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IBM tells SCO to Put Up or Shut Up

Jeffrey Johnson writes "The whole SCO and IBM case is coming to a head with new filings from IBM accusing SCO of being 'grandiose' and saying it has 'effectively conceded' that it has no evidence of infringement. It asks for evidence to be produced or the whole case thrown out. According to experts this makes it make-or-break: either SCO has to outline exactly what the issues are with Linux or the whole sorry affair is over."

364 comments

  1. (sigh) by bigfleet · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why are we even still reading these things? I'll believe it when I see it.

    1. Re:(sigh) by ductormalef · · Score: 5, Funny

      I agree. The headline should read:

      IBM tells SCO to Put Up or Shut Up for the 23rd time (this time we really mean it, but if you don't we'll wait a few months and demand it again)

      --
      The Fat Man Walks Alone
    2. Re:(sigh) by SeanAhern · · Score: 1, Funny

      If it's gonna be like that, maybe we should send this whole thing to the United Nations.

    3. Re:(sigh) by Scott+Richter · · Score: 5, Funny
      Why are we even still reading these things? I'll believe it when I see it.

      I don't know. Why are you?

    4. Re:(sigh) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think the parent is talking about the United Nations.

    5. Re:(sigh) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Well, I called my congressman and he said, "Whoa! I'd like to help you, son, but you're too young to vote."

    6. Re:(sigh) by Space_Soldier · · Score: 1

      Indeed! IBM should also make SCO pay their legal fees. This should destroys some of their financial assets.

    7. Re:(sigh) by Bryan+Andersen · · Score: 3, Informative

      And it looks like IBM has tacked on a legal bill to their motion for summary judgement.

    8. Re:(sigh) by The+Meshback · · Score: 1

      I think we continue to read it because we hope that we'll see that final nail in the coffin. Between groklaw and slashdot, I know I've had my fill. I rarely visit groklaw anymore and I usually skip the SCO articles here, but it is an important case, even if it's been beaten into the ground and borders on the ridiculous.

      And the fact that I'm even replying to this post, much less having read most of them--WTF am I doing?

      SCO please die now. /.ers have more important things to think about like frying ants with huge magnifying glasses. Thank you.

    9. Re:(sigh) by Curtman · · Score: 1

      maybe we should send this whole thing to the United Nations.

      God no. Then the US will just veto any resolution.

    10. Re:(sigh) by txviking · · Score: 1

      And countersue SCO for Slander. BTW. Did Novell countersue SCO for SCO's slander suit against Novell ?

    11. Re:(sigh) by Scott+Richter · · Score: 1
      I think we continue to read it because we hope that we'll see that final nail in the coffin. Between groklaw and slashdot, I know I've had my fill. I rarely visit groklaw anymore and I usually skip the SCO articles here, but it is an important case, even if it's been beaten into the ground and borders on the ridiculous.

      So I'm the only one here who is confident they'll die, but read because of 1) a legitimate interest in "IP" law, and 2) the comic value of it all?

      And the fact that I'm even replying to this post, much less having read most of them--WTF am I doing?

      Good question. I postulate that it has something to due with the lack of safe and legally available prostitution. But I'm not sure.

  2. put up & shut up by Pikhq · · Score: 5, Funny

    How's about put up AND shut up?

    --
    echo "rm -rf ~/* ; echo "echo "Exit" ; exit" > ~/.bashrc ; exit" > ~user/.bashrc
    1. Re:put up & shut up by MrEd · · Score: 0

      I think it's going to be more like "shut up and put out" ... pucker up, sweetpea! **zzzip**

      --

      Wah!

    2. Re:put up & shut up by Precipitous · · Score: 4, Funny

      Put up AND shut up?
      Put up OR shut up?

      I'd suggest that the situation is most accurated describe by "Put up" implies "shut up", or (Put Up NAND Shut Up) NAND Put Up.

      This gives two cases returing true:
      1) Neither put up nor shut up: SCO keeps making noise, without producing evidence.

      2) Both put up and shut up.
      SCO produces all extant evidence, and they are consequently forced to shut up.

      --
      My motto: "A cat is no trade for integrity."
    3. Re:put up & shut up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No one said the "or" in "put up or shut up" was an exclusive or. I prefer to read it as non-exclusive, so both can be true!

    4. Re:put up & shut up by LPetrazickis · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Prison rape isn't funny. It's a tragic human rights disaster.

      --
      Is this a sigs-optional kind of place? 'Cause I am totally down with that if you know what I mean.
    5. Re:put up & shut up by Under+Bridge+Dweller · · Score: 0, Troll

      Listen up fucknut: I bet you think you're really goddamned clever. Well, why don't you go fuck your Learning Java textbook!!

    6. Re:put up & shut up by cbreaker · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Isn't it terrible how it's just tolerated?

      You shouldn't have to worry about being beat up, killed, or raped in prison. Being in prison is punishment enough.

      I think the powers that be prefer prison to be a terrible, terrible place because they think that it's a deterrent. Too bad these people haven't learned anything in the last... recorded history of man..

      --
      - It's not the Macs I hate. It's Digg users. -
    7. Re:put up & shut up by adamofgreyskull · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Who said anything about prison?

    8. Re:put up & shut up by Weh · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      maybe they're run by the same people that ran abu ghraib?

    9. Re:put up & shut up by Oligonicella · · Score: 1

      The only thing learned in the "last... recorded history of man" is that humans haven't changed in all that time, despite *ANY* methods tried.

      Rehabilitation hasn't worked any better. I recomment if you don't like seeing violent offenders serve time that you open you home as a half-way house.

      Bet you won't.

    10. Re:put up & shut up by DigiShaman · · Score: 1

      As I've said before... We are all animals; some are just more civilized than others.

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
    11. Re:put up & shut up by mt_nixnut · · Score: 0, Offtopic
      Who says its tolerated? Do you work in a prison? Have you ever? Here's a little inside info...prison movies are NOT accurate.

      I worked for the DOC for over 6 years. I am frankly very offended by the innuendo and underlying logic? of your comment.

      Rape is not tolerated.

      If you have the answer to maintaining peace and love in a prison filled with violent and hateful people don't waste your time talking to /. GO SOLVE THE PROBLEM!

    12. Re:put up & shut up by G27+Radio · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I have a couple of friends that have spent time in prison (both for non-violent 'crimes' related to posession of certain plants.) Neither of them told any rape stories, but clearly they both needed to commit violent acts just to survive in prison--and neither of these guys were ever violent people.

      One of them spent two years in a Georgia state prison. If you could get money from the outside you could get drugs easily from the DoC officers. If someone gave you a problem and you didn't fight back, you were immediately a target for anyone there that wanted to take advantage of you. If someone beats the crap out of you, you can rat on them, but then you're marked as a rat and everyone will be after you.

      One day his watch was stolen by his cellmate and sold to another prisoner. The watch wasn't the big deal, it was the fact that everyone knew it was his watch and if he didn't do something about it, then he'd be a target from then on. So he ended up smashing his cellmate in the face with a padlock and then bashing several of his teeth out on the edge of his bunk. When they were questioned what happened both he and the guy that he beat up told the guards that he fell by accident. They still put my friend in solitary for a couple weeks, but no charges were filed against him.

      It's a wierd feeling to have someone you know to be a friendly, intelligent, non-violent person telling you a story like this like they're simply describing a bad experience with tech support. It's easy to see how US prisons are creating violent criminals out of people that weren't necessarily violent before.

      The conversation came up because he was talking about how he has to see a parole officer for the next several years. (for 10 years from the date he was released.) He said he'd never let them send him back--even if it meant they'd have to kill him to catch him.

      Maybe you worked in a prison where these type of things didn't happen, but to say that all prisons are like that is definately false. Violence is a way of life in US prisons. It's not just GA prisons either. I've talked with more than just one person that has been to prison, and known two of them well enough to know that they aren't liars. Please don't try to bury the problem by saying it doesn't happen, or that we shouldn't talk about it. That's part of the problem.

      Think about this: thousands of people go to prison for posession of marijuana every year. Very few of these people are violent. Most are no threat to anyone. And they are locked up with rapists, murderers, and people that are just mentally ill and violent because of it. Forgetting the whole matter of justice being served for a moment, what exactly is it that we are accomplishing by doing this?

    13. Re:put up & shut up by Jay+Bucks · · Score: 1

      No their is also a third truth case in an implication.

      3. They shut up with out putting up. (Which in the end is what will actually happen)

      Implications are only false when a true premise leads to a false conclusion.

      Jason - Like to argue?

  3. Yeah! by Geraden · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Stick it to 'em, Big Blue!

    SCO's actions, IMHO, have been absolutely abominable...I'm glad to see IBM fighting the bastards.

    Not that I think it will bring the whole thing to a close, but....

    1. Re:Yeah! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

      Fucking right, man! ROCK ON! You sir, are a pundit of the highest order. I salute you and your willingness to go out on a limb and state your opinion, even when it's not expressed by the majority! If I could, I'd give you a medal.

    2. Re:Yeah! by edheler · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I agree that it is good that IBM has been able to successfully defend itself from the lawsuit initiated by SCO. It is also good that SCO had the stupidity to sue someone with both deep pockets and a significant stake in Linux that was willing to fund their lawyers properly.

      I am still disturbed however to be supporting a big, bad (well, in the past), corporation against the little guy. No matter how evil the little guy is in this particular case. Somehow the glee that infects the open source community from IBM's good strikes against SCO just don't sit well with me.

