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Darl Goes to Harvard

colinmc151 writes "Both Groklaw and Internet News are reporting on the visit made to Harvard University by Darl McBride, SCO president and CEO, and Chris Sontag SCO senior vice president. Darl and Chris made a presentation titled 'Defending Intellectual Property Rights in a Digital Age'. One protester gave out copies of Linux to all that attended. Bottom line SCO plans to carry on with the lawsuits. Best line was one student who when Darl asked if he was impacted by MyDoom.A e-mail virus answered 'No, I use Linux'." One MIT student has a write-up of the event as well...

112 of 425 comments (clear)

  1. Oh Darl, when will you ever learn? by __aavhli5779 · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Erica's question (the second to last, as McBride claimed "that girl really wants to ask a question") was "You've said you like the GPL, that you distribute GPL products, and that people should be able to contribute however they want. Why then did you claim in December that you believe the GPL violates the constitution, and US patent and trademark law?"

    McBride's response was essentially "look, over there, something shiny! next question!"


    Seems like the MIT students did a nice job putting him on the spot, but it's obvious that ol' Darl is pretty adept at deflecting any criticism or challenging questions and changing the subject when he finds the current one uncomfortable.

    What will it take to get him to address all the contradictory statements and lies that he and his cohorts seem to spout at every opportunity?

    Perhaps it's time to try to get that court date pushed up :)
    1. Re:Oh Darl, when will you ever learn? by Otter · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'd agree more strongly with your point if they'd mentioned what he actually said instead of describing how silly they think he is.

    2. Re:Oh Darl, when will you ever learn? by JohnLi · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I don't understand why they paraphrased McBride's comments? Why give a full quote of the question and then joke about the answer? Seems to make a serious discusion in an intimate setting look a bit high school.
      Sorry.

      --
      The / in /. would be more accurate if it leaned to the left. http://www.metricnut.com
    3. Re:Oh Darl, when will you ever learn? by eln · · Score: 4, Funny

      it's obvious that ol' Darl is pretty adept at deflecting any criticism or challenging questions and changing the subject when he finds the current one uncomfortable.

      Maybe he's just gearing up to run for President.

    4. Re:Oh Darl, when will you ever learn? by gowen · · Score: 5, Funny
      Maybe he's just gearing up to run for President.
      We will go on to IBM; then we're going on to Novell then on to Finland to take back UNIX! YEEEAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH
      --
      Athletic Scholarships to universities make as much sense as academic scholarships to sports teams.
    5. Re:Oh Darl, when will you ever learn? by Triumph+The+Insult+C · · Score: 4, Funny

      they can't you see. darl's comments belong to sco and are part of sco's ip portfolio

      darl's ass, however, belongs to ibm

      --
      vodka, straight up, thank you!
    6. Re:Oh Darl, when will you ever learn? by LargeMythicalReptile · · Score: 5, Informative
      I don't understand why they paraphrased McBride's comments? Why give a full quote of the question and then joke about the answer?
      (I'm not the author of the review, but I was at the talk)
      His answer to that particular answer was quite evasive and not particularly memorable--something along the lines of "We support the rights of authors to distribute their works, for free if they so choose." He did not at all address how this squares with the statement he made in December that the GPL is unconstitutional, which is, of course, what the student actually asked.
    7. Re:Oh Darl, when will you ever learn? by originalTMAN · · Score: 2, Insightful

      and thats a valid reason to mock and paraphrase his argument? If he's actually wrong what harm could it do to report his full rebuttal? Those are not the markings of mature debate.

    8. Re:Oh Darl, when will you ever learn? by myrdred · · Score: 2, Funny

      Obviously, because Darl's comments are the IP of SCO. If they were to quote them, Darl would make them pay a $699 fee for the use of SCO's IP. Therefore, they were paraphrased.

    9. Re:Oh Darl, when will you ever learn? by LittleLebowskiUrbanA · · Score: 2, Informative

      Um, maybe because they can't remember them verbatim and didn't think to bring a tape recorder?

    10. Re:Oh Darl, when will you ever learn? by spacecowboy420 · · Score: 4, Funny

      It went something like:
      ...I know he seems guilty. But ladies and gentlemen this is Chewbacca. Now think about that for one minute. That does not make sense. Why am I talking about Chewbacca when a man's life is on the line? Why? I'll tell you why. I don't know. It doesn't make sense. If Chewbacca does not make sense you must acquit. Here look at the monkey, look at the silly monkey. The defense rests."

      --
      ymmv
    11. Re:Oh Darl, when will you ever learn? by yoshi_mon · · Score: 2, Insightful

      From the MIT summary it was noted that at least some elements of SCO read /., it should be no suprise then that some of them astroturf as ACs here.

      I'm not suprised one bit that within every SCO thread here there is someone saying such silly things. If anything, I would be much more suprised if there were none.

      And luckily, even the densest of mods seem to know this and I've not seen anything that bad above +2 yet.

      --

      Really, I know what I'm doing...Ohhhh, look at the shiny buttons!
  2. There's one student... by bc90021 · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...who will see his tuition go up by $699 next year. ;)

  3. Not a bad idea by phaetonic · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Go to Harvard, spread FUD, gain support from future investors/business people and hope they support SCO in the future, if SCO is still around.

    1. Re:Not a bad idea by AKnightCowboy · · Score: 3, Interesting
      Go to Harvard, spread FUD, gain support from future investors/business people and hope they support SCO in the future, if SCO is still around.

      I never bought any SCO products and after the childish behavior they've displayed in handling this situation, I never will. If by some miracle they're given the power to decide on the fate of Linux I will wipe every system I have and put FreeBSD on it. SCO will never receive one nickel from me or any company I support.

  4. What kind of students were they? by halivar · · Score: 5, Funny

    Law or CS students? Either way, he should've been laughed off stage.

    Maybe he was speaking to fashion merchandising students (it is a nice suit, after all).

    1. Re:What kind of students were they? by LargeMythicalReptile · · Score: 5, Informative
      Law or CS students? Either way, he should've been laughed off stage.
      Speaking as one of the students there, I'd say there was a good mix of both. I went with a group of friends from MIT, all of whom were CS or related fields. We sat in front of two former-techie-turned-BU-law students and a non-student geek. However, not surprisingly, there were a significant number of Harvard law students there as well.

      As for being laughed off the stage, I don't think anyone in the audience really bought SCO's claims. The audience was realistically fairly polite, but unsympathetic--no one was outright laughing at him, but no one agreed with him either.

      As for the presentation itself, at its core, Darl seemed to say a few reasonable things--they claim ownership of a certain body of IP and that IBM distributed that IP illegally. Both of those claims are under contention, but he stated that that's for the courts to decide. This, to me, seems perfectly reasonable--I may not agree that SCO has a case, but they obviously think they do, and the courts are the proper forum to determine this.

