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SCO Aims For The Feds

Posted by Hemos on from the the-battle-continues dept.

MoFoQ writes "News.com reports that SCO is now targetting the Feds and their supercomputers (the Beowulf clusters, etc.). Looks like they bit off more than they can chew, even before winning a single case "

57 of 492 comments (clear)

  1. SCO vs The Feds?? by Quazi · · Score: 5, Funny

    I don't know who to root for?

    1. Re:SCO vs The Feds?? by Awptimus+Prime · · Score: 4, Interesting

      If you are a US citizen, you had best root for the Feds. Whatever it costs them will come directly out of your pocket. That is why our economy is refered to as a system.

      Darl is off his rocker if he thinks open source software helps our enemies. It helps humanity as a whole. His remarks sound like he's trying to appeal to our current neo-con regiem's inability to comprehend issues that affect anyone except fellow members of Skull & Bones fraternity.

    2. Re:SCO vs The Feds?? by soybean · · Score: 4, Funny

      root them all. let god sort them out.

    3. Re:SCO vs The Feds?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting
      I was trying to put my finger on exactly why Darl's assertion just seemed so absurd (well, in addition to the many obvious reasons), and your post just crystallized the thought in my mind.

      According to the quote attributed to him in the news.com story, the "export" of open-source software could be used by enemies of the U.S. -- he cites a North Korean computer specialist as an example. (Never mind the fact that he is implying that the U.S. is the only nation contributing to the propagation of open-source software, which is ridiculous on its face.)

      But by that same logic, the U.S. should immediately cease all exports of, say, wheat -- because terrorists outside the U.S. can use that for sustenance, which means they can grow up to be Big, Strong, Healthy Terrorists as a result of those exports.

      OK, so it's a stretch, but then so is pretty much everything McBride has said in the past year.

      -Brian

  2. They need to do this by ultrabot · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Have you seen their stock price recently?

    They need to make as much noise and annoy as many as possible, and they need to do it now. The bigger and more controversial the opponent, the better.

    If they don't make noise, Microsoft doesn't get much value for their investment, right? So they need to capitalize every second SCO is still alive.

    --
    Save your wrists today - switch to Dvorak
    1. Re:They need to do this by Xenographic · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I remember someone saying that a certain stock price (in the $8 range?) would trigger a number of events which could hurt SCO financially (note that the effect I'm thinking of is from more than just a low share price--it triggers some clause in their contract with Baystar or one of those investors).

      Does anyone here remember that price, or how badly it would hurt SCO? :]

      They're at $8.71, and I want to know what price to root for...

      That and I keep wondering what some of the odd numbers mean, just look at this from Yahoo finance (via Google) --

      After Hours (RTM/ECN): 8.60 0.11 (1.26%)
      Last Trade: 8.71
      Trade Time: Mar 19
      Change: 0.04 (0.46%)
      Prev Close: 8.75
      Open: 8.43
      Bid: 0.01 x 100
      Ask: 9,000.00 x 100
      1y Target Est: 25.00

      Do I read that right that someone was asking $9,000 for 100 shares of SCO? Sheesh! Talk about being out to lunch... I have to think that some people are screwing around here or something, though... Does any of this stuff influence the share price?

      Ironically, somehow I feel like the $0.01 bid is reasonable, though, even though I have to figure that someone is goofing off...

    2. Re:They need to do this by SeXy_Red · · Score: 4, Funny

      On a related note, SCO filed a lawsuit today against the former pop king Michael Jackson; SCO claims that Michael Jackson used parts of there unix source code when he create many of his popular songs, including "Bad" and "Beat it".

      --

      This sig was generated by a barrel of trained kittens for SeXy_Red (550409).

    3. Re:They need to do this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      someone was asking $9,000 for 100 shares of SCO? Sheesh! Talk about being out to lunch...