    3. Re:Yeah! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Okay, this is the most amusing post I've seen in a long time. I giggle at your sarcasm, sir, and wish you good health.

    4. Re:Yeah! by jtev · · Score: 3, Insightful

      IBM used to suck, Sadam and Usama used to be our freinds. Times change. All we can do is make the alliances that most benefit us, but know that sooner or later they all end.

      --
      That which is done from love exists beyond good and evil
    5. Re:Yeah! by zangdesign · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I am still disturbed however to be supporting a big, bad (well, in the past), corporation against the little guy

      Which suggests that you are biased against large corporations simply because they are large, and biased for small companies because they are small. There is nothing inherently evil about a large corporation - Walmart is large and evil, Costco is large and not evil. Walmart is a slave pit, Costco apparently pays pretty well and succeeds at creating a decent work environment.

      Except in a few instances, it's not the corporation that's "evil", but the people running it, or their policies. It's time to get past that simplistic view of big is bad and small is good.

      --
      To celebrate the occasion of my 1000th post, I will post no more forever on Slashdot. Goodbye.
    6. Re:Yeah! by gujo-odori · · Score: 5, Insightful

      So what you're saying is that good or evil doesn't matter, only size matters? :-)

      Seriously, though, if the little guy is evil and the big guy is good (even if he used to be bad too, but reformed himself) and the evil little guy foolish attacks the good big guy and the big guy, is forced to defend himself, then the big guy should have our support.

      Now, the way out legal system is structured (and pretty much everyone else's, too, I think), it basically forces you to take no prisoners. You either obtain an out of court settlement or you go on to victory or defeat in court.

      The real world comparison would be if the little guy is going to fight the big guy, and the rules of fighting, encoded in law, require that they both be locked in a cage and only one comes out alive, or neither ever comes out. Since the big guy didn't start the fight, which was wrongly called by the evil little guy, we can't really blame the big guy if he kills the little guy to get out of the cage.

      So, IBM is likely to bankrupt SCO in this fight, and SCO will be destroyed. It's IP is likely to be bought by someone, probably IBM, or maybe a consortium of IBM, Novell, Red Hat, and others. SCO's few remaining employees will probably all wind up jobless, the innocent along with the guilty. IBM is not to blame for that. SCO is.

      So, I'm openly rooting for IBM because they are the good guy, and I hope they utterly destroy the bad guy, necessary or not, even if they are a 600 pound gorilla and the bad guy is a 98 pound weakling.

      You should *always* enjoy it when the bad guy gets his ass kicked, didn't you learn anything in the movies? :-)

    7. Re:Yeah! by Xenographic · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I am still disturbed however to be supporting a big, bad (well, in the past), corporation against the little guy. No matter how evil the little guy is in this particular case. Somehow the glee that infects the open source community from IBM's good strikes against SCO just don't sit well with me.
      ----

      1) SCO picked this fight. No one forced them to sue.

      2) Just because they're the "little guy" doens't mean they deserve to win.

      3) IBM has actually been rather magnanimous to SCO, allowing them lots of extra time (in a few past motions), not quibbling about the small details (several things they could have objected to, they have overlooked), while at the same time (obviously) maintining a consistant position that SCO's position is inconsistant and absurd.

      4) From my reading of both sets of filings, the reason IBM is doing so well is not that they've somehow railroaded SCO, it's that IBM has been able to keep all their legal filings consistant and SCO can't keep their story straight, and since SCO hasn't been able to do this, neither has their legal counsel. Thus, SCO has asserted a number of things which they ought not to have, and are losing as a result of their own misconduct.

      5) IBM seems to have reformed. They're not trying to control the operating systems market, they're trying to make sure that no one can, ironically. So they won't be beholden to any one operating systems company, and open source software gives IBM all the advantages in being able to help people customize it to make use of IBM hardware.

      I feel that "big corp" vs. "little guy" reasoning is too simplistic, if it were being used as the only criteria for deciding who to support, without reference to the facts at hand. I don't blame you for not wanting to root for some company's demise, though, I just wanted to lay out why I don't have so much of a problem with watching SCO get stomped in court.

    8. Re:Yeah! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My babysitter when i grew up was an Iroquois family. When we watched cowboys and indians, the white dudes were always the bad guys.

      zack

    9. Re:Yeah! by einTier · · Score: 5, Interesting
      I've worked for IBM in the recent past, and I'll say they are about as benign as a big company can get. It was really a pleasure to work for them, and there was always cool stuff going on.

      One thing I really respected about them is that they throw tons of money into research and development, even if that R&D doesn't seem to have a real financial payoff in the future. They basically just pay people to come up with and develop cool technological toys. Some are successful and make IBM tons of money. Others aren't and are just cool to have around. Still, it's not often you see a large company that dedicates a large portion of time and money to things that don't contribute to the bottom line.

      However, woe be unto you if you cross them. As benign as they are, those fuckers hold a serious grudge. And for a very, very long time. They are still pissed about the whole OS/2 Warp debacle and won't use Microsoft products if they can get away with it. That's also a very large reason why they are pumping so much money into Linux. They'd rather the whole OS market be open and free than have Microsoft controlling it.

      They are going to literally grind SCO's bones to make their bread. There will be no SCO by the time IBM is done.

      --
      -------------------------------------------------- $665.95 -- retail price of the beast.
    10. Re:Yeah! by EvilTwinSkippy · · Score: 2, Funny

      Reminds me of the idiot in the monster movie who makes faces at the creature when he think's its penned up, only to spend the next scene screaming their head off in terror before snuffing it horribly.

      --
      "Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival."
      --Dr.W.Edwards Deming
    11. Re:Yeah! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      You got it! Besides, what has SCO ever done to those who defend them to make them want to defend them(since March 2003). I don't care what IBM has done in the past, afer all, it is the PAST. Now they're fighting SCO, that's what's important.

      I don't see why people have to fight about stupid tihngs like this anyway. Why can't everybody get along! The world would progress a LOT faster in every way if people worked together instead of fighting against each other and trying to hold the other back. Don't get me wrong, competition is a good thing. But trying to hold someone else back so they don't get ahead of you is the wrong way to do it, you need to try to push yourself forward.

      Anyway, back to the point...SCO's gonna die, like you said, they picked the fight, it's there own falt!

    12. Re:Yeah! by Zirtix · · Score: 5, Insightful
      Corporations have no integrity. It doesn't matter if a (big) company does something you agree with on day n, because on day n+1 the board, the CEO and the rest of top management can be fired and replaced; replaced with people that will do something you despise. Likewise they may be bought out, merged, liquidated, etc. Unlike governments, few corporations have any kind of mandatory ethical code, or any way of effectively enforcing such rules.

      We see this flip-flop with SCO. Caldera used to be a quite reponsible company, now they are 'evil'. IBM used to be 'evil', now they are 'good'.

      This is a specific problem with large companies, because large companies are publically owned and hence involve a fiduciary responsibility of great importance to a lot of people. The management have a duty to the owners to maximise the profit potential of the company. When a company has a lot of capital, the value of 'ethical' practices pales in significance compared to the amount of profit potential.

      In the case of small companies, the responsibility to maximise earnings is of secondary importance compared to maintaining valuable customer relationships. Often the owner is also the top manager, and hence he/she may decide to act 'ethically' without risking a breach of their fiduciary duty. Also, they will not be fired arbitrarily! To a certain extent, a small company's integrity resides in that of its (private) owner.

    13. Re:Yeah! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      I'm not a fan of Wal-Mart, but it is tough to say they are evil. Wal-Mart is only sucessful because individual people make the decision that the lowest price possible is more important than anything else, and so they shop at Wal-Mart to the exclusion of other "non-evil" stores (which eventually fail).

      Wal-Mart does not have any ability to make people come to their store. People go there to get the absolute rock bottom lowest price. But these decisons matter. I remember reading somewhere about how people in a small manufacturing town in upstate NY were thriled to have Wal-Mart move to their town. Lower prices for everyone!!! A quaint downtown ruined. The triumph of spawl! Eventually the factory which employed 30% of the town had to close down because it could not compete with factories in China on price when it came to suppling fans to....wait for it.... Wal-Mart.

      Another example of a "not-evil" is a traditional Airline. Most people buy tickets based upon the lowest possible price, period. To compete in the game of internet shoping, Airlines have to cut costs somewhere. Fuel, planes, airport infrastructure, maintanace costs and union wages and benefits cannot be controlled. Customer service can be cut back, and since very few people are willing to pay for it, it often is. People scream at airline reps for every reason, but then would never think to pay an extra $25 on their next flight in exchange for proper customer service.

    14. Re:Yeah! by mindfucker · · Score: 1
      Sadam and Usama used to be our freinds. Times change. All we can do is make the alliances that most benefit us, but know that sooner or later they all end.
      And thinking like this can only justify the reasoning of those who empathize with terrorism against the West.
    15. Re:Yeah! by mindfucker · · Score: 4, Funny
      Don't you think you're embellishing a tad with this whole 'good vs. evil' thing?

      This looks to me more like one of those videos on "When Animals Attack" where a retarded guy provokes a polar bear by poking it in the ass with a stick.

    16. Re:Yeah! by zenyu · · Score: 2, Interesting

      People scream at airline reps for every reason, but then would never think to pay an extra $25 on their next flight in exchange for proper customer service.

