerely hoping that IBM is subpoening Canopus in order to pierce the corporate veil.
Wish granted.
Here is a copy of the subpoena:
It seems rather obviouse that the SCO threats against Linux and BSD are for the purpose of inflating the stock prices. I expect the original IBM suit was for that purpose also. IOW, stock price manipulation. Isn't that illegal? Isn't that something the SEC exists to deal with?
I'm sure that the principles are quite quilty of securities fraud. Send them to club Fed.
BSD is dying... ...in the wonderful world of SCO it will if Darl McBride has anything to say on the matter!
perl -e 'print "Just another Perl newbie\n";'
It's Shakespeare! And one of his finest, I must admit.
Not Buzzword 2.0 compliant. Please speak english.
Thanks a lot for making me spit my coffee on the keyboard via nose! :-) +5, Funny! (Why isn't it modded as such?)
I'd hit it.
Looks to me like SCO are getting more and more frantic, alineating everyone in the industry. Who is actually still _buying_ their crappy UnixWare implemenation? Shouldn't we find out, and publish a "Hall of Shame" with actual SCO customers?
cpghost at Cordula's Web.
I'd suggest boycotting not only SCO, but more importantly, their customers. Let's find out who they are, and publish a "Hall of Shame."
Ditto for SCO stock holders!
cpghost at Cordula's Web.
Eh, beauty is a matter of personal taste--you like Angelina Jolie, I happen to like the one BSD chick (Ceren?).
On the other hand...ugly, as exemplified by Pam Anderson, is universal (except apparently for the 'tards who think she's hot).
"America has done some terrible things. But I know that Americans don't cheer when innocents die." -Dave Barry
That would be because I'm on the East Coast.
By the way, Stanford was covered in the "and such".
Yes, but the reasoning behind that subpoena is not yet clear.
The best part of this is the image used on Google Tech News. There was a story credited to TechNewsWorld with what I think should be the new icon/avatar for the SCO news here on slashdot.
It was an image of a business style shoe, likely NOT what most slashdotters wear (I'm thinking sandals or hiking boots...maybe sneakers), and a semi-automatic pistol pointing toward the shoe, with a hand on the pistol obviously ready to squeeze the trigger.
Classic!
Plant a tree in a developing country.
Well, at least the BSD snobs can stop saying, "Use BSD instead because SCO has no claim over that."
Lets not pick on the BSD people. Remember, they have the lord of darkness as their mascot. I am inclined to believe that since lawyers are all the servants of Satan, they will do BSD's bidding. As a matter of fact, I bet BSD owns Darl's soul, which brings up a potential conflict for Darl. Since BSD owns Darl's soul, can Darl sue them, and in what jurisdiction? I tend to believe that all of Darl's worldly goods, ideas and actions are derivitive property of the soul, and therefore belong to BSD. I would bet that BSD would be able to excercise the HELL AND ETERNAL DAMNATION clause of Darl's contract with the Father of Lies if he were to violate any provisions.
A word of warning Darl! FOR WHOM THE BELL TROLLS...IT TROLLS FOR YOU!
Actually, IIRC BYU has an excellent academic reputation.
Anyone know about that for sure? I seem to recall it from somewhere but am too lazy to Google any real info about it.
+++ATH0
I, for one, welcome our new trolling overlords.
Oh, wait. I don't.
And they aren't new overlords either.
Yeah, version is a bad way to say it. Derivative, perhaps, is better.
I agree with you, I it may be SCO isn't looking for a judgement of any kind. They haven't filed but one lawsuit - and that one I think they filed just to open the stage setting for a FUD campaign to discredit Linux and Open Source in the public eye.
So I guess it doesn't matter what they can do legally in regards to UCB v. AT they haven't actually begun a legal process at all. Thanks for the replies.
Awhile back, someone made a visit to SCO, signed the NDA, and described their experience. If you read down far enough, the person reporting this inquired about the settlement between AT&T and BSD. SCO claims that parts of this agreement have gone unenforced. At this time, it was speculated by the author of the report that the various BSDs might be next in the line of fire. I suspect, unfortunately, that they might be right.
If this is the case, then all the talk about re-opening a case that closed nine years ago, and if the courts will permit it, isn't relevant. Instead, the case is about whether or not the BSDs are violating the agreement, instead of overturning or modifying the agreement.
Unfortunately, if parts of the agreement between AT&T and BSD haven't been enforced, then it's quite possible SCO could have a legitimate case. Some of the settlement reached is confidential, and as stated by the author, SCO declined to say what terms have not been enforced. So until SCO makes a bigger issue of it, there's really no way to speculate if SCO will win, or what the effect might be on the BSDs.