      Lemme explain how this works. Having experienced the joys of a pump and dump scheme first-hand, there are a few common strategies probably being used by SCOX's capital team:

      - keep the public relation newswires busy with misinformation that misdirects strategic setbacks, court losses, and other negative information. This is especially important when you're expecting a major setback. It's a sort of "watch the monkey! keep an eye on the monkey!" misdirection.

      - negotiate third party buy deals with market makers. Under the table stock transfers and other mechanisms help load these parties up and allow them to take a partial loss from stock purchases such as these. When this is well coordinated, using a good amount of "buyers" instructed to follow a release like this, it can push a stock like SCOX up $2-$3.

      - funnel money in via Reg-S deals: Reg-S, similar to Reg-D private placement deals, allows SCO to sell shares directly to international investors who have a shorter holding period. Watch for a large amount of Reg-S as a clue for pump & dump. These folks are likely buying at a steep discount but are able to beat the market by dumping well ahead of the decline. SCO's 10Ks show a good amount of Reg-S activity.

      Incidentally, has anyone found an offshore bank being used by SCOX yet? I've been looking but haven't yet found the usual Bermuda/Turks/etc. channel for funneling money beyond US control.

    4. Re:They need to do this by thales · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I Have been following SCO prices during the decline over the past two weeks. If you look at the Yahoo page you are quoting from you will notice a sharp rise started at 3 o'clock, one hour before closing where it went up 20 cents in the final hour. This rise at the last hour has been a consistant feature for the two week period that I have been watching them and it occurs every day even if just before the rise the high bid is considerably lower. On Friday just before the last hour spike the price was 8.51. The high bid was 8.43. The stock still rose 20 cents between 3 and market close at 4.

      4 Minutes after close a buy went thrugh that was for 8.60, 11 cents under the offical close.

      The pattern over the past two weeks looks like someone is attempting to pump the price in the final hour of trading to get a more favorable closing price.

      --
      Quemadmodum gladius neminem occidit, occidentis telum est
    5. Re:They need to do this by Citizen+of+Earth · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I Have been following SCO prices during the decline over the past two weeks. If you look at the Yahoo page you are quoting from you will notice a sharp rise started at 3 o'clock, one hour before closing where it went up 20 cents in the final hour.

      That sort of thing has been going on for the past year. It's most likely one insider trading to another to help prop up the share price. SCO is mostly owned by insiders, and most of the publicly traded stock is owned by a few organizations, so the price is easily manipulated. This is in part how the stock maintained its anti-gravity status for most of the past year.

  3. This is just rehashed old news ,not a new event. by Chmarr · · Score: 4, Informative

    This is a bit of bad reporting by news.com (surprise!). It's just referring to the letters SCO sent out in December, and it's JUST been released NOW that two of those targets were Federal institutions.

    Just more lame press releases by SCO. Nothing out of the ordinary. Move along, please.

  4. Angry Bee Hives by dolo666 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I remember my mom used to tell me never to hit bee hives with my hockey stick. SCO never listens to this kind of advice, which comes up every time there's a story here about them; so what's their major malfunction? I just want it to end!

  5. C'mon Bush by Will2k_is_here · · Score: 5, Funny

    He calls for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, he should call for an amendment to ban SCO.

    Or... cue the shock and awe campaign.

  6. NSA by Mad+Marlin · · Score: 4, Funny
    Darl: "Hey, let's sue the NSA."

    Same scene, later that day.

    Random SCO employee: "Umm, Mr. McBride, sir, there are a whole lot of people in ill-fitting suits who want to 'talk' with you ...."

    --
    Best Slashdot comment ever
    1. Re:NSA by ddimas · · Score: 4, Funny

      Silly rabbit, Darl will just dissapear one day. 10 years later a news item will appear about him dying while vacationing at Guantanamo Bay...

    2. Re:NSA by Hungus · · Score: 4, Funny
      Umm you know who the NSA is right? What you describe is the FBI. Piss off the NSA and you are more likely to find out some or all of the following have occurred:

      All your assets are frozen and or transfered

      you have posted child porn to a Jesuit newsgroup

      Gay photos of you and Osama bin Ladin are on the cover of Time

      Your burth certificate shows you are really the bastard child of Hitler and Stalin.