      Well that's not entirely true. I used to pay a premium to travel on American Airlines because they treated me like a human being. And had even spaced out their seats so my knees weren't in the isle getting hit by every f*cking beverage cart. But ever since a few months after Sept. 11th they've really sucked. So except for spending my frequent flier miles I'll be going with JetBlue. They pay their employees badly and don't offer any of the niceties AA used to offer, but they also don't charge for the service I no longer get with AA. I wish I could pay for that level of service but it just isn't there on any domestic carrier. The same story could probably be told of American made cars and any other service or good this country can no longer provide to my standards.

    17. Re:Yeah! by mrchaotica · · Score: 1

      I didn't know Wal-mart is evil; I must be a bit out-of-date.

      Slashdot needs to post a nice list so that we can keep up with which organizations we're supposed to like or not like!

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

    18. Re:Yeah! by LordK3nn3th · · Score: 1

      He's simply referring to IBM's past behaviors. In fact, he even eluded that IBM could be good now.

      --

      ---
      Never criticize religion on Slashdot. You will be modded down for "Troll" no matter how factual it is.
    19. Re:Yeah! by J'raxis · · Score: 1

      Yes, realpolitik at its finest. Trouble is it has a way of coming back and biting you in the ass in the long run. The CIA is so familiar with this they have another word for it -- "blowback." Let's just hope that, in ten years' time, we don't find out allying ourselves with the 800lb gorilla was a mistake like we found out about Osama on 2001-09-11.

    20. Re:Yeah! by J'raxis · · Score: 2, Interesting
      We see this flip-flop with SCO. Caldera used to be a quite reponsible company, now they are 'evil'. IBM used to be 'evil', now they are 'good'.
      Was Caldera ever good? I seem to remember them being the company that tried to sell per-seat Linux licenses. I always had a bad feeling about them, that they never "got" the Linux ethos in the first place and were always out to try to exploit it as greedily as possible.

      Today per-seat licenses, tomorrow the world, so to speak. Greedy SOBs.

    21. Re:Yeah! by http · · Score: 1
      gujo-odori posted
      Now, the way out legal system is structured...
      Finally, a believeable description.
      --
      If opportunity came disguised as temptation, one knock would be enough.
      3^2 * 67^1 * 977^1
    22. Re:Yeah! by Keith+McClary · · Score: 1

      And thinking like this can only justify the reasoning of those who empathize with terrorism against the West.

      ????
      So how should we think about your former relationship with these guys? Or Chalabi? Or your current relationship with the Saudi royalty and with various Sadaam/Osama clones in central Asia?

    23. Re:Yeah! by ZeeTeeKiwi · · Score: 1
      An interesting analysis, but I have one small nitpick.

      SCO's IP has been pledged to Canopy Group (SCO's parent) as security for a loan and/or the buiding lease. If SCO defaults on its exposures to Canopy, Canopy gets the IP and can continue to fight IBM, should it want to.

      IBM know this, and have been careful to supoena Canopy with a view to making Canopy pay, if possible. Of course IBM are also looking at whether they can get to the true source of the troubles, which as we all know, is MS.

    24. Re:Yeah! by Ungrounded+Lightning · · Score: 2, Interesting

      However, woe be unto you if you cross them. As benign as they are, those fuckers hold a serious grudge. And for a very, very long time. They are still pissed about the whole OS/2 Warp debacle and won't use Microsoft products if they can get away with it. That's also a very large reason why they are pumping so much money into Linux. They'd rather the whole OS market be open and free than have Microsoft controlling it.

      My wife was an intern at Microsoft during that shenannegan and has a LOT to say about it. We're both glad to hear that IBM hasn't let bygones be bygones on that one.

      (She says that one thing that's ironic is that OS/2 was a much better system than Windows. I guess OS/2 got to play Betamax to Windows' VHS.)

      --
      Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
    25. Re:Yeah! by Curtman · · Score: 1
      Costco is large and not evil

      I don't know.. How clean could they be if Bill's got his grubby mitts in there?

      NOTICE OF ANNUAL MEETING OF SHAREHOLDERS

      • William H. Gates, II has been a director of the Company since January 2003
    26. Re:Yeah! by Krusty_Klown · · Score: 1

      Unless I have been asleep for 30 years and Bill "Microsoft" Gates III is now 78 years old Willam H. Gates II would be his dad.

    27. Re:Yeah! by Catroaster · · Score: 1

      Good heavens, yes!

      Wal-Mart recently took over ASDA, a British supermarket, and the quality of the grub has gone right down. They sell the worst lamb in the entire civilized world.

    28. Re:Yeah! by StupidGoose · · Score: 1, Informative

      They are going to literally grind SCO's bones to make their bread.

      No, you dumb fuck, they're not going to LITERALLY grind SCO's bones to make their bread.

    29. Re:Yeah! by oconnorcjo · · Score: 1
      This looks to me more like one of those videos on "When Animals Attack" where a retarded guy provokes a polar bear by poking it in the ass with a stick.

      I consider that natural selection. I would not cheer the bear on but I don't pity the human. I do cheer IBM against SCO because in this case, eliminating SCO's stupidity benefits us all.

      --
      I miss the Karma Whores.
    30. Re:Yeah! by Build6 · · Score: 1

      IBM has actually been rather magnanimous to SCO, allowing them lots of extra time (in a few past motions), not quibbling about the small details (several things they could have objected to, they have overlooked)

      actually this could be strategic. this way, when SCO finally gets the smackdown coming to them, SCO won't be able to point to htings like "look, they refused us 'X', if we'd had that we wouldn't have lost the lawsuit", etc.

    31. Re:Yeah! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You eat cute little lambs?! How evil!

    32. Re:Yeah! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That was so funny, I literally died laug

      NO CARRIER

    33. Re:Yeah! by jonadab · · Score: 1

      > One thing I really respected about them is that they throw tons of money
      > into research and development, even if that R&D doesn't seem to have a
      > real financial payoff in the future.

      R&D does have real financial payoff in the future, though, and IBM knows this
      I'm sure. Any individual R&D project may or may not pay off, but if you have
      an R&D budget and do various R&D stuff, some of it will pay off enough that
      as a whole it was worth doing the R&D. The reason they do some R&D projects
      that may not pay off is because it's very hard to accurately predict *which*
      ones are and aren't going to pay off. You can play the odds, but ultimately
      you just have to do some R&D and figure some of it will pay off. Any well-run
      large company does this, *especially* a technology company. You can be
      certain that Microsoft does R&D work. For that matter, so does McDonald's,
      though in that case it's a very different kind of R&D from what IBM does.

      > However, woe be unto you if you cross them.

      This is a defensive strategy: set a precedent as a deterrent to future
      attacks. If it's done right, it can actually work fairly well. One of the
      tricks to make it work right is that you can't be arbitrarily nasty (at least
      not publically) to entities who clearly haven't crossed you. If you are,
      people just hate you. If you're only nasty to people who clearly were
      picking fights, the dynamic is different: people are afraid to fight you.
      It's the difference between a bully with lots of enemies versus a mostly
      benign tough guy nobody wants to cross. People gang up against the bully;
      the tough guy they want on their side. Applied sociology.

      --
      Cut that out, or I will ship you to Norilsk in a box.
    34. Re:Yeah! by Spunk · · Score: 1

      Hehehehe.

      Thank you!

    35. Re:Yeah! by goatan · · Score: 1

      And maybe one day even MS will become benign

      --
      Saying Apple is better than MS is like saying Botulism is better than rabies.

    36. Re:Yeah! by goatan · · Score: 1

      Don't remind me almost over night my local ASDA became dirty everything seemed alot tackier and cheaper in quality but not price (especially as you say the food)the only thing it's good for is alcohol, fags or named brands as they can't lower the quality of these and they still sell them cheapley. Aviod own brand like the plague especially "smartprice", whats so smart about paying half price for a quarter of the beans and they taste like they have already been eaten by someone else.

      --
      Saying Apple is better than MS is like saying Botulism is better than rabies.

  4. One for the money... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Seriously, who cares anymore? Everyone knows SCO is full of shit, let's just leave it at that.

    1. Re:One for the money... by Roland+Piquepaille · · Score: 1

      Seriously, who cares anymore?

      People have said the same thing about the Dallas series, yet it kept going and going and going.

      You have to realize it's not about justice, or what the fate of Linux will be, or putting the GPL to the test, or anything. The SCO affair has become a entertaining sitcom for Linux people, and a way for them to vent their (perceived) frustration by beating the dead horse again and again.

      (and also a way for Slashdot to fill up on slow days).

    2. Re:One for the money... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Am I going to wake up and find out that it's all been a dream and Darl McBride is dead?

    3. Re:One for the money... by JasonStiletto · · Score: 1

      It's important until it's over. The article isn't really correct though, IBM is saying SCO hasn't presented evidence we violated copyright after being compeled to do so by the court, twice. They're NOT asking for a dismissal. They're asking to be found in their favor. They're saying, if SCO doesn't give evidence now, find for us, because they have no evidence, but even if they DO give evidence, find for us, because they were compelled to twice, they've had over a year, so you should find for us anyway, because they defied two seperate court orders and should be punished. SO.. it's more than the article says, and it's pretty much obvious from reading IBM's filing.

    4. Re:One for the money... by prairieson · · Score: 1

      No, you're going to wake up, find out that it's all been a dream... and Darl's going to be taking a shower in your bathroom. heheh.

      --
      Quomodo cogis comas tuas sic videri?
  5. RAWK! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    go IBM, now if only theyd do that to msft.....