      If it were just the contract dispute, I don't think there would be this violent reaction against SCO. It's all the FUD that comes with it--from "The GPL is unconstitutional" to "Linux gives computing infrastructure to terrorists, cyber- and otherwise"--that is causing the problem. We told Darl as much after the talk (no matter what you think of the man, it was cool to have the opportunity to talk with him face-to-face), and he seemed somewhat receptive to the fact that we're not all IP-hating copyright-hating hippies, we just don't like the FUD. Frankly, I don't think anything will come of that--it's too late to retract the many things that have been said, and PR will probably keep him on the same path--but there was a glimmer of hope, at least.

    2. Re:What kind of students were they? by lambadomy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I don't know, I think that this is mixed in with the on-going backlash against corporate litigation, ridiculous patents, and CEO compensation. People feel that SCO has no case, and that while the courts may be the place to sort it out, if SCO loses and the lawsuit is shown to be ridiculous absolutely nothing will happen to the architects of the lawsuit. Darl will make a lot of money, all for playing with the law. This is a nation steeped in the mantra of accountability, regardless of recent flirtations with "political correctness", but in cases like these it is hard to see. There is a real fear that even if/when Darl and SCO lose, they will have won, and that any company can take a similar nothing-to-lose roll of the dice with other peoples money.

    3. Re:What kind of students were they? by jefe7777 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      from reading this page:

      http://web.mit.edu/jonas/www/faim/

      here's a choice quote that is very important to me:

      "This isn't a group of crazy commie hippies who want to destroy their business model(SCO's), but rather, we're engineers and scientists (and law students) who recognize that they may have a valid claim, but tune them out when they(SCO) make irrational statements."

      and SCO sure does make a LOT of those irrational comments eh?

      SCO _is_ irrational. And if we can keep discrediting them with calm cool logic, and not froth at the mouth, we'll make headway.

      Awesome job guys! You guys are role models on how to handle FUD.

    4. Re:What kind of students were they? by abe+ferlman · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Well, let's be clear, there will be a loser: Microsoft. They're obviously behind this for two reasons:

      1. The bulk of SCO's funding since the beginning of the lawsuit has been from Microsoft
      2. Microsoft has softened their public FUD about linux. They're trying to let someone else play bad cop because they know when they criticize linux unfairly it makes others jump to the defense of linux AND blame Microsoft- when someone else does it for them, the first still happens but the second does not.

      It's obvious to informed observers, but not to the press.

      The winner so far seems to have been Novell though - people are beginning to see that they are being unfairly maligned, their stock has been climbing like gangbusters.

      --
      microsoftword.mp3 - it doesn't care that they're not words...
    5. Re:What kind of students were they? by Camel+Pilot · · Score: 3, Informative

      No! it is not the FUD that really tans my hide. It is the blatant heavy handed attempt to hijacking a large body of work, developed by others, as their own.

      He is quite aware that no SCO IP resides in Linux. This man is a thief or at best a con man.

    6. Re:What kind of students were they? by Makarakalax · · Score: 2, Informative
      They're obviously behind this for two reasons: ..

      2. Microsoft has softened their public FUD about linux. They're trying to let someone else play bad cop because they know when they criticize linux unfairly it makes others jump to the defense of linux AND blame Microsoft- when someone else does it for them, the first still happens but the second does not.


      While it is true that MS have stopped piping on their anti-Linux horn quite so much since SCO have been up to their mischief, it could of course be because they recognised that SCO were doing a better job than they were, and of course that the backlash would not be aimed at Redmond.

      That is, MS didn't necessarily pay for SCO's fud, they just recognised a good wave to ride when it came by.

      Naturally I don't believe that though, after all they did pay SCO millions of dollars for a "license". I think they saw an opportunity and took it.
    7. Re:What kind of students were they? by Dalcius · · Score: 2, Informative

      I disagree with a line in the writeup [1] related to what you're saying [2]:

      1. "Darl repeatedly returned to the issue of their IP being in linux, which I think is a very very valid point. ... He looked taken aback -- the people, who came with such a strong set of opinions against SCO, were saying that they agreed with the root of their case... But the message was getting lost amongst all their constant BS."

      2. "he seemed somewhat receptive to the fact that we're not all IP-hating copyright-hating hippies, we just don't like the FUD"

      Meeting someone in person, especially one who is good at politics, helps you see their frame of reference -- or the one they project anyway. This will often lead to the perception that someone is less crazy than they seem. The two quotes above, to me, imply that SCO might have a point and Darl is honestly trying to win this case, that this is a serious matter to him.

      Sorry if my implications are putting words in the mouths of the writers, but I'd like to point out a few things.

      1) SCO hasn't shown any valid proof, even in court, as of yet.

      2) Most of the that has been shown publicly has been shown to be public domain.

      3) SCO is asking IBM to open their code for comparison... but SCO has their own code as well as Linux's. This is about code in Linux, not AIX mind you. They're asking IBM to prove their case for them while refusing to show any of the proof they've been ranting about for the better part of a year.

      4) It's quite arguable that suing IBM for $3 billion is a joke.

      5) SCO released Linux under the GPL, even after the case had been filed. This is contradictory to their "GPL is unconstitutional, etc." claim. Either the GPL is valid and their IP is OSS or it is invalid and they're violating copyright.

      6) Verbal, contradicting comments saying A) This is about contract, end users are fine/We're going to sue people using Linux, B) Linux is "counter-cultural"/We use and sell Linux, it's great. They haven't even stuck with a transition here, they keep going back and forth.

      7) SCO is selling licenses for IP but they refuse to tell you what IP you're licensing. Note that this also violates the GPL.

      These things aren't just 'bad PR', these are actual stances SCO (and namely, Darl, who said many of the things I'm talking about) have. This stuff is common sense and public news. If Darl is truely running this $3 billion dollar lawsuit seriously, my only explaination is that he's absolutely stupid and out of touch with both reality, and his company.

      A good summmary: http://www.linux.org/news/sco/timeline.html

      Cheers

      --
      ~Dalcius
      Rome wasn't burnt in a day.
  5. Anything you say will be taken down and used ..... by Performer+Guy · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Daryl doesn't seem to be aware that his public comments may impact the trial. It's like the guy genuinely doesn't care about th eendgame as many here have observed.

    It must be pretty frustrating for Linux contributors to be attacked by a guy who is using the fruits of their labors on his own Linux system.

  6. Whoaa by savagedome · · Score: 3, Funny

    Darl Goes to Harvard

    Did anybody else shudder at the thought! :)

    1. Re:Whoaa by Kenja · · Score: 3, Funny

      Hey, some education would do the monkey some good.

      --

      "Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
    2. Re:Whoaa by B3ryllium · · Score: 5, Funny

      Finally, a true successor to Ernest Goes To Camp.

    3. Re:Whoaa by drinkypoo · · Score: 4, Funny

      The Monkey went to Harvard already.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    4. Re:Whoaa by beanyk · · Score: 4, Funny

      Finally, a true successor to Ernest Goes To Camp.


      Or "Debbie does Dallas".
  7. Forgot the subtitle by daeley · · Score: 4, Funny

    Hey, the poster forgot the subtitle for the presentation: "Defending Intellectual Property Rights in a Digital Age, or How to Make Money Without Really Trying"

    --
    I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate.
  8. Excellent! by DrugCheese · · Score: 4, Interesting

    We should organize more protests involving the giving away of free software.