      Photos of you and Jane Fonda at an anti war rally have been mailed to several quasi fringe groups in Texas and Montana.

      You haven't actually paid taxes for 14 years.

      /me Waves to all my friends out at Ft. Meade - You know who you are.

      --
      Bad Panda! No Bamboo for you! In matters of importance ACs will not be responded to. Want to say something critical,OK
  7. Re:OK, I am paranoid - BUT by dacarr · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yes, but this is the Federal Government here we're talking about. All they have to do is come at them with the big guns.

    --
    This sig no verb.
  8. Am I the only one... by JayBlalock · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ...who's just laughing his head off and thinks no commentary of any kind is really needed?

    --
    Bush: He's Liberal in all the wrong ways.
  9. Obligatory Princess Bride Quote by hawkstone · · Score: 4, Funny

    You fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The first is never get involved in a land war in Asia. The second, only slightly less well known, is this: never go up against a nuclear weapons laboratory when death is on the line!

    1. Re:Obligatory Princess Bride Quote by imnoteddy · · Score: 5, Funny

      Once upon a time a U. S. Army base was trying to get some customer support from a software company. The software company said "You'll have to wait - we have other customers, you know." The guy from the Army said, "Yes, but we're your only customer with tactical nuclear weapons."

      --
      No electrons were harmed creating this post, though some may have been subjected to electrical and/or magnetic fields.
  10. SCO v USA by pholower · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Okay, this is just a little more than SCO to handle, even if they do have funding from Microsoft. The government, although horibly expensive and utterly dumb to most things geek, has their fair share of the alpha-geek. Besides, the government already has a thing for suing Microsoft and winning. Hopefully this will transend to SCO as well.

    --
    -- johntracy.com, because everybody else is wrong.
  11. Groklaw covered this yesterday. by Aluminum+Tuesday · · Score: 5, Informative

    Groklaw covered this yesterday - it's nothing more than confirmation that those institutions received the threatening letter that SCO's been sending out.

    1. Re:Groklaw covered this yesterday. by tanguyr · · Score: 4, Informative

      mod parent up, i just got back from there and Groklaw did a hell of a job

      --
      #!/usr/bin/english
  12. Reality check time by Wister285 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It was once said after World War II that the United States should be ready to fight two and a half wars at any point, anywhere in the world. Other conflict management is just like this idea. You can only have so many fights before you will not effectively be able to handle them all. SCO not only has too many fights right now, but their fights are way too large for the relative size of their company. Anyone who takes on IBM, an assortment of other companies, and then the United States Federal Government needs to have their heads checked.

    1. Re:Reality check time by ScrewMaster · · Score: 4, Interesting

      You're correct so far you go, but what you've said doesn't really apply if your ultimate goal isn't to win any of the battles. SCO can talk all they want about how they are simply "protecting valuable intellectual property" but I think we all know that they don't care if they win any of these courtroom conflicts or not. That would be icing on the cake, but I doubt they expect it. This is all about damaging the competition (Microsoft's competition) and keeping stock prices as high as possible for as long as possible. You can bet that when SCO's house of cards finally tumbles McBride and Co. will cash out, move to the Caribbean somewhere and the company will fold.

      --
      The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
  13. I think this is actually a shrewd move by SCO. by Hanzie · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Looks like they bit off more than they can chew, even before winning a single case

    No, they haven't bit off more than they can chew. Their business model isn't about winning court cases, it's about squeezing money. The fact they're willing to go after the feds means that they're not afraid of anybody, particularly YOU, Mr. CEO, so pay up now, before we drag you in too.

    Meanwhile, MS has been having some problems with governments defecting from the 1 Microsoft Way) so this helps them out.

    Microsoft has gone out of it's way to point investors at SCO because any crap SCOX throws at Linux only makes them look less awful. It's a classic case of MS saying "Lets you and him fight!"