    1. Re:RAWK! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That you Jeff ?

  6. IBM tells SCO to Put Up or Shut Up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ...again

    1. Re:IBM tells SCO to Put Up or Shut Up by accidental_1 · · Score: 1

      and again ...

  7. Hurrah! by CyanDisaster · · Score: 0, Informative

    Does anyone really think SCO (leally) stands a chance?

    Hope be with ye,
    Cyan

    1. Re:Hurrah! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No disrespect to the parent, but what does a moderator have to smoke in order to think it's a good idea to moderate a rhetorical question as "Informative"?

    2. Re:Hurrah! by CyanDisaster · · Score: 1

      Probably the same stuff I was smoking when I posted that. Still trying to figure out just what it was...got it from some Darl guy...

      Hope be with ye,
      Cyan

  8. About damn time by robochan · · Score: 3, Insightful

    You'd figure with IBM's resources, their lawyers would have been on something like this within a month - not over a year.

    --
    ...Rob
    The American Dream isn't an SUV and a house in the suburbs; it's Don't Tread On Me.
    1. Re:About damn time by Lane.exe · · Score: 3, Insightful
      Psh. Truly elegant artists know that a crushing blow is all about the right timing. They've given SCO ample time to embarrass themselves, and now they're going to sweep in with a (hopefully) final blow that will shatter poor Darl's dreams of riches.

      --
      IAALS.
    2. Re:About damn time by macdaddy357 · · Score: 1

      You'd figure with IBM's resources, they could have hired hit men, and had Darl McBride and all his cronies killed. Maybe Big Blue has stopped being evil.

      --
      How ya like dat?
    3. Re:About damn time by mckniglj · · Score: 5, Funny

      They were too busy laughing. I believe that they are just now done wiping the tears from their eyes...

    4. Re:About damn time by cybermace5 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Lawyers are paid by the hour.

      --
      ...
    5. Re:About damn time by whoever57 · · Score: 3, Interesting
      final blow that will shatter poor Darl's dreams of riches.

      Well Darl was paid about $1M last year, a figure that many people (but not, one suspects, Darl) would consider riches.

      Perhaps he will consider trying to make money the old fashined way next time, you know: create a product that people actually want and sell it!

      I don't think SCO ever intended to SELL any "SCOSource" licenses -- you would expect them to register the domain name if they did, but SCO did not register it

      --
      The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
    6. Re:About damn time by arcanumas · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Hey, you could better than that.
      I like it more when people really overdo the number of lawyers IBM could ever have.
      Something like:
      They will hide the sun
      or: They could burry SCO under 10% of dead IBM layers. No need for courts.
      or: IBM lawyers are so many that IBM keeps 90% of them in cryogenic chambers for future use.
      or: IBM's uses so many lawyers that several small countries are now under contract to provide lawyers to IBM.
      or: IBM lawyers are so many that they refer to them by serial number
      I'm sure you can come up with better.

      --
      Slashdot Sig. version 0.1alpha. Use at your own risk.
    7. Re:About damn time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As an IBM employee I think I can help dispel some of these myths. IBM's worldwide workforce is approximately 315,000 employees. At its peak, during the late 80s, about half a million people worked for Big Blue. But one of the sample comments you mentioned is funny because it's true...

      > IBM lawyers are so many that they refer to them by serial number

      IBM refers to ALL of us by serial number, a 6-digit alphanumeric string that uniquely identifies every one of us. :-)

    8. Re:About damn time by 16K+Ram+Pack · · Score: 1
      Perhaps he will consider trying to make money the old fashined way next time, you know: create a product that people actually want and sell it!

      Even if he tried, would anyone buy it? If you were wanting to start a company, would you employ him, considering the publicity backlash?

    9. Re:About damn time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      6 Digit per country.

      JP000666 is not the same guy as US000666

      Still, that guy is lucky.

    10. Re:About damn time by nacturation · · Score: 3, Funny

      How is this insightful? Can you imagine the trial?

      IBM: "Your honor, I know it's only been a month and we haven't even gotten through the discovery process of gathering evidence, but how about just cut the whole thing short because it's *clearly* a waste of time."

      Judge: "Do you have any evidence to present that proves this conclusively?"

      IBM: "Um, no. But SCO has had a whole 20 business days already! That's an entire month in regular people terms! Sure, we're still fulfilling requests for evidence, but we're *sure* they won't find anything."

      Judge: "Well your certainty is not the law. Perhaps if this case were the only one before the courts and we spent 8 hours a day studying its merits, we could move on that kind of timetable. As it stands, this case sees a couple of hours here and there, so how is that sufficient time to warrant a summary judgment?"

      IBM: "But... but... Linux r0x0rs! We are teh best! Free software... SCO is teh sux0r... patents are evil... FRIST PROST! No? Hello? Anyone? Information wants to be free..."

      Judge: "Motion denied!!"

      [The judge then goes into a long rant about the judicial process and how it's there to protect all parties, and how IBM's lawyers should go back to law school and take Law 101 to learn why it's done this way.]

      --
      Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
    11. Re:About damn time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How would one go about finding their serial number? I want to be able to refer to myself by that number if I feel the urge :)

    12. Re:About damn time by EvilTwinSkippy · · Score: 2, Funny
      I hear a few of the drug companies are negotiating with IBM to begin medical tests using excess members of their legal department. The reasons are threefold:
      • Lab rats of good pedegree are becoming scarce, there is no shortage of lawyers at IBM.
      • Technicians sometimes develop an attachment an emotional attachment to the rats. This should not be the case for lawyers.
      • There are some things a rat just won't do.

      Yeah, just a rebadge lawyer joke. The Jargon file has an amusing entry about Lion Food

      Two lions who, escaping from the zoo, split up to increase their chances but agree to meet after 2 months. When they finally meet, one is skinny and the other overweight. The thin one says: "How did you manage? I ate a human just once and they turned out a small army to chase me -- guns, nets, it was terrible. Since then I've been reduced to eating mice, insects, even grass." The fat one replies: "Well, I hid near an IBM office and ate a manager a day. And nobody even noticed!"

      --
      "Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival."
      --Dr.W.Edwards Deming
    13. Re:About damn time by AntiOrganic · · Score: 1
      Well Darl was paid about $1M last year, a figure that many people (but not, one suspects, Darl) would consider riches.

      Perhaps he will consider trying to make money the old fashined way next time, you know: create a product that people actually want and sell it!
      Is there going to be a next time? Following this whole fiasco, what's he going to put on his resume, that he was the guy who ran SCOX's stock prices into the ground?
    14. Re:About damn time by mkoenecke · · Score: 5, Interesting

      A brief tip: if you haven't actually paid attention to the progress of the case and know nothing about the litigation process, you'll save yourself considerable embarassment by refraining from commenting on it.

      IAAL, and I'm dumbfounded that the judge has not *already* bounced SCO's entire lawsuit for refusing to comply with two consecutive discovery orders. "20 business days?" It's already been over a year.

      --
      TANSTAAFL
    15. Re:About damn time by mark-t · · Score: 1
      IAAL

      Uhmm... admitting this on slashdot?

      You must be new here.

    16. Re:About damn time by Curtman · · Score: 1

      what's he going to put on his resume, that he was the guy who ran SCOX's stock prices into the ground?

      To be fair though, things weren't going so well before that. This whole thing is the proverbial hail mary.

    17. Re:About damn time by darien · · Score: 1

      Psst... the guy you're replying to agrees with you. He was responding to an earlier post suggesting that IBM should have filed this motion after a month, rather than waiting a year.

    18. Re:About damn time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well Darl was paid about $1M last year, a figure that many people (but not, one suspects, Darl) would consider riches.

      Just because you're paid riches doesn't mean you get to keep them: just work out how much he'd be paying in taxes. I bet he's lucky if he keeps even close to half. $500,000 doesn't sound quite so much like riches.

    19. Re:About damn time by cant_get_a_good_nick · · Score: 1

      IBM: "But... but... Linux r0x0rs! We are teh best! Free software... SCO is teh sux0r... patents are evil...
      I know you're putting a slasdot poster as a lawyer in the lawsuit, but still it's quite a stretch for an IBM lawyer to say patents are evil. They make nice piles of cash with patents, and that probably would be paying your bills. Funny post though.

    20. Re:About damn time by yuri+benjamin · · Score: 1

      IBM refers to ALL of us by serial number, a 6-digit alphanumeric string that uniquely identifies every one of us

      I think every organisation or company that has a computerised payroll system does that. Where I work everyone has an employee number. There may be two Jane Andersons working for the company but not two people with the payroll number 13563.

      --
      You make the mistake of thinking you can educate the fundamental stupidity out of people. You can't.
  9. How many times now? by eurleif · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Seems like every other week, we get a story about IBM telling SCO to put up or shut up. How many of them have we had now?

    1. Re:How many times now? by wastedimage · · Score: 1

      well i dont think its always IBM..but yes i agree..seems like sco always gets to wiggle away and file more crap..

    2. Re:How many times now? by Flower · · Score: 1

      Let's see... Two motions to compell and now this. So over the course of a year we have had this happen a total of three times. Or, since this has been an issue since December last year, I'd say we've gotten it on average every two months.

      --
      I don't want knowledge. I want certainty. - Law, David Bowie
    3. Re:How many times now? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Twenty-seven.

      Do they ever put up? Nope.

      Do they ever shut up? Of course not.

      Does it seem to be doing them any good? Not really.