    Now if they threw pig blood at them it would've made mainstream news. But something good and worthwhile to humanity? that's not news

    --
    *DrugCheese rants*
    1. Re:Excellent! by grasshoppa · · Score: 3, Funny

      Now if they threw pig blood at them it would've made mainstream news. But something good and worthwhile to humanity? that's not news

      I suggest a comprimise: Throwing free software at them.

      That way, everybody wins.

      --
      Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
    2. Re:Excellent! by MooCows · · Score: 3, Funny

      SCO is already giving away "free software"

      Only they charge $699 for it.

      --
      The path I walk alone is endlessly long.
      30 minutes by bike, 15 by bus.
    3. Re:Excellent! by Endive4Ever · · Score: 2, Insightful

      How was it 'good and worthwhile to humanity'?

      Likely not a single person who was given a Linux CD at the event will ever use it. They either already have a Linux system running or they're not likely to. It was a political gesture and nothing more.

      There's nothing at all wrong with that sort of political gesture, but it's essentially the equivalent of the pig blood you speak of.

      --
      ---
  9. The Important Part by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Lowest stock price for SCOX since August 2003.

    http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=SCOX

    At $13.54 at time of this posting, and has even gone down so low as $13.18 for the day range.

    -Joshua

    1. Re:The Important Part by IWorkForMorons · · Score: 4, Funny

      Yeah...and when I started paying attention to all of this, SCOX was at about $7. Whether they are the scourge of the OSS movement or not, I wished to hell I had jumped on that...

    2. Re:The Important Part by AndroidCat · · Score: 2, Informative
      Keep in mind that Darl might not want to pump the stock in this quarter. SCO sold a bunch of stock to RBC and friends at a higher fixed price such that if the price drops, SCO can make money on paper. A few SCO stories ago, someone pointed out that Darl's next chunk of stock options depend on SCO showing a paper profit--no matter how screwed up the accounting is to make that happen.

      Darl doesn't care what happens to SCO so long as he can jump off a foot before it hits the ground.

      --
      One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
  10. The part I do not understand... by John+Seminal · · Score: 5, Interesting
    McBride said that while Linux is the compilation of thousands of people donating their time and programming skills to improve kernel code created by Linus Torvalds, SCO deserves compensation for the improvements it made to Linux.

    I thought that the whole point of open source is so nobody can take the software, change it, and then sell it as their own. I thought any changes made became the property of the project, for everyone to use.

    For example, in the GPL it states:

    You must cause any work that you distribute or publish, that in whole or in part contains or is derived from the Program or any part thereof, to be licensed as a whole at no charge to all third parties under the terms of this License.

    --

    Rosco: "If brains were gunpowder, Enos couldn't blow his nose."

    1. Re:The part I do not understand... by GTRacer · · Score: 5, Informative
      ...nobody can take the software, change it, and then sell it as their own.

      Yeah, but IIRC, Darl is claiming someone took SCO IP, stuck it in Linux code, and distributed it as GPL, when in fact the code wasn't supposed to have been released. SCO then sued a bunch of Linux users.

      IBM called shenanigans, and one objective of the upcoming trial is to have SCO show just what code they claim is theirs, and so other kernel coders have a chance to defeat the claim on prior art or somesuch.

      GTRacer
      - IANAL

      --
      Defending IP by destroying access to it? That makes sense, RIAA/MPAA. Go to the corner until you can play nice!
    2. Re:The part I do not understand... by mindstrm · · Score: 4, Funny

      NDAs and whatno make sense when you are talking about "trade secrets".

      They do not make sense when applied to copyright law. The Unix SYSV code has been openly published on a wide scale for a LONG time... none of what was published can be called a secret. That does not mean there is no copyright protection, of course. You can't steal my code just because I published it.. but I can't go screamng that it's a secret and everyone has to sign an NDA so I can prove you stole my code. I can, of course, show my evidence.

      If IBM snuck code they did not have the rights to into Linux, they will be removed. The entire linux community is not guilty, IBM would be.

      All SCOs other claims are just to confuse the world... first it's a trade secret, then it's about copyrights, then it's about contract violation by IBM, then it's about the GPL being unconstitutional... then it's about WMD.....

    3. Re:The part I do not understand... by mindstrm · · Score: 2, Informative

      Careful with he word "property".

      Others get the right to distribute, but if you wrote half the code, published it under GPL, then I took your code, added an equal amount of my own, and released the result under GPL... You do not own my work, and I do not own yours. I can work within the terms of only the GPL as long as I include your code.

      You can take your code and license it however you want. You cannot take mine.

      The "project" itself, presumably meaning the code, cannot "own" property, it is not a legal entity, it is a body of code under a license.

      People are free to take your work under GPL, modify it, and sell it... they can do whatever they want with it.. as long as it is within the terms of the license.

      As for claiming it's theirs... that might get tricky. The GPL doesn't forbid it, but it is fraudulent.

    4. Re:The part I do not understand... by tkrotchko · · Score: 4, Insightful

      "Darl is claiming someone took SCO IP, stuck it in Linux code, and distributed it as GPL"

      Yes, and according to Groklaw, that person or persons are Caldera, which is what SCO used to be called.

      --
      You were mistaken. Which is odd, since memory shouldn't be a problem for you
    5. Re:The part I do not understand... by HiThere · · Score: 3, Insightful

      To be extra fair, we don't really know what they are claiming was stolen. (And they aren't always just claiming illicitly copied, though I'm sure that's what they mean.)

      But, since we don't know what they are claiming ownership of, we don't know that it's the part that Caldera contributed.

      OTOH, whenever we've been able to pin them down to something specific, it's been quickly shown to be an invalid claim. Still, proving that parts of their claim is invalid doesn't really prove that their claim is totally without merit.

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
  11. The Abbreviated Text by Scoria · · Score: 2, Interesting

    'Defending Intellectual Property Rights in a Digital Age'

    "Rather than go out and just say, 'Let's go sue everybody now,' we're coming out with a well-thought-out program." - excerpted from WLTSIM

    --
    Do you like German cars?
  12. Re:Choice of venue? by stratjakt · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'm sure most people were expecting "Darl Goes to Clown College".

    Six of one, half dozen of the other.

    --
    I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
  13. Find the SCO Source Code by kidgenius · · Score: 4, Funny
    1. Re:Find the SCO Source Code by hondo77 · · Score: 3, Funny

      If you keep carping about that cod site, it's going to flounder.

      --
      I live ze unknown. I love ze unknown. I am ze unknown.
  14. Re:Obvious answer by smellystudent · · Score: 3, Funny

    Methinks you're missing the meaning.
    Darl: Were you impacted by MyDoom?
    Student: No, I use Linux.

    --
    Predictive text is shiv!
  15. I saw this back in the 80's by dustwun · · Score: 4, Funny

    When it was called Ernest goes to Jail.
    This is akin to reading the details of a year long train wreck. I somehow feel dirty every time I read the next SCO news.