    Of course, if they can get federal agencies (who aren't playing with their own money anyway) to pay them to shut up and go away, so much the better! I'm suprised that they haven't thought of this earlier.

    There's even a tiny chance that they'll be able to argue for a change of venue based on the courts using FOSS now, and therefore not being disinterested parties. It won't throw the case out, but it might be a good delaying tactic, and time really is money.

    --
    ********* sig: If you don't like the law, get filthy stinking rich, and buy a better one.
    1. Re:I think this is actually a shrewd move by SCO. by _Sprocket_ · · Score: 4, Insightful


      Of course, if they can get federal agencies (who aren't playing with their own money anyway) to pay them to shut up and go away, so much the better! I'm suprised that they haven't thought of this earlier.

      That's a mischaracterization. Feds tend to be aware that they are playing with tax-payer money. But even more imporantly, they tend to view the tax-payer money alotted to their budgets as THEIR money. And limited money, at that. I've yet to see a Fed agency that didn't have more to do than their IT budget will allow (which isn't to say IT managers don't ever make bad decissions with the funds they have available).

      The only variation to this is within the budget structure itself. There are often pools of funds that get ear-marked for certain activities. One may be unable to fund a certain project even though there is a nice fat pool of money available for another kind of activity. Which leads in to my last point...

      Folks, the US Government is law. Fed agencies may not always be on the forefront of IT. But they do know law. They have access to legal devices unique to them and lawyers, paid from different pools of money than their IT budgets, who know how to make use of those legal devices to full effect.

      So while it may be possible that a Fed agency would throw money at a situation like this... I would suggest its very unlikely. In the civilian sector, throwing money at an issue is the easier tactic. In the Fed sector, pushing the problem off to legal resources (funded through a different budget) is the quick fix.
  14. Uhhh... They're Picking on the UC Regents... by nweaver · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Not a wise move to go after the University of California (who manage livermore and los alamos).

    UC regents already won one lawsuit over this business... SCO may be violating BSD vs USL.

    --
    Test your net with Netalyzr
  15. Re:OK, I am paranoid - BUT by ultrabot · · Score: 4, Insightful

    First of all, the federal government would probably stomp a hole in MS's skull for anti-trust concerns

    Sorry, I may be misunderstanding something here...

    Aren't we talking of USA right now, with that George guy on the rudder?

    --
    Save your wrists today - switch to Dvorak
  16. Re:OK, I am paranoid - BUT by ScrewMaster · · Score: 5, Informative

    The difference is that if you sue the Federal Government (as opposed to a State or private organization) they get to decide if you are allowed to sue them or not. That may seem unfair on the face of it, but considering the number of people that make a living from deep-pockets lawsuits it's not hard to understand (there aren't any deeper pockets than the U.S. Government.) A judge will say "Have a nice day, Mr. McBride" and that will be that. But in the meantime SCO gets to capitalize on yet another round of high-profile public FUD. I'm not sure what it's going to take: for some reason the American legal system seems unable to shut them up for more than a couple of days. We all keep hoping that IBM will go to the mat for us and take them down. Somebody needs to. They shoot rabid animals, don't they?

    --
    The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
  17. Old News by m.dillon · · Score: 4, Informative
    This is old news. The letters sent to the two agencies were simply SCO's standard threatening letter which they sent in December 2003. They're just pulling it out now to create more FUD. Nothing new has happened.

    -Matt

  18. Re:Excellent! by baryon351 · · Score: 5, Informative

    hasn't SCO already had several unfavorable rulings in the IBM case? Haven't they been ordered to ~finally~ show the offending code? That should end that case quickly...

    Basically yes. And now it's changed from a "there's SysV code in Linux" case to a "there's derivative works of code you licensed from us in Linux" case. That's a big difference. They have not been able to identify ANY code, bar similarities in 5 ABI files, that has been ported directly from SysV to Linux. None. And they admitted it in court in the IBM case.

    What it's about now with IBM is that, while they admit IBM invented JFS, and IBM own the copyright over JFS, and while JFS may have originally been included in other IBM products (OS/2 perhaps?) that because it's attached to the AIX code, it's a "derivative work" of SysV, and therefore SCO have a say over how IBM can use that code.