      If someone is still paying close enough attention to the case to explain why this particular legal maneuver is more significant than any of the previous "Please tell the plaintiff to explain just what the hell this suit is about"'s, we're curious. But first glance doesn't seem to indicate anything fundamentally new.

    4. Re:How many times now? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      as often as we've heard that Mac marketshare is declining and that Apple is dying... :P

    5. Re:How many times now? by Hut_Mul · · Score: 2, Informative
      Seems like every other week, we get a story about IBM telling SCO to put up or shut up. How many of them have we had now?

      Well the difference this time is that IBM is no longer asking for the code. Big Blue is telling the judge that SCO has nothing, nada, zip. After several requests SCO has still produced nothing. So IBM is asking the judge to rule that IBM did NOT dump any of SCO's valuable code into Linux.

      Well, someone, somewhere in this thread probably has already said this. Mark me Redundant

    6. Re:How many times now? by Drooling+Iguana · · Score: 1

      Well, they do use a BSD-based OS now...

      --
      ... I'm addicted to placebos
  10. IBM, our great savior? by Hot+Summer+Nights · · Score: 0, Interesting

    I'd rather have a world without IBM than IBM "saving Linux".

    --
    Karma: Terrible - and proud of it!
    1. Re:IBM, our great savior? by Em+Ellel · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I'd rather have a world without IBM than IBM "saving Linux".

      There is some truth there, If it weren't for suing IBM, I doubt SCO would have been able to raise any money. SCO investors are gambling on some sort of payoff , and I bet suing small companies or FSF just would not produce any significant income even if they won.

      -Em

      --
      RelevantElephants: A Somatic WebComic...
    2. Re:IBM, our great savior? by gujo-odori · · Score: 5, Insightful

      This is actually quite a wrong analysis.

      If IBM weren't around, SCO still could (and almost certainly would) have picked on smaller players such as Red Hat, SuSE, etc. These small players don't have a great deal of money with which to defend themselves, and SCO could have probably bankrupted some of them before the fight was even over, and possibly even won one or more injunctions against the distribution use of Linux.

      Fortunately, IBM was around, was promoting Linux in a big way, and SCO was foolish enough to take on the 600 pound gorilla and think it could win or at least be bought out at a handsome profit for its investors and executives. Too bad for SCO it turns out the 600 pound gorilla believes it can win and set a precedent and never have to worry about this again. As a result, IBM will seek to make an example of SCO, and make Darl rue the day he first heard the words "law suit."

      Then, when it's over and SCO is in ruins, IBM may buy SCO anyway for pennies on the dollar and have both the court precedent and the IP in hand, rendering IBM and all of us safe from a repeat attack on Linux. It will probably also render IBM safe from being sued by anyone else, over anything, for a long time to come because they have demonstrated their willingness to fight instead of settle.

    3. Re:IBM, our great savior? by Em+Ellel · · Score: 1

      I have no doubts that they could, but without big cash payoff (or more exactly - a possibility of big cash payoff) why would they bother? Especially if this is all about SCO trying to present itself for IBM buyout.

      SCO is not evil that is trying destroy Linux world for the sake of destroying it, it's just greedy trying to make money any way they can. With IBM or any other big company, they can make money. There is no profit in bankrupting some small company unless you somehow get paid for it.

      -Em

      --
      RelevantElephants: A Somatic WebComic...
    4. Re:IBM, our great savior? by Gilmoure · · Score: 1

      "Rue the day"?

      Who the hell speaks like this? /Tom Hanks

      --
      I drank what? -- Socrates
    5. Re:IBM, our great savior? by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1

      No, no, no. If IBM weren't around, they wouldn't have been able to put SCO's IP into Linux, and so Linux wouldn't be at all popular since it would not be enterprise ready and SCO would not need the lawsuit.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    6. Re:IBM, our great savior? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      'As a result, IBM will seek to make an example of SCO, and make Darl rue the day he first heard the words "law suit."'

      Not really. Darl took a tough job, was well compensated for it, and performed to the best of his (limited) abilities.

      The only people who will really regret this are BayStar's limited partners who didn't have something besides money (msft) to gain from this charade. My hope is that they go after baystar for wasting their money to play politics for microsoft.

  11. Afterwards, IBM can sue SCO for frivolous filing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Triple damages & legal fees! Whoo! There goes the money, baby.

  12. Why now? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why hasn't this happened before?! IANAL, i'm genuinely interested.

    1. Re:Why now? by stoolpigeon · · Score: 1

      It has.

      --
      It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
    2. Re:Why now? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Lane, would you mind if I took out Beth?"

      Not really, but Beth says you're an ugly toad, so she's the one with the issues here.

    3. Re:Why now? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      IANAL, i'm genuinely interested.

      Since you anal and are genuinely interested, Bend over!

    4. Re:Why now? by letxa2000 · · Score: 1
      Lane, would you mind if I took out Beth?

      Look Lane, I've been going to this high school for seven and a half years... I'm no dummy.

  13. more importantly by nizo · · Score: 4, Funny

    We want to know when the SCO firesale starts! I need a $2000 office chair for my cat to sleep on.

    1. Re:more importantly by HuckleCom · · Score: 0

      Yea, I could use a $1000 paperweight myself.

    2. Re:more importantly by An+Onerous+Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Heh. The Salt Lake and Provo LUGs should get together and start a deathwatch. Basically, people would take turns outside their corporate offices, manning a sign that says, "I bid $5." Victory comes when Darl comes out and accepts the offer.

      --

      You want the truthiness? You can't handle the truthiness!

    3. Re:more importantly by Bryan+Andersen · · Score: 1
      Heh. The Salt Lake and Provo LUGs should get together and start a deathwatch. Basically, people would take turns outside their corporate offices, manning a sign that says, "I bid $5." Victory comes when Darl comes out and accepts the offer.

      You got to wonder what the liabilities SCO would have at that point. I wouldn't touch them if I was paid to buy them.

    4. Re:more importantly by Galvatron · · Score: 1
      You got to wonder what the liabilities SCO would have at that point. I wouldn't touch them if I was paid to buy them.

      The whole point of a corporation is that its owners are not financially liable for the company's debts.

      --
      "The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than that of whether a submarine can swim" -EWD
    5. Re:more importantly by grasshoppa · · Score: 1

      Yea, I could use a $1000 paperweight myself.

      Do you really think Darl is worth that much?

      He's like the last prostitute on the block at 3am, just looking for the drunk-blind sucker to give him a fiver.

      What half an hour, you can probably talk him down to 2.

      --
      Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
    6. Re:more importantly by jez9999 · · Score: 1

      I think the 'drunk blind sucker' would be giving something other than a fiver...

    7. Re:more importantly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And yet they benefit financially when it succeeds... capitalism eh?

    8. Re:more importantly by Galvatron · · Score: 1

      Well, the owners DO lose their initial investment, they just can't be forced to pay any more of their own money.

      --
      "The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than that of whether a submarine can swim" -EWD
    9. Re:more importantly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Then they shouldn't get back more than 2x their initial investment -- unless they accept unlimited liability.

  14. Should Have Started With This by libertynews · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You would think that someone would have said 'Gee, do you guys have any EVIDENCE to support your claims?' and when they couldn't or wouldn't produce a single line of code they would have been tossed out of the courthouse on their butt. I suppose that's too close to being common sense for our over-lawyered justice system though.

    --
    Remember Lexington Green!
    1. Re:Should Have Started With This by Artega+VH · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Thats exactly what they've done.. and since they wanted to give SCO as MUCH chance as possible to:
      1. produce the evidence
      2. destroy their own argument
      3. bankrupt SCO in legal fees
      its taken this long...

      If it was a short case noone would have cared about it and the benefits to Linux and FOSS wouldn't have occured...

      jeez don't you read groklaw at all?

      --
      groklaw, wired and slashdot. The holy trinity of work based time wasting.
    2. Re:Should Have Started With This by 16K+Ram+Pack · · Score: 1
      I read some of the court things from Groklaw, and the IBM lawyers seemed as pleasant as pie with SCOs demands.

      Very smart move IMO.

  15. Anyone notice? by sethadam1 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'm no conspiricy theorist, but did anyone notice that IBM - effectively the Microsoft of the 80s - has become the geek hero of the age?

    Sure, this has cost them lots of $$, but they are going to emerge the champions of tech geeks the world over.

    1. Re:Anyone notice? by Wehesheit · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Everyone can change. I imagine they want to try out being a friend to the industry, this will garner a shitload of loyalty and loyalty can weigh heavily into which server to buy next quarter.

      --
      This P.I.G. will walk on the water, This P.I.G. will walk on the sea, This P.I.G. will walk whereever he wants.
    2. Re:Anyone notice? by Roland+Piquepaille · · Score: 4, Interesting

      IBM - effectively the Microsoft of the 80s

      Not so. IBM was called the benevolent dictator, and that since way before the 80s. I don't think I've ever seen Microsoft been called benevolent by any sane person...

    3. Re:Anyone notice? by i_want_you_to_throw_ · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I'm no conspiricy theorist, but did anyone notice that IBM - effectively the Microsoft of the 80s - has become the geek hero of the age?

      Sure, this has cost them lots of $$, but they are going to emerge the champions of tech geeks the world over.


      There's nothing to stop Microsoft from becoming a company that geeks could love. They just need to learn the painful lesson that IBM learned (eventually): how to transition from a company that makes standards to becoming a company that contributes to them.

    4. Re:Anyone notice? by MojoRilla · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Sure, this has cost them lots of $$, but they are going to emerge the champions of tech geeks the world over.