  16. The tuition bill by AtariAmarok · · Score: 2, Funny

    "Mr. McBride, that will be $699 per credit hour"

    --
    Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
  17. Great job, Eric Jonas, but... by Muad'Dave · · Score: 5, Funny

    What I want to know is what do Erica and Clare look like? Pics, dammit!

    --
    Tiller's Rule: Never use a word in written form that you've only heard and never read. You will end up looking foolish.
    1. Re:Great job, Eric Jonas, but... by kumanopuusan · · Score: 2, Funny

      Why don't you just ask google?

      --
      Use of the words "good", "bad" or "evil" is almost invariably the result of oversimplification.
  18. Re:Obvious answer by Carthag · · Score: 5, Informative

    It's a badly phrased sentence, it should have been written something like: "When Darl asked a student if he was impacted by the MyDoom.A email virus, the student replied, "no, I use Linux."

  19. Classic! by pb · · Score: 2, Funny

    At one point, McBride, explaining what he thinks is the Linux community's efforts to damage SCO through Web site attacks, asked a student whether he was affected by the MyDoom.A e-mail virus, which targeted Outlook and Outlook Express users and installed malicious code used to launch a massive distributed denial of service attack (define).

    The attack, which began over the weekend and culminated Sunday, swamped SCO's home page domain name and forced the company to move it to another Monday morning.

    When asked the question, the student replied with a hint of humor in his tone: "No, I have Linux."

    It's great to see anecdotes like this making it into the media. :)
    --
    pb Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate.
    1. Re:Classic! by pb · · Score: 4, Funny

      SCO can distort anything...

      "Interest in SCO has never been higher, hits to our website are off the charts!"

      --
      pb Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate.
  20. Re:Anything you say will be taken down and used .. by mr.capaneus · · Score: 2, Informative

    Dude,
    Re-read the quote. It is the student who said he is using Linux not Darl.

  21. Re:Anything you say will be taken down and used .. by c0d3h4x0r · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Suggested Linux kernel addition:

    if (UserName=="DarylMcB")
    {
    DeleteAllPartitions();
    int x=x/0;
    }

    --
    Moderator hint: a comment is neither "Flamebait" nor "Troll" if it is true.
  22. SCO got compensation by nuggz · · Score: 5, Insightful

    SCO got compensation for the work they submitted to the Linux kernel.
    Their compensation was a licence to use and distribute all the other code.

    1. Re:SCO got compensation by Endive4Ever · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Since they got that for free anyway, no, it wasn't compensation.

      --
      ---
    2. Re:SCO got compensation by Fnkmaster · · Score: 2, Informative

      Close, but it's more specific than that. The compensation they received for distributing their code under the GPL was the same compensation anybody gets for distributing code under the GPL - the guarantee that the licensee will have to release any of their modifications and improvements to SCO's code under the GPL. So SCO got to benefit from others' contributions and improvements to their contributed code, such as the linux-abi code that they developed and released to improve compatibility between Linux and SCO UNIX.

  23. Groklaw /.ed already? by zaba · · Score: 5, Informative
    I can still get it (though it's getting slow), so here ya go:

    Darl Goes to Harvard - My First Quick Impressions
    Monday, February 02 2004 @ 08:48 PM EST

    I watched the webcast and while I lost the stream once or twice, I heard the bulk of it. No doubt others will fill in the blanks, and I took some pictures off the screen which will at least give you a flavor when I get them up. Soon.

    The big news is that they say they will start to sue copyright end users by February 18. The other news is that he asked the audience if they had gotten infected by MyDoom, and he pointed to one guy who beautifully answered, "No, I use Linux, so I wasn't affected," and the room laughed. Darl wasn't happy about that and it was clear he didn't like the questions about the ABI files. He said that Linus claimed only two, and there were the rest they can sue over, though they still plan to contest Linus' claims in court.

    Someone mentioned an article that had lessened his credibility on the other ABI files, that it had said it looked like they had distributed them under the GPL. And it was like he turned dark and stormy and paced and tried not to show his anger. But it showed. Then he said that the BSDi settlement was about those same header files, and they know what is in that sealed settlement and we don't, but there were three kinds of files addressed in that settlement: files that had to be removed, files that had to have copyright notices put on them, and files that were ok. They claim that the files they will be suing over lack the copyright notices, plus some files that were supposed to be removed, IIRC. And the DMCA says it's a violation to strip off copyright information, so I gather they intend to go after end users for "stripping off" copyright information on those header files. Ridiculous and cynical as that may sound, that is their strained plan. No doubt they figure the DMCA gives them muscles that AT&T didn't have back when the original case was before the courts. But those are the files. Sontag hinted that they might add copyright claims to the IBM case over those same header files at some point.

    My overall impression was that they were very uncomfortable. It began with calls for civility, which turned out not to be necessary. Everyone was polite. But clearly Harvard had gotten a lot of complaints, judging from their remarks. They have invited Chris Stone of Novell to speak there in three weeks on February 23. Details will be on their website.

    They continued to repeat the same untrue "facts" about the GPL, that it forces you to give your software away free, blah blah. I hardly think explaining it one more time will help them, since it's clearly volitional. They've got their story and they're sticking to it. Darl said when you go to court, the rubber hits the road. I assume he means by that you have to get it actually sorted out with facts. He was asked how he can sue without having established copyrights, but he danced around without answering that directly. No doubt that rubber will hit the road when he sues the first end user.

    Clearly they have something in that settlement agreement, which Noorda was a party to, and the rest of us were not, and they plan on springing it on a startled and totally innocent end user soon, who will be befuddled as to how he is responsible for complying with a sealed agreement he isn't a party to and doesn't have a clue what it says. Of course, they don't tell you what it says. They would rather surprise you. Well, good luck, cowboys. We'll see how it plays in a court of law.

    He tried to answer Eben Moglen's illustration about going to Barnes and Noble and buying a book and having SCO leap into your living room and say, I'm suing you for reading that book. He said it's more like you get the book without paying for it and then you make copies and give them to 500 friends. He said that is how it is with Linux. Companies get one copy and make tons more. The part he misses is that the writers of the code have no problem with that,

  24. It is well he has learned... by ackthpt · · Score: 2, Funny
    He's going to be asked more difficult questions when SCO loses. Deflect that.

    "After the superbowl another sighting, a couple of boobies were spotted hanging out at Harvard."

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
  25. Civil disobedience by nuggz · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Civil disobedience is knowingly breaking a law because it is unjust.

    It is not performing a legal act despite very vague accusations that it may violate some law or contract.

  26. Re:Darl Goes to Harvard? by Slack0ff · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Another example of how going to colledge ends in brainwashing. Any respectable school, much less an Ivy League Law school should be able to see through this desperate attemp of sco's to make an easy dollar. They expected the underfunded linux orginazations to roll over at their demands and payup. Guess it didnt work did it Darl? Now to cover your own ass you have to go through with the lawsuits and get beaten.