    How about that. A completely independent IBM invention, used in SysV, and SCO are getting all shitty saying now that IBM cannot now move that code anywhere else after it's been used in IBM's own implementation as AIX.

    And they call the GPL viral. Darl's accusations there are that if anything touches SysV code licensed from SCO, then SCO have a right to say what can be done with it. That just doesn't make sense.

    In any case, it won't end the case quickly due to these changes, as SCO still want to see exactly what the JFS code looks like, so they can see if it was inserted into Linux, and then they can run around and issue more press releases saying "IBM has revealed 10,000 lines of our code is in Linux. see. they admitted it". I think the worst is yet to come in the press-release war that SCO has been waging.

    That is, unless they run out of money first. With their stock price nearly down to a third of what it was just a few months ago and an increasing number of legal fronts being fought, we can only hope that's sooner rather than later.

  19. Root for Canopy by thinkliberty · · Score: 5, Informative


    linux networx is a canopy company like SCO/caldera is. see: http://www.linuxnetworx.com/news/pr042800_canopy.h tml

    Now in the news article it says:
    "SCO sent letters raising the prospect of legal action for using Linux to two Department of Energy facilities, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC)."

    But in this press release it says that linux networx is the one that installed the linux clusters at the LLNL. http://www.linuxnetworx.com/news/8.28.2001.49-Lawr ence_Liverm.html

    The new lesson of the day is if you do business with anyone funded by the canopy company you risk being sued by other members of the canopy group.

    1. Re:Root for Canopy by flacco · · Score: 5, Interesting
      But in this press release it says that linux networx is the one that installed the linux clusters at the LLNL.

      ok, i admit i'm clinically paranoid - but i still think SCOX will eventually set up a patsy to lose a case to ensnare gnu/linux. i wonder if the US government would collude in such an operation. MS is a big money vacumm cleaner that sucks cash from other countries into the US - democratizing computing could appear to the technically ignorant realpolitikos as a net loss, nationally.

      --
      pr0n - keeping monitor glass spotless since 1981.
    2. Re:Root for Canopy by dnoyeb · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Uhh, no. The Fed will be more than pleased to drive a stake through SCO. Most corporations like to flex their muscles. The Government is probably the worst about this.

      It seems suicidal.

      And stopping Microsoft's march is a net loss nationally. That does not mean its not the right thing to do.

  20. More meaningless Darl soundbites by gilesjuk · · Score: 4, Insightful

    He states a computer expert in North Korea can download Linux and create a super-computer. Yet I'm sure the same expert can download some ISOs of Windows from somewhere. Of course one method is legal and one is illegal, but I'm sure they wouldn't care about having unlicensed copies of Windows if they can't purchase legitimate copies.

    I'm sure Darl would sooner they be running SCO software.

  21. Re:This is just rehashed old news ,not a new event by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative
    If you ignore the title, the news.com.com article is well written and not confusing. The problem is that at most papers the editor writes the title, not the journalist. I've seen titles on abcnews.go.com mention things that never appear in the story. The editor read the first paragraph and just assumed the rest.

    As far as Slashdot, we all know even the submitters don't read the articles. "now targetting" my ass.

  22. easy ... root for the feds ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    NIH, The National Institues of Health, a division of the Department of Health and Human Services of the United States government, is using Beowulf clusters to help cure diseases such as cancer, Alzheimers, stroke, heart disease and kidney failure.

    I'm definitely rooting for the Feds on this one.

    1. Re:easy ... root for the feds ... by the+gnat · · Score: 4, Informative

      And the NERSC is not just used for weapons simulations - I know people who've used the facilities for biological research. It's also located at LBL, which if I recall correctly does entirely unclassified work (I know many biologists who work there too). Looks like they're doing a lot of applied physics, including fusion power research.