      It cost them lots of $$? They are getting publicity that money can't buy. Geeks are cheering for IBM. I don't think it is any coincidence that IBM started their Linux advertising bliz after the suit was filed. They are spending millions on those commercials.

    5. Re:Anyone notice? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Sure, this has cost them lots of $$, but they are going to emerge the champions of tech geeks the world over.
      Fat lot of good that did Sun.
    6. Re:Anyone notice? by wayne606 · · Score: 1

      No publicly traded corporation is influenced by morality or wanting to seem the good guy. It's all about $$$. IBM wants to take on Microsoft, and they see Linux as the way to do it, so they become the champion of Linux. SCO sues them so they fight back. They aren't doing it because they want to defend innocent geeks from evil vulture-capitalist. I'm sure Darl McBride, Sam Palmisano, Bill Gates, and Steve Jobs all play golf together and smirk condescendingly at us techie idealists... (Ok, maybe not Steve Jobs - he's too cool for those other guys...)

    7. Re:Anyone notice? by cmowire · · Score: 1

      Actually, I think it's mostly the case that IBM's interests are aligning with the geeks here. So it's a strategic move.

      IBM makes most of their money off of consulting, not hardware. Linux is letting them reach markets that they couldn't with AIX, OS/400, OS/390, etc.

      With Linux, they are beholden to nobody. AMD and Intel share the x86 market now, Linux runs on the IBM-controlled PPC/POWER architecture, etc. Everything is either in a market with healthy competition or a product manufactured by IBM.

      Plus, crushing SCO is *very* good for IBM's business because it will prevent others from trying similar schemes.

      So being nice to geeks has very little to do with it.

    8. Re:Anyone notice? by Dark+Lord+Seth · · Score: 3, Informative

      Microsoft can very easily be a normal and respected company. It's hard to imagine, but it's possible. It's very possible for MS to exist largely as it it nowadays. However, it would require a shift in income from licensing to support. Here's how:

      • Remove atrocious licensing schemes.
      • Conform to standards, open up your own for others AND write filters that convert office documents to anything your customers could wish for.
      • Sell "Light" versions of home-user orientated software at low ( $30 and lower ) prices.
      • Improve support for enterprise level products such as the server series, premium office suites and the like.
      • Play nice. Slander isn't a very good tool to maintain a profitable enterprise.
      • Expand more on hardware. Microsoft hardware, contrary to their software, is very good stuff imho.
      • Focus on delivering custom software solutions to enterprises.
      • Create and maintain home-user orientated communities like MSDN for the "common people", where developers can communicate with their users and maybe find a few new areas of improvement.

      However, I fear most of that is wishful thinking. Ah well, I'd give it a shot if given the oppurtunity.

    9. Re:Anyone notice? by Xenographic · · Score: 2, Interesting

      IBM has managed to make their support of Linux something that is to our mutual advantages.

      We get enterprise level support and code contributions from IBM, they get to sell services, promote sales of IBM hardware, and to have the freedom from any one particular vendor.

      Besides, it simply wouldn't be in their best interests to betray us, and if they did, the community would surely respond in kind.

      Barring some new change in the markets that upsets IBM's Linux strategy, their current relationship seems to be stable enough and isn't very likely to change in the near term. Sure, there could be some radical management shakeup, wherein the top brass wind up replaced with "open source is un-American" types or some other bizarre change, but I consider that unlikely, at least for the time being.

    10. Re:Anyone notice? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > effectively the Microsoft of the 80s

      I'm trying to figure out who is more delusional, you or the half-wits that modded this up.

      Then again the score dropped a point between my reading it and this response.......

    11. Re:Anyone notice? by AKnightCowboy · · Score: 2, Insightful
      I'm no conspiricy theorist, but did anyone notice that IBM - effectively the Microsoft of the 80s - has become the geek hero of the age?

      Make no mistake, IBM is only interested in Linux because it can use it to make a profit. It couldn't care less if it's open source or not, only that Linux is free for them to put on boxes, thus, more profit for them.

    12. Re:Anyone notice? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      IBM is still the number one patent filing company in the world. They actually believe in things like "intellectual property" and other such nonsense. They still very much want to make standards and have everyone else follow them.

    13. Re:Anyone notice? by nathanh · · Score: 4, Interesting
      Not so. IBM was called the benevolent dictator, and that since way before the 80s. I don't think I've ever seen Microsoft been called benevolent by any sane person...

      I've never heard the benevolent dictator before to describe IBM, but I can believe it. In my own dealings, IBM hardware and software has always been highly praised. They build solid stuff. They support it _forever_ and a day. Documentation is second to none. But the IBM sales and marketting is a pariah. I've heard comments from other techs along the lines of "I wish I didn't have to deal with IBM's lawyers before I could use IBM's products".

      The benefit of IBM going with open source is that you no longer need to deal with the sales people or the lawyers to get to the product. You speak directly with IBM's engineers. It's perfect. All the top qualities of IBM - the engineering, the attention to detail - without any of the biz crap you wish didn't exist.

      NB: that's not to say every IBM product is a godsend. They've produced some absolute shit in the PC division (which includes their Intel/x86 based servers as far as I'm concerned). I'm sure there are other cockups too.

    14. Re:Anyone notice? by slittle · · Score: 1

      Uh, what? IBM had their own antitrust problems, from the 50's through at least 1997.

      --
      Opportunity knocks. Karma hunts you down.
    15. Re:Anyone notice? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ah yes, the benovolence of MicroChannel. I remember that one. (And their attempt to control the PC BIOS, foiled by Compaq?)

      They were dictator, and they were not necessarily benevolent. They were just less competent than Microsoft, and more saddled with concerns about cannabalizing higher-end products.

    16. Re:Anyone notice? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or, and, I haven't seen anyone consider this, actually come out and claim Linux for themselves. Or maybe Novell...

    17. Re:Anyone notice? by swillden · · Score: 3, Insightful

      However, I fear most of that is wishful thinking. Ah well, I'd give it a shot if given the opportunity.

      You're right both about what Microsoft could do and the likelihood that they'll do it. It's worth pointing out, however, exactly why they won't do it.

      In a word: profit. While they could be a respected and healthy company doing what you mention, they would be operating on profit margins that are a tiny fraction of what they have now. Their business would become more similar to IBM's, who has profit margins that are less than one third of Microsoft's. Their stock price would decline by at least half, maybe more. Their relative importance in the I/T world would drop like a stone as well.

      All in all, they'd go from being the big kid on the block, in many measures (profits, market cap, influence) to being just another player, and one without some of the diversity and breadth advantages of IBM, or HP.

      Long-term, they're going to have to come down to earth, but don't expect them to stop taking the monopoly profits one second before the market forces them to.

      In its heyday, IBM was also perfectly content to take the money until the DoJ got them to sign a consent decree that tied their hands in the mainframe market about the same time the market shifted away from big iron. Microsoft, of course, has realized that consent decrees and such only limit your actions if you choose to obey them, so it's going to require extra-market forces (like open source) to cut them down to size.

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
    18. Re:Anyone notice? by Tough+Love · · Score: 1

      Fire Gates

      --
      When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
    19. Re:Anyone notice? by Tony-A · · Score: 1

      IBM had their own antitrust problems

      And probably a large part of why IBM is not making its own distribution of Linux.

    20. Re:Anyone notice? by Halfbaked+Plan · · Score: 1

      They have even put out a TV commercial that conveys the message that Linux is a little blond haired savant who they can lecture at.

      --
      resigned
    21. Re:Anyone notice? by Curtman · · Score: 1

      Which one was that? I liked them. I don't think they were condescending at all.

    22. Re:Anyone notice? by red+floyd · · Score: 1

      No publicly traded corporation is influenced by morality or wanting to seem the good guy. It's all about $$$

      No, "goodwill" is considered an asset on your balance sheet. It may be an intangible, but it is definitely considered an asset. And IBM is piling it up.

      --
      The only reason we have the rights we have is that people just like us died to gain those rights. -- Cheerio Boy
    23. Re:Anyone notice? by bfree · · Score: 1

      Even the quickest checking would help you discover that IBM started advertising Linux long before this suit was filed, a quick search yields the date March 2001 for the Avery Brooks ad for example.

      --

      Never underestimate the dark side of the Source

    24. Re:Anyone notice? by Feztaa · · Score: 1

      Make no mistake, IBM is only interested in Linux because it can use it to make a profit. It couldn't care less if it's open source or not, only that Linux is free for them to put on boxes, thus, more profit for them.

      And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. Linux isn't going to stop being GPL'd anytime soon, so the more clout we can get going behind linux, the better. Whether it's because of money, or because of freedom, it really doesn't matter that much.

    25. Re:Anyone notice? by Curtman · · Score: 1

      Fire Gates

      ... And demote monkey boy from CEO, to mascot.

    26. Re:Anyone notice? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or, and, I haven't seen anyone consider this, actually come out and claim Linux for themselves. Or maybe Novell...

      People have, briefly, considered that, but having considered it they notice that it's a really stupid idea and drop it.

      IBM already own proprietary operating systems. IBM are quite capable of creating more proprietary operating systems, or of buying them. Linux's strength is in its open source collaborative nature. Seizing control of it, even if they could, would gain IBM nothing. What would be the point?

    27. Re:Anyone notice? by jtnishi · · Score: 1

      Maybe not Microsoft, but remember that Gates is still a philanthropist, so I can see people actually calling at least him benevolent at times.