    --
    Everyday You see me is the worst day of my life -Office Space
  27. Not necessarily by Wudbaer · · Score: 3, Informative

    I thought that the whole point of open source is so nobody can take the software, change it, and then sell it as their own.

    This applies fully only to GPL and closely related licenses. BSD-like licenses enable people to do exactly this while IMO still being open source licenses. Open source != Open Source.

  28. Evil is afoot by paiute · · Score: 5, Funny

    Darl goes to Harvard. Gates went to Harvard. When you are at MIT, you come to realize that evil lives up the river. Like they built over a fucking Indian graveyard or something. Kissinger? Hearst? Updike? Kaczynski? Love Story? Hello?

    --
    If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
    1. Re:Evil is afoot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      My favourite story about Harvard is from the satirical Canadian show "Talking to Americans" where the host asks the Harvard professor how long he's been a professor ("7 years" is the answer) and then asks his opinion of Canada giving Irish people the right to vote. His super serious, studied reply? "I think that's probably a good idea".

  29. Re:Anything you say will be taken down and used .. by JWW · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It's like the guy genuinely doesn't care about th eendgame as many here have observed.

    No, its just that his endgame is when he sells his final share of inflated stock and runs off.

    I really hope that when someone picks up the scraps of SCO when all this is said and done, that they can find something in the corporate documents that will incriminate Darl in this pump and dump scheme. It will of course have to be a document they forgot to shred ;-)

  30. Re:He'd better gone to Yale... by ENOENT · · Score: 3, Funny

    Darl is going to Yale after the trial is over. Yust wait und see.

    --
    That's "Mr. Soulless Automaton" to you, Bub.
  31. Tomorrow, the judge rules by Animats · · Score: 4, Informative
    Tomorrow, the judge rules on whether SCO has "identified with specificity" the alleged infringements. SCO has already been ordered by the judge to comply. That happened back in December. The order is below. Notice item 4. Tomorrow, the judge rules on whether they did comply.
    • Order granting [68-1] motion to compel discovery, granting [44-1] motion to compel Discovery.

      The SCO Group is hereby ORDERED:

      • 1) To respond fully and in detail to Interrogatory Nos. 1-9 as stated in IBM's First Set of Interrogatories.
      • 2) To respond fully and in detail to Interrogatory Nos 12 and 13 as stated in IBM's Second Set of Interrogatories.
      • 3) IBM is to provide SCO a list of requested documents as stated in IBM's First and Second Requests for the Production of Documents and SCO is to produce all requested documents.
      • 4) To identify and state with specificity the source code(s) that SCO is claiming form the basis of their action against IBM. This is to include identification of all Bates numbered documents previously provided.
      • 5) To the extent IBM's requests call for the production of documents or are met by documents SCO has already provided, SCO is to identify with specificity the location of responsive answers including identification of the Bates numbered documents previously provided if applicable.
      • 6) If SCO does not have sufficient information in its possession, custody, or control to specifically answer any of IBM's requests that are the subject of this order, SCO shall provide an affidavit setting forth the full nature of its efforts, by whom they were taken, what further efforts it intends to utilize in order to comply, and the expected date of compliance. SCO is required to provide such answers and documents within thirty days from the date of this order. All other discovery, including SCO's Motion to Compel is hereby STAYED until this Court determines that SCO has fully complied with this Order.

    In that one line of boldface above, the judge captured the key issue. No amount of PR spin control will help SCO in court tomorrow.

    1. Re:Tomorrow, the judge rules by stratjakt · · Score: 2, Insightful

      But Part 6 says if they dont, they can just blow some smoke up the judges robe instead.

      --
      I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
    2. Re:Tomorrow, the judge rules by jrumney · · Score: 3, Funny
      Tomorrow, the judge rules on whether SCO has "identified with specificity" the alleged infringements.

      So you're the one who was DoSing SCO's website 2 days early.

    3. Re:Tomorrow, the judge rules by jpetts · · Score: 2, Interesting
      If SCO tries to temporise again, I think that that run a serious risk of pissing of Judge Cindy Wells. In the hearing on 5 December, the first thing that the judge said in the courtroom was:
      Judge: Intention is to grant IBM's motion to compel delivery (interrogatives 12 and 13) . Plaintiff to file responses within 30 days. Postpone discovery until compliance achieved. There is a protective order in place
      (taken from court minutes).
      It appears from the transcript (which you can find - along with the usual excellent discussion - on Groklaw that Judge Wells' patience with SCO is growing thin. It is reported on that page (admittedy by a probably biased observer) that:
      Judge Wells seemed to have little patience for the filibuster She stated that the proceedings needed to conclude before noon (probably lunchtime!), but with both sides having a chance to state their case. She interrupted McBride several times to help focus him back on the point of the hearing. She was very fair and direct. She gave McBride every chance to convince her that she should not grant IBM's motions. She brought up several points that weren't directly addressed during arguments, indicating that she had read and absorbed the material, and noticed some of SCO's antics. She especially did not seem impressed about handing over the code on paper, rather than in a useable format. McBride remarked that he believed they had resolved that problem.
      --
      Call me old fashioned, but I like a dump to be as memorable as it is devastating - Bender
  32. 'No, I use Linux' by mumblestheclown · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Funny, I use Linux too, and nevertheless mydoom affects me substantially. for example, my ISP's mail servers are slow as hell because of this crap. So slow, that I couldn't even get to my mail for much of today.

  33. CItation for the record by Performer+Guy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    "..claims that a member of the linux community claimed that a high-level linux hacker was responsible for at least one of the attacks (I'd love to see that citation). "

    This was Eric Raymond acting as self appointed champion and bull in a china shop during an earlier attack.

    http://linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2003- 08 -25-010-26-NW-CY-LL&tbovrmode=3

    Personally I think Eric Raymond is a darned fool for saying 'we' etc as if this was a community effort. Eric saying he's ashamed for us all plays right into SCO's hands. This was not the community, it was one lone criminal acting for themselves. Presenting it as something else is both inaccurate and damaging.

  34. Full writeup text, (site slashdotted.) by Andreas(R) · · Score: 3, Informative

    Free as in Maaah!
    Or, My Chat with Darl McBride
    see, "Free as in Speech" vs "Free as in beer" are different types of freedom. The Cheat goes "Maaah!"

    2 February 2004

    Those of you who know me know I don't miss lab on a whim. But when Erica zephyred me saying that Darl McBride (head of SCO) was speaking at Harvard, I knew we had to do something. Our first thought was, in proud MIT tradition, a hack. May be water balloons, maybe paper airplanes. But hacks are hard to do without causing some sort of damage, and these people have proven that they are willing to sue everyone in sight.

    Our obvious choice, then, was to provide anti-FUD. Based on help from people on my zephyr class, we assembled a nice set of flyers full of pro-Linux and pro-GPL information. We figured that, as this was a talk put on by the Harvard Journal of Law and Technology, the audience would mostly be lawyers. Maybe they've never heard of the GPL? Maybe they think Linux is some sort of furry pet?