      The DOE national labs do a wide variety of fantastic research, relatively little of it focused on blowing shit up. In fact, I'd argue that their most important role is in biochemistry, due to their synchrotron facilities (used for protein structure determination). Even Livermore, which doesn't have a synchrotron (LBL is right nearby), is doing biology too now.

  23. Eminent Domain? by voss · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The Federal government might have a pretty good case for Eminent Domain.

    Those labs are multibillion dollar projects.
    The value of the unix source code is not more than the fair market value of the company (ie $300 million dollars) , so the feds could easily begin eminent domain proceedings against SCO in which the US government would take the Unix source code in exchange for fair market value.

    Considering the massive use of Linux in federally funded schools, colleges and universities, settling the IP question once and for all would be worth it.
    Then the federal government could treat the unix source code as a public document.

    Im sure Microsoft would whine but its good public policy to preserve a competitive market.

  24. PROTEST IDEA!!!! by Cyno01 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Is it possible to rent penguins? I know their droppings are like any other birds, pretty nasty, kind of a pain to clean up and stink like hell in large quantities. Would it be possible to rent a flock of penguins and cage them in the sco parking lot for a work day? Everyone would have to walk through it and the penguins would probably hop up onto cars etc... Or just get a few pissed off male emporer penguins and leave them in Darl's office....

    --
    "Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
  25. Bring it. by NatlLabGeek · · Score: 5, Interesting

    My colleagues and I were wondering if they'd have the guts to consider a suit against the labs. We're a seriously major player in terms of installed nodes and code contributions, and suing one or more of us would get a great stock price bounce. It would also some of the brightest geeks on the planet and lawyers with a bottomless checkbook involved in SCO's world (not that it isn't happening already via the existing suits). They'd also be suing a weapons lab in a time of war and telling them you want to confiscate their classified gear - if you thought the Nazgul were cranky, try threatening somebody with enormous amounts of restricted data and see what kind of badness shows up at your door.

    On balance, I just can't see them doing this. The government can really spank somebody in a million different ways if you irritate them (SEC, FBI, air strikes...) and SCO's got enough to worry about right now. Then again we're talking about a company that thinks it's a good idea to sue IBM, so who knows?

    God, I hope they do it. :)

  26. Re:Does that include Trolltech? by thinkliberty · · Score: 4, Informative

    Maybe... Remember Darl Mcbride when he claimed that SCO owns C++ So in the future SCO may sue people using QT with C++ See: http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/stories/mai n/0,14179,2877578,00.html "We have a lot of royalties coming to us from C++."

  27. Shock and horror by dbIII · · Score: 4, Funny
    First the terrorism card, that gets attention:
    Open-source software--available widely through the Internet--has the potential to provide our nation's enemies ...
    The next pointless claim will be that open source software may cause the exposure of breasts, and we all know that we have to protect our children against breasts, they're just so unamerican.

  28. I just put my tinfoil hat on.... by NLG · · Score: 5, Insightful
    They need to make as much noise and annoy as many as possible, and they need to do it now. The bigger and more controversial the opponent, the better.

    You are mostly right, they need to make noise to pump the stock price again. However, there are some targets which we know they chose not to pursue. Bank of America, for one. Why go after Daimler/Chrysler instead? This is complex, and forgive the tin-foil hat sound of it.

    BoA is big. More importntly BoA is VERY influential in the Banking and Investment Banking industry. Think it through. BoA has ties to virtually every financial institution on the planet of somekind and could very easily use its influence to ruin SCO in a heartbeat. A few phone calls from some BoA execs and suddenly SCO's line of credit dries up and loans are called-in. Even better, the Mortgages and auto loans, whatever debts, of SCO execs are called and there are suddenly no other banks anywhere willing to lend them money.

    Not only that, but BayStar has all its credit affected also, as well as its execs. Sure all these SCO-scum and BayStar-bitches are probably rich enough to handle it, but it is going to hurt and hurt bad. Most Americans, even Donald Trump, are so heavily "leveraged" that if something like this were to occur it would destroy them. It would most certainly destroy SCO, et al.

