Slashdot Mirror
SCO Says They'll Sue A Linux User Tomorrow
Xenographic writes "InfoWorld is reporting that SCO intends to sue a Linux using company. Ordinarily, this would not be newsworthy, as they have not followed through on past threats. However, this time, they have given themselves a concrete deadline--tomorrow. While they claim that it will be one of the "top 1,000" companies, they apparently have yet to decide which company to actually sue. Perhaps they need more practice playing darts?" Reader Fished links to CNET's coverage.
...this is why Google delayed it's IPO?
DISCLAIMER: Complete and total speculation.
CAn'T CompreHend SARcaSm?
Gosh, I'm sure they're all broken up about the fact that this will distract from their quarterly earnings announcement the day after tomorrow.
The SCO Group on Tuesday will launch its first lawsuit against a Linux user for alleged violations of SCO's intellectual property, SCO Chief Executive Officer Darl McBride said Monday.
I didn't see anywhere where they said it involved SCO IP in Linux. Just a Linux user misusing SCO IP. Might be a minor distinction. Might not.
I think SCO would be afraid to go after Google. Even though deep down it's just two young nerds running it, I'm sure other companies would not want to see Google at risk of being harmed by some little showoff company who can't backup their own claims for copyright infringement.
Besides, if Google did get sued, it wouldn't harm them that much, because of the IPO that they are releasing soon (hopefully).
*Looks at Anti-SCO shirt* Sure, I may be a flamebait, but I think it's for a good cause. I'm fed up with all of this SCO nonsense, and I'm pretty sure the open-source/Linux world is also. I just want to see what SCO can really pull off... no more of this standing-in-the-corner-pointing-fingers stuff. Bring it on SCO.
"Instant gratification takes too long." - Carrie Fisher
Fortune 25 company, sells Linux on PCs (Lindows, Lycoris, Mandrake). Isn't an ISP or a tech company.
That's my best guess.
If it happens.
Hasn't yet.
-- @rjamestaylor on Ello
Someone needs to charge SCO with raqueteering and extortion. SCO has made several claims, but has yet to offer proof, and it's own case has changed so much that it barely resembles the original case presented almost a year ago.
By suing a Linux end users, SCO is in effect trying to use courts to extort money. The definition of extort is "to obtain from a person by force, intimidation, or undue or illegal power". I cannot see the difference between SCO's actions, press releases and the running a criminal enterprise.
If they (SCO) truly wished to protect their IP, they would proceed with their case and quit stalling. The Linux community would respond, in defference to and in respect to an IP rights. I think that is the crux of SCO's problem, Linux would respond by respectfully removing any proven IP content. If they can extort money from people instead of actually proving their case, then the profit margin goes up. So what if extortion is illegal.
AngryPeoplePeopleRule
"Science is about ego as much as it is about discovery and truth " - I said it, so sue me.
Hey, the Pope lives in Vatican City, and BTW they use Tru64, i.e. Alpha!!! wow! I knew this pope was cool!
Yes, it would have made more sense to sue someone like you if SCO was actually trying to win the lawsuit. However, you can't trick investors into thinking that you can extract $3 billion from "Skyshadow," but it is at least theoretically possible to extract $3 billion from IBM. With a little help from Microsoft and Sun (to add a bit of legitimacy to the claims), SCO had all the tools it needed to extract millions of dollars from the stock market.
The trick, of course, is to promise investors the moon to drive up the stock price, and then use the high stock price to either cash out or to purchase (at inflated prices) other companies that SCO backers have an interest in (like Vultus).
The reason that SCO is going to sue someone tomorrow is that on the 3rd they are supposed to post their quarterly earnings. My guess is that the financial reports are going to be very very bad and the new law suit is designed to draw attention away from the bottom line.
Hmmm, and EV1's largest competitor would be? From SCO's perspective, it would mean hitting a few thousand birds with one stone. EV1 then swoops in, and tells potential clients that they are safe with them. Before the dust settles, EV1 might make a good return on their investment. Sleezy, but since when did that have anything to do with business?
"To those who are overly cautious, everything is impossible. "
Here are two interesting graphs.
SCO vs. RedHat
SCO vs. IBM
Notice a trend?
Suing a group that stands to gain by losing the lawsuit would be a shrewd move. It would give SCO greater ability to set the stage for a setting a precedent favorable to SCO.
However, the shrewdest move would be to sue a company holding the "information wants to be free" line religiously. It is often easy to win the court's favor when your opponent is holding an absurd ideal with religiour fervor. The worst thing would be to sue a well respected company with shrewd leadership, as they are likely to punch real legitimate holes in the SCO case.
It will definately be either Google, or a firewall manufacturer.
Why ?
Microsoft has made big noises lately about moving into the search engine space, and also made noises about an impending firewall product.
SCO, taking orders from above, will target the competion in these areas, hoping to tie them up in court for ages, so that Microsoft can enter these markets with reduced competition.
You dont even need a tinfoil hat to see that one coming.