    So we made up these flyers. They were all done in Adobe Illustrator under Windows (Oh, the irony!) but looked really professional. Above all, we wanted to go and present the non-RMS, non-crazy-anti-IP side of linux. We even dressed up.

    * What Is Linux
    * SCO vs Open Source : A timeline
    * Quotations between SCO, Linus, and the FSF

    Oh, and in each packet of information (in a nice little folder, might I add) we included a burned copy of Knoppix 3.3 (which Erica and I stayed up late last night mass-producing in an Athena cluster). Knoppix is great because 1. it's only a single CD and 2. it'll let non-linux-users try linux without any potential risk.

    The Handout
    We decided to leave Fourth East at around 5:00 or so. Some people would be late, but in the end we had myself, Erica, Dave W, Vimal, Javier, Clare, and Ike there. We took up a whole row in the room (which, by the way, was beautiful -- Harvard has some nice buildings!)

    At around 6:05 (the talk was scheduled to begin at 6:30) we decided to get started. Our 60 handouts, complete with Knoppix CDs, were ready. Erica and I went out in front of the auditorium, and Clare et. al. stayed behind, to hand them out to people already inside. Upon meeting some people from the Journal, they admitted that they knew Darl would be a contentious speaker, and simply asked that we tell people that we were in no way affiliated with the journal or Harvard.

    Our speech went something like "Hi, we're not affiliated with this talk in any way, we're just a group of concerned MIT students who have some information about Linux, the GPL, and SCO that we'd like to provide to perhaps counter some of the claims that will be made by the speaker tonight." Only one person said no to a handout. Several said that we were "preaching to the choir", others admitted to having run linux for many years.

    The Talk
    Once the talk begin, Darl introduced himself and rambled a bit about the superbowl. At this point he announced that he had several coworkers with him, two of whom looked, I kid you not, like Agents (were Agent Smith et. al. collecting social security). These guys never smiled, all night.

    McBride starts off by talking about the role of intellectual property in the digital age. He talks briefly about copyright law in the digital age, and asks about Napster, and then talks about linux being free, and seems to be suggesting that "free things on the internet require violation of copyright". He traces through the ownership of UNIX IP, and then argues that the change between 2.2 and 2.6 was largely due to corporate help.

    He also repeatedly argues that, per recent supreme court decisions, copyright exists to benefit the public by creating profit incentive. He keeps painting the IP debate as a pendulum swinging between public and private ownership, but continually stresses "Do we want a world where all IP is free?" which of course, no one is arguing for. He mentions that the GPL hasn't been tested in court (an allegation nic

  35. Interesting point in the student's write-up... by rewt66 · · Score: 2, Informative
    At this point he [Darl] announced that he had several coworkers with him, two of whom looked, I kid you not, like Agents (were Agent Smith et. al. collecting social security). These guys never smiled, all night.

    Maybe Darl wasn't just blowing smoke when he said he had hired some security guards...

  36. P.S. that citation for the record by Performer+Guy · · Score: 2, Informative

    Here's a link to ESR's original post where he forgot his meds and acts like he's on an episode of The Lone Gunmem. So this is what Daryl is talking about in his Harvard presentation.

  37. wow! by Mr_Silver · · Score: 5, Funny
    Best line was one student who when Darl asked if he was impacted by MyDoom. A e-mail virus answered 'No, I use Linux'

    I'm not sure what I'm more impressed by - the fact that an email virus can talk, or that it's speaking at Harvard on behalf of Darl.

    --
    Avantslash - View Slashdot cleanly on your mobile phone.
  38. there there by neko9 · · Score: 5, Funny

    He discusses MyDoom, and also evidently someone on slashdot who posted his home address and phone number, resulting in a DDOS of his house during the superbowl

    Darl reads slashdot??!!
    and can you imagine your house in denial of service? and distributed? all rooms are denying you sevice... even toilet... oh horror :-)

  39. RMS is not crazy! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Above all, we wanted to go and present the non-RMS, non-crazy-anti-IP side of linux.

    [..]

    We're having the law forced on us, and if we're not careful, one day we're going to wake up in a world where IP restrictions will take all the fun out of engineering.

    Maybe you should go back and listen to "crazy" RMS when he talks about these legal issues. Which he's talked about since day one. And people laughed at him.

    When the FSF insists on paperwork for all major contributions, there's a good reason. When they insist that all copyrights be centralized with the FSF, there's a good reason.

    Linus may be popular to us geeks because of his easygoing nature, but easygoing gets you eaten alive out in the real world.

  40. Re:Anything you say will be taken down and used .. by nettdata · · Score: 3, Funny

    Daryl doesn't seem to be aware that his public comments may impact the trial

    He does so! Daryl is perfectly aware of the situation and is acting like any litigiously-aware, sane, comprehending human with a clue should.

    Darl, on the other hand...

    ;)

    --



    $0.02 (CDN)
  41. SCO brings a "sharpshooter" to a Darlnote... by kuwan · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I got this off of the SCOX yahoo board:

    'Electronic terror' in Linux's shadow

    You'll find this about 2/3 of the way through the article:

    When SCO Group chief executive officer Darl McBride appeared at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas in November to deliver a keynote speech at CD Expo, the company brought a sharpshooter along for protection.

    And they call the Linux community fanatical! :)

  42. Settlement by ubeans · · Score: 3, Funny

    Can we just settle for GNU/SCO/Linux :)

  43. Look at part 6 by A+nonymous+Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    6) If SCO does not have sufficient information in its possession, custody, or control to specifically answer any of IBM's requests that are the subject of this order, SCO shall provide an affidavit setting forth the full nature of its efforts, by whom they were taken, what further efforts it intends to utilize in order to comply, and the expected date of compliance. SCO is required to provide such answers and documents within thirty days from the date of this order. All other discovery, including SCO's Motion to Compel is hereby STAYED until this Court determines that SCO has fully complied with this Order.

    Notice ... if they don't comply, they have to state why, and how they tried, and only have thirty days from back in December to do it, and they still can't get to their own discovery until IBM's discovery is complete. All SCO would do is make their own case weaker and weaker.

  44. Therefore, they were paraphrased. by krygny · · Score: 2, Funny

    That would make the paraphrase a derivative work of the quotation. There's trouble.

    --
    Research shows that 67% of those who use the term "research shows", are just making shit up.
  45. Um, doesn't this belong... by msimm · · Score: 2, Funny

    in the games section?

    --
    Quack, quack.
  46. All your SCO are belong to Nigeria by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    (from Ars Technica)
    The Nigerian SCO Connection

    DEAR SIR/MADAM:

    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 YOUR BECAUSE WE HAVE HAD NO PREVIOUS COMMUNICATIONS OR BUSINESS DEALINGS BEFORE NOW.

    MY ASSOCIATES HAVE RECENTLY MADE CLAIM TO COMPUTER SOFTWARES 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.