    SCO's lawyers probably realized this at the last minute and convinced Darl that BoA and any other super-sized Bank was capable of playing hardball at a level SCO can't survive. Otherwise, why change targets instead of just tactics? SCO could have just amended that letter to BoA to sue them just like Daim\Chrysler instead of trying to get the court to seize, effectively, all their computers. Answer: SCO isn't suing BoA because they are scared of what BoA could do to them. If not, why announce the Fed-suit instead of going back after BoA? A company that everyone now knows(thanks to MS-Word fun) was an initial target. Answer: Not even the Feds scare them as bad, as this headline proves.

    --
    Flash is the Herpes of the Internet.
    your.opinion > /dev/null
  29. Freddy Vs SCO by Cynikal · · Score: 4, Funny

    Its ok he's dead now, we're safe...

    AAAHHH!!! there he is again!!!

    *stab* *stab* *stab*

    ok now he's dead for sure this time... we can go on with our lives

    AAAHHH!!! there he is again!!!

    *stab* *stab* *stab*

    and etc

  30. I stopped worrying and love SCO by Wm_K · · Score: 4, Funny

    Dr. McBride or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying And Love SCO

  31. Same letter they sent Lehman Bros. by Animats · · Score: 4, Informative
    This isn't new. This is one of the letters from the December batch from SCO. It reads just like the one they sent Lehman Bros., which has been filed as an exhibit in Red Hat vs. SCO. Lehman Bros. referred SCO to Red Hat, which blew a hole in SCO's claim that Red Hat didn't have standing to sue SCO.

    None of SCO's desperate attempts to prop up the stock price have worked. Even the announcement of a stock buyback propped up the price for only one hour, between 0930 and 1030 last Tuesday. SCOX continues its long slide. SCOX closed at 8.71 on Friday. It started the week at 9.5, and the year around 20.

    SCO has reached the point where nothing they can say can help them. Only winning some of their lawsuits can help them, and that looks increasingly unlikely. They have to win three separate suits (against Novell, IBM, and Red Hat) to even start collecting from end users.

  32. Re:OK, I am paranoid - BUT by rco3 · · Score: 5, Informative

    "i wasnt aware that he had any opinions towards/against old billy boy"

    Then - no offense - your awareness is incomplete.
    Microsoft was found to be guilty of anti-competitive practices. The DOJ recommended breaking up Microsoft. This sound familiar?

    George W. handed down the proclamation from on high that the Justice department was no longer allowed to pursue a breakup of Microsoft.
    This took the wind right out of the sails of the DOJ's case, and Miscrosoft ended up with a slap on the wrist and a request not to do it again.

    I'm guessing that GWB's feelings about Microsoft may be *directly* related to the size of some campaign contributions he's received...

    --

    Ce n'est pas un vrai mouvement de robot!
  33. Re:Does that include Trolltech? by jelle · · Score: 5, Interesting

    "And C++ programming languages, we own those,"

    Geesh. parent poster was not kidding.

    Darl: "several dozen requests a month just to come in and see AIX or HP-UX code base."

    Didn't they ask IBM to show them the AIX source in their case against IBM? Then what is this about?

    Maybe this was the interview where he had to prove to the rest of the 'gang' that he was capable of lying through his teeth without blinking?

    Actually, googling around this article a little, extrapolating the trend: Will he sue the US Courts for migrating to Linux next? (btw wouldn't that be some sort of chicken-and-egg problem (ergo very likely for SCO to do)?)

    Darl: "NASDAQ, for example, runs all of the trading machines in their brokerages on OpenServer."

    Oh, and the trade 'floor' that lists their stock, NASDAQ too? Actually in that article NASDAQ "wants to eliminate the company's Unisys Corp. mainframes and migrate the trading-floor functions that run on those machines" and "Nasdaq currently uses about 300 Unix servers running a mix of HP's Tru64 and HP-UX operating systems as well as Sun's Solaris". I see mentions of Unisys, HP Tru64, HP-UX, and Solaris: Where is the SCO OpenServer that Darl was speaking about? Not mentioned, so not even close to OpenServer on 'all of the trading machines', likely even none at all, given the specific mention of Unisys for trading functions...

