Groklaw Starts Unix/Linux History Project

An anonymous reader writes "Over on GrokLaw, PJ and others have decided to create a 'timeline' for Unix and Linux development. The plan is to recreate, as completely as possible, the history of these two operating systems '...from the perspective of tracing the code by copyright, patents, trade secret, and trademark. The idea is that the final timeline will be a publicly-available resource, released under a Creative Commons license, that will assist the community in defending against - or better yet in deterring - future lawsuits against GNU/Linux code.'"

Comments

Don't do it.

[Quasar1999]

Sco will find a way to use this history to further 'prove' that source code was acquired from commercial software at specific times from specific companies, using nothing more than the fact that some feature was added to linux on a specific date. This aids insane companies like SCO who want to find relationships and infringement where there really was none... go back far enough, and no one from the time/company/developer will be able to defend their IP...

No...

[debilo]

Fearing SCO is not really a reason not to do this.

go back far enough, and no one from the time/company/developer will be able to defend their IP...

I don't really understand this conclusion. Are you trying to say that documenting and publishing events of the past somehow aids criminals? If so, how?

Re:UNIX Timeline

[j-pimp]

Well I must be fucking new here cause I RTFA. Allow me to 'splain to you.

Groklaw is run by a paralegal. This is a legal history. All those diagrams of Unix, networking etc, are from a geek point of view. groklaw wants to make a history that concerns itself with patents and trademarks being declared, licensed, expired etc.