    28. Re:Anyone notice? by Roxy · · Score: 1
      until the DoJ got them to sign a consent decree

      Learn history. IBM never signed a consent decree, as the case were dropped by the Reagan DoJ (in 1984 I believe). Granted, IBM had before that dropped some of the worst parts of its behavior, but had never been ruled against.

      Roland Buresund

      --
      -- Roland Buresund MBA, MCMI, CISSP
    29. Re:Anyone notice? by jonadab · · Score: 1

      > Expand more on hardware. Microsoft hardware, contrary to their software,
      > is very good stuff imho.

      Some of it is, yes. Microsoft is one of the two companies whose mice I've
      been really pleased with (the other being Mitsumi), and they make pretty
      decent keyboards (although I, being *very* picky, use an Avant model, which
      is better but also correspondingly more expensive).

      Their other hardware may be good too, but I don't have experience with it.

      Microsoft could also stand to expand more in other, unrelated business areas.
      Diversification, you know. I'm not talking about other content production
      areas like media -- that would have too many antitrust-law implications --
      but rather unrelated areas. Buy up a couple of popular local fast food
      chains and take them nationwide (or international), that sort of thing.
      I'm sure they do some of this sort of thing by investing in stocks and
      whatnot, but I really think they ought to do more of it. If nothing else,
      it would be an unobvious way to hedge their bets in the long term on the
      commoditization of software without looking like they're doing so.

      --
      Cut that out, or I will ship you to Norilsk in a box.
    30. Re:Anyone notice? by swillden · · Score: 1

      Learn history. IBM never signed a consent decree, as the case were dropped by the Reagan DoJ (in 1984 I believe).

      Umm, you need to re-read that history book. IBM has signed at least three consent decrees, one in 1954, one in 1984 and another one in 2000 -- and those are just what google turns up with a couple of minutes search.

      Beyond what google finds, as an IBM employee I've run head-on into restrictions created by the anti-trust litigation, as recently as 2002. I'm not sure whether that's because some agreement is still in force (I don't think so) or because IBM is trying to stay out of future anti-trust actions.

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
    31. Re:Anyone notice? by Halfbaked+Plan · · Score: 1

      I liked it, too. But step back and look at all the ways it could be interpreted. It's one of those messages that can be taken many ways.

      --
      resigned
    32. Re:Anyone notice? by Roxy · · Score: 2, Informative
      OK, I admit that IBM has signed consent decrees, but let us investigate them a bit more, shall we?

      1956: A consent decree is signed in the US, specifying that IBM shall not compete in the second hand computer market and allow punched cards (etc) to be manufactured by third parties. Is this relevant to the discussion? No!

      1984: A consent decree is signed with the EC (European Commission), that specifies that Interfaces will be updated and that IBM will announce everything within a short timeframe from initial announcement also in the EC. Is this relevant to the discussion? No.

      2000: A consent decree is signed stipulating that IBM will make a volontary contribution to the FCC of $70.000 regarding a minor error (which FCC agrees is minor) in the handling of radio licenses. Is this relevant? No.

      So, let us keep it relevant. It is also well known that IBM (during anti-trust litigation) volontary imposed rules to prevent any recurrance of behaviour that would have been or could have been in violation of anti-trust laws in the US.

      I am the former security architect for AIX, so I believe I know some of the issues as well. But let us be generous: you are correct and I am wrong, IBM has signed consent decrees, but none that has any bearing or relevance on this discussion.

      Roland Buresund

      --
      -- Roland Buresund MBA, MCMI, CISSP
    33. Re:Anyone notice? by MojoRilla · · Score: 1

      IBM kicked off it's "The Future Is Open" advertising campaign in September of 2004 (as noted here).

      One of the key points about this campaign was that it was targeted much more at the masses, trying to explain with metaphor why Linux is so powerful.

      Considering that this was a 90 second ad, and that it was run during NFL games, the tab on just this campaign alone could be more than the IBM SCO legal fees.

    34. Re:Anyone notice? by swillden · · Score: 1

      Thanks for the clarification.

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
  16. Mirror anyone? by fiannaFailMan · · Score: 1

    Either it's been slashdotted or our proxy is up the left.

    --
    Drill baby drill - on Mars
  17. Not asking for the case to be thrown out.. by neurojab · · Score: 5, Informative
    From the motion's text itself:

    Pursuant to DUCivR 56-1(a) and Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 56 and 37(b)(2), Defendant/Counterclaim-Plaintiff International Business Machines Corporation ("IBM") respectfully submits this cross-motion for partial summary judgment on its claim against Plaintiff/Counterclaim-Defendant The SCO Group, Inc. ("SCO") for a declaration of non-infringement with respect to IBM's Linux activities (the "Tenth Counterclaim").


    A partial summary judgement and a dismissal are entirely different. A partial summary judgement does not end the case.

    1. Re:Not asking for the case to be thrown out.. by coolgabe · · Score: 0

      Right, but it could end a significant part of the case.

    2. Re:Not asking for the case to be thrown out.. by EJB · · Score: 1

      In fact, the things IBM doesn't want to have thrown out are their counterclaims against SCO. IBM does ask for almost all of SCO's claims to be thrown out.

    3. Re:Not asking for the case to be thrown out.. by sacmog · · Score: 1

      Actualy, I think a partial summary judgement against SCO would effectivly end the case. Their financial situation would appear to be sliding downhill fast, and such a judgement would probably dry up the rest. No one wants to invest in or support something that really IS dying. One could hope, anyway.

      --
      --- last minute desparate solutions to impossible problems created by other fucking people.
    4. Re:Not asking for the case to be thrown out.. by neurojab · · Score: 3, Informative

      >In fact, the things IBM doesn't want to have thrown out are their counterclaims against SCO. IBM does ask for almost all of SCO's claims to be thrown out.

      Not really. What SCO claims in the media is "IBM stole our code and put it in Linux". Their COURT claims, however, are different. If you look at SCO's second ammended complaint, Copyright infringement is the fifth cause of action, but they never directly accuse IBM of putting UNIX code in Linux (just "derivative works"). The rest of the claims are contract violation, unfair competition, etc.

      Partial summary judgement on copyright infringement would be a PR nightmare for SCO (even though they'll spin it as though that's what they wanted), but I would expect the case to continue until SCO becomes the largest crater in Utah.

    5. Re:Not asking for the case to be thrown out.. by EvilTwinSkippy · · Score: 1
      I just had a cheery (?) vision of SCO's legal team as an army of the Undead, lashed to the case they had started, and unable to find the peace of the grave until the case is over.

      It was quite disturbing, and funny at the same time.

      --
      "Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival."
      --Dr.W.Edwards Deming
    6. Re:Not asking for the case to be thrown out.. by wayne606 · · Score: 1

      Well, while the case has been going, on the top management have been cashing in their options as fast as they can.. That's what this is all about - I doubt they really believe their case has a chance. So what if SCO crashes and burns and Boies, et al don't get paid? They got theirs... I just hope after this is all over McBride and the others get convicted of defrauding their shareholders.

  18. Interesting insights on Groklaw by TWX · · Score: 5, Informative

    Reading throught many of the recent Groklaw stories and posts, I've found some of the legal insights intriguing. IBM's lawyers did a wonderful job of giving Darl and Company plenty of time and opportunity to paint themselves into a corner.

    IBM has documented SCOX's failure on two different orders to produce their evidence in discovery. They have also brought forth conflicting statements made by various lawyers and corporate types, the lawyers saying, "We have no further evidence" with the officers saying, "We will find more evidence as things go along". Even more damaging, SCO's filing lawsuits against so many other entities has caused other lawsuits to depend on the conclusion of this one, so there suddenly is no way for them to not go ahead.

    I just hope that the SEC seeks criminal cases against SCOX board members over this one. That would do everyone well for the long term.

    --
    Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
  19. Assuming... by Faies · · Score: 1

    ...of course, that the judge approves it.

  20. reminds me of... by assimilat · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    sco: HEY my moms not on the cover of crack whore magazine!!! ibm: See sco, your mom is on the cover. sco:hehe well uh...

    1. Re:reminds me of... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      maaam...if you were in a german scheizer video, you'd tell me right?

  21. Darl's New Job by RPoet · · Score: 5, Funny
    --
    "Oppression and harassment is a small price to pay to live in the land of the free." -- Montgomery Burns.
    1. Re:Darl's New Job by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Did you ever notice how Darl looks like Scott Peterson? Now we know who REALLY killed Lacy & Connor.

  22. I don't get this... by WarlockD · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Didn't IBM already ask that when the requested the code?

  23. It's a lose-lose situation... by 3)+profit!!! · · Score: 0

    ...either SCO keeps quiet and the case is thrown out, or they point out the "infringing" parts of Linux, which get rewritten.

    1. Re:It's a lose-lose situation... by grepistan · · Score: 1

      It's always been a lose-lose situation. That's why it provides so much entertainment!

      --
      Real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time.
      -- Terry Pratchett, Hogfather
  24. Not put up, but just shut up by 1001011010110101 · · Score: 4, Informative

    In fact, IBM is saying that as SCO hasn't already presented evidence, even after being ordered twice by the judge, they shouldn't be alowed to present any now ... like, you had time to put up, now just shut up. Its even worst after the executives kept talking trash (read: we have all the evidence, millions of lines of code, rockets scientist checking the code, and a long etcetera).