    --
    --- Hindsight is 20/20, but walking backwards is not the answer.
  34. The country's in danger!! by niittyniemi · · Score: 5, Funny


    > He states a computer expert in North Korea can download Linux
    > and create a super-computer. Yet I'm sure the same expert
    > can download some ISOs of Windows from somewhere.
    Crikey, you're on to something! Imagine a Beowulf cluster running
    Windows ME......you can't put anything past those filthy Commies!

    With that sort of computing power they could develop any sort of
    weapon you can imagine....knives, axes, sticks....anything is possible

    Clippy: I see you're trying to develop a WMD, can I help?

    If the prospect of that doesn't constitute a clear & present danger
    then I don't know what does.

    I'm for GWB carrying forward the "War On Terrorism" and
    pre-emptively nuking Redmond. Who's with me?

    --
    The Machine stops.
  35. Re:-1 disinformation by hawkstone · · Score: 4, Informative

    I would not call that disinformation at all. I assume you are attempting to make a subtle distinction between management of the labs, and what one typically means by "belong to", not that you are attempting to troll or anything.

    Prime Contract W-7405-ENG-48 (Contract 48 or Prime Contract) is executed between the University of California (UC or University) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and it is under this contract that LANL and LLNL function.

    In other words, UC manages the labs under contract from DOE.

  36. The 'malfunction' is that they run fast.... by Kjella · · Score: 5, Funny

    I remember my mom used to tell me never to hit bee hives with my hockey stick. SCO never listens to this kind of advice, which comes up every time there's a story here about them; so what's their major malfunction? I just want it to end!

    They hit one, then run to the next, hit that, run some more, hit another one.... currently they have a shitload of bees after them, and their legs are getting tired...

    Kjella

    --
    Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
  37. I wouldn't worry too much about that... by Kjella · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Imagine SCO won some hilarious claim in the US - pretty much every other nation in the world would ignore them. Imagine all the American businesses that would have to pay licence fees to SCO - and all the non-American businesses that would not. That would hurt the US economy for real.

    Kjella

    --
    Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
  38. No news here, move on... by Stephen+Samuel · · Score: 4, Informative
    Groklaw is reporting that they simply recieved the same December letter that eeverybody else did, and a lawyer representing other recipients got holdo of it via a Freedom of Information Act request.

    About the only interesting things here are that we now know they've been sending these letters to (pseudo) government organizations, and they've managed to threaten the Regents of the University of California ( thus re-igniting USL vs BSD).

    It's also increasingly unlikely that they did any sort of vetting in terms of who they sent the letters to. Dead Tree SPAM.

    --
    Free Software: Like love, it grows best when given away.
  39. Re:Does that include Trolltech? by Mostly+a+lurker · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Will he sue the US Courts for migrating to Linux next? (btw wouldn't that be some sort of chicken-and-egg problem (ergo very likely for SCO to do)?)

    This raises a possibly interesting point. Any lawyer here who understands the US legal system? Could TSCOG then claim that the US court system is not qualified to consider the main case because of conflict of interest? This seems nuts, but less nuts than any other legal argument that we have heard from them. Any chance of an appeal based on it?

  40. SCO has been mailing more BS to congressmen by -tji · · Score: 4, Interesting

    At the end of the article, they mention letters that SCO sent to every congressman saying:

    "Open-source software--available widely through the Internet--has the potential to provide our nation's enemies or potential enemies with computing capabilities that are restricted by U.S. law," McBride said. "A computer expert in North Korea who has a number of personal computers can download the latest version of Linux...and in short order build a virtual supercomputer."

    Like most of their previous assertions, they don't let logic get in their way on this either.. As if Linux is the threat here.. By this same logic, you would need to outlow Solaris-x86, Windows, *BSD, and anything else running on x86's.. They key to these systems is not the OS, it's the price/performance of these commodity CPU's.