    IN THE EARLY 1970S THE AMERICAN TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH CORPORATION DEVELOPED AT GREAT EXPENSE THE COMPUTER OPERATING SYSTEM SOFTWARE KNOWN AS UNIX. UNFORTUNATELY THE LAWS OF MY COUNTRY PROHIBITED THEM FROM SELLING THESE SOFTWARES AND SO THEIR VALUABLE SOURCE CODES REMAINED PRIVATELY HELD. UNDER A SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT SOME PROGRAMMERS FROM THE CALIFORNIA UNIVERSITY OF BERKELEY DID ADD MORE CODES TO THIS OPERATING SYSTEM, INCREASING ITS VALUE, BUT NOT IN ANY WAY TO DILUTE OR DISPARAGE OUR FULL AND RIGHTFUL OWNERSHIP OF THESE CODES, DESPITE ANY AGREEMENT BETWEEN AMERICAN TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH AND THE CALIFORNIA UNIVERSITY OF BERKELEY, WHICH AGREEMENT WE DENY AND DISAVOW.

    IN THE YEAR 1984 A CHANGE OF REGIME IN MY COUNTRY ALLOWED THE AMERICAN TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH CORPORATION TO MAKE PROFITS FROM THESE SOFTWARES. IN THE YEAR 1990 OWNERSHIP OF THESE SOFTWARES WAS TRANSFERRED TO THE CORPORATION UNIX SYSTEM LABORATORIES. IN THE YEAR 1993 THIS CORPORATION WAS SOLD TO THE CORPORATION NOVELL. IN THE YEAR 1994 SOME EMPLOYEES OF NOVELL FORMED THE CORPORATION CALDERA SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL, WHICH BEGAN TO DISTRIBUTE AN UPSTART OPERATING SYSTEM KNOWN AS LINUX. IN THE YEAR 1995 NOVELL SOLD THE UNIX SOFTWARE CODES TO SCO. IN THE YEAR 2001 OCCURRED A SEPARATION OF SCO, AND THE SCO BRAND NAME AND UNIX CODES WERE ACQUIRED BY THE CALDERA SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL, AND IN THE FOLLOWING YEAR THE CALDERA SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL WAS RENAMED SCO GROUP, OF WHICH I CURRENTLY SERVE AS CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER.

    MY ASSOCIATES AND I OF THE SCO GROUP ARE THEREFORE 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. AS YOU CAN PLAINLY SEE, 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.

    UNFORTUNATELY WE ARE HAVING DIFFICULTY EXTRACTING OUR FUNDS FROM THESE COMPUTER SOFTWARES. TO THIS EFFECT 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 IN YOUR BUSINESS ENTERPRISE. UNFORTUNATELY WE ARE NOT ABLE AT THIS TIME TO SET A PRICE ON THESE RIGHTS. THEREFORE 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.

    KINDLY TREAT THIS REQUEST AS VERY IMPORTANT AND STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL. I HONESTLY ASSURE YOU THAT THIS TRANSACTION IS 100% LEGAL AND RISK-FREE.

  47. The best part: by tundog · · Score: 2, Interesting

    At this point we've strayed so far from his original copyright infringement claims that I believe the audience is a bit lost, recognizes this as FUD, and appears to be leafing through our handouts.


    ROTFL

    --
    All your base are belong to us!
  48. Re:Who cares about any of that! by ichimunki · · Score: 2, Funny

    It's nice to see someone whose priorities haven't been affected by these trying times and who can remind us all that people-- especially family-- are more important than machines. Thank you. ;)

    --
    I do not have a signature
  49. Re:Anything you say will be taken down and used .. by RetroGeek · · Score: 3, Informative

    No, this is valid code. It will even work since most compilers will find all instances of identical strings and equate their locations:

    char *UserName = "DarylMcB";

    if (UserName=="DarylMcB")
    //do something everytime!

    It works because UserName is set to the address of the static char array "DarylMcB".

    --

    - - - - - - - - - - -
    I am a programmer. I am paid to produce syntax not grammar. Deal with it.
  50. Re:Anything you say will be taken down and used .. by jpetts · · Score: 2, Informative

    inflated stock

    It's looking a little less inflated right now.

    --
    Call me old fashioned, but I like a dump to be as memorable as it is devastating - Bender
  51. Re:Choice of venue? by ShieldW0lf · · Score: 3, Funny

    Darl Goes to Clown College

    Don't you mean Darl Goes to Con-College?

    --
    -1 Uncomfortable Truth
  52. Best Line that most people probably over looked by SpyPlane · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Above all, we wanted to go and present the non-RMS, non-crazy-anti-IP side of linux.

    --
    "We need a fourth law of Robotics: Stop Fingering My Wife"
  53. Re:Anything you say will be taken down and used .. by cnkeller · · Score: 3, Insightful
    It's looking a little less inflated right now

    Hardly. If you look at the year graph, it's still outstanding. It took a similar dip in August before climbing to dizzying new heights. I don't think SCO has much of a leg to stand on from a legal perspective, but the fact that remains anyone who bought at the last dip and was smart enough to sell a month doubled their money. Not a bad ROI for 30 days.

    --

    there are no stupid questions, but there are a lot of inquisitive idiots

  54. SCO can't get what it ultimately wants by empraptor · · Score: 2, Insightful

    SCO doesn't want to make public what part of Linux infringes on their IP because they WANT their code to remain in Linux and make money off it. Yes? No?

  55. and then... by Cruciform · · Score: 3, Funny

    Best line was one student who when Darl asked if he was impacted by MyDoom.A e-mail virus answered 'No, I use Linux'."

    At this point Darl wrung his hands gleefully and said "Sic 'im boys!". Two heavyset men set upon the freeloading nerd and, after a brief struggle, relieved him of his wallet. "Anyone else use Linux?", Darl jeered, as he pocketed 2 dollars, fifty five cents, and an expired bus pass.

  56. To really make the point stick... by gosand · · Score: 2, Insightful
    It sounds like the students were pretty well informed, at least more than the speakers were. I think to really drive the point home, nobody should have showed up.

    I mean, having SCO speak on how to defend intellectual property rights is like Bill Gates giving a speech on business ethics.

    --

    My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.

  57. Distancing ourselves from extremists. by borgheron · · Score: 4, Insightful

    All,

    It's difficult to believe that these attacks (DDoS) and threats on SCO might be from GNU/Linux users.

    Despite the timing of the attacks, all of the evidence is highly circumstantial.

    We, as a community, however, must distance ourselves from extremists or extremist activities such as this by whatever means possible.

    We cannot compromise our core values which are embodied by the work done on Open Source and Free Software, but we also cannot allow corporations to usurp our hard work.

    We must, *above all else*, allow this to play out in court as this is the *only* way to make certain something like this doesn't happen again.

    This is my message and, while I can't speak for the community, I believe these statments to be undeniable. I, personally, don't think a Linux user is behind the attacks, but if it is, then it's one person or a small group of people who are acting foolishly and should not reflect on the community as a whole.

    Thanks, GJC

    --
    Gregory Casamento
    ## Chief Maintainer for GNUstep
  58. Re:Harvard's reputation is forever tarnished by BCW2 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Stanford? The place where anyone can drop a class for any reason on the last day of the semester? All GPA's were made meaningless by this school!

    --
    Professional Politicians are not the solution, they ARE the problem.
  59. Jump on it now!! by MongooseCN · · Score: 3, Funny

    Let's all invest our money in SCO stock! With the luck we're all having with corporate abuse and the IT industry in general, the stock is bound to plummet after we invest in it.

  60. One comment I'd like to have seen made... by hankaholic · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I really wish that when Darl stated that the GPL hadn't been tested in court, someone had pointed out that neither had SCO's assertions.

    At least one argument they're using against the GPL can be used against the claim that anyone should pay them $699 per CPU.

    --
    Somebody get that guy an ambulance!
  61. Words From a Desparate Man by CodeBuster · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Darl knows that he will never win against IBM et al in court, even if his claims had some merit, which they don't, IBM has enough cash, credit, and lawyers to squash a relatively small company like SCO. The indemnifications that IBM and others are offering to their clients are the legal equivalent of "an attack against one is an attack against all" treaties such as the one governing NATO. IBM, RedHat, and others will close ranks and take a "we don't negotiate with terrorists" scorched earth approach to this whole thing and when they are finished there will be nothing left of SCO but a smoking crater in the ground.

    1. Re:Words From a Desparate Man by jvollmer · · Score: 2, Funny
      when they are finished there will be nothing left of SCO but a smoking crater in the ground.

      That would be a caldera.

  62. Because SCO can't even get their story straight by Curtman · · Score: 4, Informative
    Becuase that's all a matter of public record, except for the Unix code. This header file shenanigans is just to distract people from the real issues. The IBM case is unrelated to Linus, its a contract dispute between SCO and IBM. I don't know how 'the core of Linux' became an issue either. None of the things SCO is complaining about would constitute the core of anything, the IBM stuff is all optional. Like SCO said at the beginning of all this, the ABI (header files) is all based on publicly documented interfaces:

    • Blake Stowell: No, none of the code in the Linux ABI modules contains SCO IP. This code is under the GPL and it re-implements publicly documented interfaces. We do not have an issue with the Linux ABI modules. The IP that we are licensing is all in the shared libraries - these libraries are needed by many OpenServer applications *in addition* to the Linux ABI.


    Particularly funny is what happens when you Email SCO asking why you need a license if you aren't using any of the modules involved in the IBM case. Maybe they've come up with an answer by now, but the response I got was 'direct any further questions to the sales department'.
  63. Re:Anything you say will be taken down and used .. by Performer+Guy · · Score: 2, Informative

    Just FYI - SCO's new web site runs Linux.

  64. Saint Thomas Moore by argoff · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Anyone renember St. Thomas, where when the king forced everyone to change to his religion, he disagreed strongly, but tried to declare that he was in full compliance of the law - because the law gave him the right to be silent.

    In a way, this is what's happening today. I am confident that the GPL here is not in violation of the law, but I am also confident that copyright monopolies do not belong in the information age and must go. And the GPL is the license most true to that spirit.

    PS: St Thomas was executed, inspite of his attempt to stay within the law by being silent. There's a lesson to be learned from this.

  65. Re:'Ess See Oh' or 'Skoh'? by Ricin · · Score: 2, Funny

    I pronounce it 'skoh', their employees are said to do so too (or did). I always assumed everyone says 'Skoh'. It suits them.

    Until a few days ago the MyDoom herring got in the news here (in Holland) and I learnt that their PR people and the parro^H^H^H^Hmedia seem to think it's 'Ess See Oh'.

    But don't dispair, history will merely render them as the funny story that brought us the expression "pulling a sco".

    "Tell me again about Skoh gramps" ;-)

  66. I was one of the law students in attendance... by kmcrober · · Score: 3, Informative
    I tried submitting the notice and the address for the live webcast a few days in advance, but it got rejected by the editors. Better late than never, I guess. You can watch the speech at the Journal of Law and Technology's archive.

    JOLT's presentation of the event was very odd. They made a few comments at the start that made it sound like they were only grudgingly admitting non-Harvard Law students, which is a shame, because the MIT people really came to play. Their questions were good, and the kept it all professional and on-message. (JOLT does and always has, as far as I know, made their events open off-campus; the editor's comments just made it sound like he wasn't all that happy to have a room packed with non-HLS kids.)

    Darl was also impressive, to be honest. He was more than a little bit evasive in his answers, but he was very good about going back to the MIT students for questions, even though there were some obviously more sympathetic law students with their hands up. He also stayed around for a bit after the presentation to talk to a small knot of students, presumably including the author of the linked piece.

    While he didn't convince me that SCO has a case, he did a fairly good job of convincing me that he *believes* they have a case, and that it's not a scam. He did, after the speech in the small discussion, address the "pump and dump" allegations; he denies selling any significant stock, and claimed any internal sell-offs have been minor and insignificant. I was just on the periphery of that conversation though, so take my report with a grain of salt.

    A couple of people have commented on McBride's bodyguard. He did, in fact, have a bodyguard there; I was told it was because he's received death threats. The other guy (the one who actually looks like a bodyguard) was a Harvard police officer; university policy forbids guest speakers from bringing bodyguards on campus without a peace officer in attendance, apparently.

  67. Not answering questions about SAMBA by JonnyRo88 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I was blown away when someone asked him (paraphrased): If you believe the GPL license is unconstitutional, what right then do you have to distribute SAMBA in your products.

    At this they said (again paraphrasing): Samba is good, we dont believe that Samba is tainted in any way.

    They did not answer in any way what right they have to distribute Samba if they believe that the GPL is invalid. If the GPL is proven invalid (unlikely), it does not mean that the work suddenly becomes public domain. They cant seem to admit to the fact that they are basically screwed either way.

    I would highly doubt that SCO could come up with a clean room implementation of the SMB protocol in any reasonable span of time that they could incorporate into their products. And imagine the reduced value of an SCO OS platform if it did not have open source tools like samba embedded.

    I would cherish the day that Darl & Co goes up to the Samba developers to negotiate a seperate license and those developers tell them to go to hell. They will never do this even if it is shown that they have no right to distribute Samba because their core business is no longer software development, but litigation.

    --
    The Ro Factor - Jeep/Linux Weblog
  68. Re:Anything you say will be taken down and used .. by Peter+Harris · · Score: 2, Informative

    Right you are.

    But anyone holding SCO stock and expecting it to still be worth much after Friday is delusional.

    For rational, informed speculation about what might happen at the hearing on the 6th, go read Groklaw.

    Anything further I might add would just be noise.

    --

    -- What do you need?
    -- Gnus. Lots of Gnus.
  69. Re:Anything you say will be taken down and used .. by RetroGeek · · Score: 2, Informative

    I don't know why Java works that way.

    Because in Java a String is immutable, so the compiler only creates one instance of the "hello", then s1 and s2 are references to that one instance.

    But the s2 += "llo"; creates a new instance.

    When you do s1 == s2 you are comparing references.

    --

    - - - - - - - - - - -
    I am a programmer. I am paid to produce syntax not grammar. Deal with it.