  25. Interesting clause... by angst_ridden_hipster · · Score: 5, Funny

    I thought that this was a particularly interesting clause in the filing and one that you don't often see:

    "IBM further requests extensive injunctive relief from litigants, viz, their fields shall be burned, and sown with salt; their buildings torn assunder; their leaders beaten and hanged; their animals slain, and left unto the beasts; their wives enslaved and set to lamentation; their names and images expunged from the histories and chiseled from the monuments; and their children's teeth set on edge, yea unto the seventh generation. So shall vengeance be wreaked upon those who look with enmity upon Big Blue."

    --
    Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachtani?
    www.fogbound.net
    1. Re:Interesting clause... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wow.

      I want to congratulate you on making me snortle a throatful of LiveWire through my nose and onto my keyboard.
      For some reason the magic smoke is coming from my F6 key even though my nostrils are what're burning.

      Just thought I'd share.

    2. Re:Interesting clause... by EvilTwinSkippy · · Score: 1

      IBM's legal team aren't called the Nazgul for nothing.

      --
      "Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival."
      --Dr.W.Edwards Deming
    3. Re:Interesting clause... by jonadab · · Score: 2, Funny

      You forgot the parts about their bodies being cut into pieces and licked by
      wild dogs and eaten by carion birds and their houses turned into piles of
      rubble and their cities rained upon with brimstones and their journey through
      life henceforward being without stops and their bladders always full and
      their children and their children's children making war in the back seat and
      the famine and the locusts and the pestilence and cafeteria food and thousand
      pound senior citizens in white spandex...

      --
      Cut that out, or I will ship you to Norilsk in a box.
  26. Yahoo confirms it: by lawpoop · · Score: 0, Offtopic
    --
    Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.
    -- Pablo Picasso
    1. Re:Yahoo confirms it: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      MODS: NOT OFFTOPIC - Just a stupid data entry error...

      It should read SCO IS DYING...

      Not Slashdot.

      Remember Slashdot != SCO.

      (Thats a scary thought...........)

    2. Re:Yahoo confirms it: by lawpoop · · Score: 1
      Not a data entry error -- just a joke that was too subtle. Here's the punchline:

      What will Slashdot talk about once SCO goes under?! Ba-dum Ching!

      --
      Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.
      -- Pablo Picasso
    3. Re:Yahoo confirms it: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You can bet the farm it will encompass those lame-ass In Soviet Russia jokes, the fucking-monotonous 1) 2) 3)Profit jokes, and every so often Linux news.

  27. Ask not by overshoot · · Score: 4, Informative
    It asks for evidence to be produced or the whole case thrown out.

    No, it just asks for the Court to rule on Counterclaim 10. IBM has not asked for the case to be thrown out, nor have they suggested that SCOX produce more evidence.

    They do point out that they have been asking for the detailed claims for almost a year now, and that the Court itself has twice had to order SCOX to provide them. Twice, SCOX has sworn to the Court that it has complied with those orders.

    At this point, IBM is in the mode of saying that SCOX has had more than enough opportunity to come up with some adjudicable claims, and that the case should move forward with what is (or isn't) on the table.

    In other words, read the frippin' linked documents before posting this stuff on the front page.

    --
    Lacking <sarcasm> tags, /. substitutes moderation as "Troll."
    1. Re:Ask not by njcoder · · Score: 1
      How does the FSF subpeona factor into this? Couldn't SCO say that since the FSF hasn't provided it with the documents they requested that they would be unable to fully comply? Would that be a possible argument?

      Just thinking out loud, not supporting their claims.

    2. Re:Ask not by bstadil · · Score: 1
      Would that be a possible argument?

      No this would be called a Fishing expedition. If they had indeed cited specific lines of code to be copyright of SCO then indeed they could use the information from FSF as evidence.

      --
      Help fight continental drift.
  28. if they win? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    What if SCO actually wins?

    1. Re:if they win? by arevos · · Score: 3, Funny

      What if legions of small, zombie bunnies attempt to take over the world?

      Sometimes, there are more important and more likely things to be worried about.

    2. Re:if they win? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      GNU/Hurd, BSD, FreeDOS, ReactOS

    3. Re:if they win? by asl24 · · Score: 0

      If they actually win, then I'm going to work for them. Sure none of my friends will talk to me, but where else can you have a job where you just go around claiming that people are copying ideas that you didn't even come up with, show no proof, sue, and make loads of money whilst you're at it?

      --
      I signed this
    4. Re:if they win? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I _am_ a small zombie bunny you insensitive clod !

    5. Re:if they win? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Now that would scare the rabbit pellets outta me!

    6. Re:if they win? by GoldenApplesOfTheSun · · Score: 1

      You obviously have not heard of Mr. Brown's forthcoming book---"The Brown Book."

    7. Re:if they win? by Keith+McClary · · Score: 3, Funny

      What if legions of small, zombie bunnies attempt to take over the world?

      Are you referring to female corporate spokespersons?

    8. Re:if they win? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sometimes, there are more important and more likely things to be worried about.

      Yes. For a thousand years, crab people, live in the depths of earth trying to take over the world. Recently they tried that with running the "queer eye for the straight guy" show. Actually, the Jeffersons where also crab people.

    9. Re:if they win? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What if SCO actually wins?

      What if monkeys fly out of my butt?

    10. Re:if they win? by misterpies · · Score: 1


      >>female corporate spokespersons

      Was it a deliberate second-order joke on your part to make a sexist joke in such studied gender-neutral terms, or is it unacceptable to say "spokeswomen"/"spokesmen" in any circumstances any more?

      (Reminds me of an occasion when a US journalist, interviewing a South African, asked him what it was like to be an "African American" under apartheid. It seems the journalist could not think any other politically acceptable way to say "black"...)

      --
      The author of this post asserts his moral rights.
    11. Re:if they win? by Keith+McClary · · Score: 1

      sexist joke


      A "couldn't resist" response to a frivolous comment.


      deliberate second-order joke


      I don't think I was being that subtle.

      When corporations want to tell us how terribly bad they feel about the oil spill or the Salmonella poisoning or the fatal brake failure, they always seem to give the job to a woman. I think the idea is that she can project more empathy and sincerity than a middle-aged or young suit.

      Hence the invasion of the zombie bunnies into the spokesperson profession.

  29. It's precisely BECAUSE of the time! by spun · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's because it has been a year that IBM's lawyers can go to the judge and say, look, these guys have no case and they are stalling and wasting your time and ours. So let's decide now, before they waste any more time, whether they have a shred of a case or not.

    --
    - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
    1. Re:It's precisely BECAUSE of the time! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It seems timing is everything. SCO just announced their 2Q conference call.

    2. Re:It's precisely BECAUSE of the time! by iminplaya · · Score: 1

      Is the judge going to rule before Longhorn comes out?

      --
      What?
  30. Is this really such a good thing? by Dizzle · · Score: 4, Funny

    I know we've all been calling for a conclusion to this absurd lawsuit, but isn't it possible that this is a bad thing?

    What stories will go under the Caldera section now? "Caldera makes actual product"?

    --
    -Dizzle
    "I most likely AM so interested in myself."
    1. Re:Is this really such a good thing? by jcuervo · · Score: 1
      What stories will go under the Caldera section now? "Caldera makes actual product"?
      Yeah, that'll happen... :-)
      --
      Assume I was drunk when I posted this.
    2. Re:Is this really such a good thing? by cant_get_a_good_nick · · Score: 1

      They do actually, and in a way I'm not 100% happy with all this mess. I used to work at a small contracting firm outside of Chicago, and we did some work for SCO/Caldera. I've long left, but they got another order from SCO, some extensions on the project we had. Sure, SCO is mismanaged, relied on milking the cash cow until dry until it ran out, then when they realized they should have been coding because some free operating system passed them up, they decided to file suit instead of doing any real engineering, but it's not just going to be McBride getting hurt. And some of my friends will be caught in the crossfire.

  31. Mod parent funny by Wehesheit · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    nt

    --
    This P.I.G. will walk on the water, This P.I.G. will walk on the sea, This P.I.G. will walk whereever he wants.
  32. That's actually exactly what's happening by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Just in slow motion. These things take time in the legal system.

    The 'Gee, do you guys have any EVIDENCE to support your claims?' bit is what's called, in the legal world, "discovery". This is one of the first phases of the trial and that's what they've spent the last year on.

    Since Discovery is coming to a close, the 'getting tossed out of the courthouse on their butt' is the next step-- it's what a court would call "summary dismissal" and it's exactly what IBM has just requested the judge to do.

  33. Article Text by CyanDisaster · · Score: 4, Informative

    Site's running slow, so here's the article text

    ----------

    IBM slams 'grandiose' SCO, asks for whole farce to be called off

    Latest court filings may be make or break for controversial Linux copyright case.

    By Robert McMillan, IDG News Service

    IBM has filed new documents in its legal dispute with the SCO Group, accusing SCO of having no evidence to back up its copyright infringement claims and asking the judge to throw a major component of the case out of court.

    "For more than a year, SCO has made far-reaching claims about its right to preclude IBM's (and everyone else's) Linux activities," wrote IBM in documents filed with the District Court for Utah. "Despite SCO's grandiose descriptions of its alleged evidence of IBM's infringement, SCO now effectively concedes that it has none."

    SCO has been unable to provide any evidence of copyright infringement during the discovery phase of the trial and the court should therefore render a summary judgement against SCO, IBM's filings say.

    In March 2003, SCO filed a multibillion dollar lawsuit against IBM, accusing it of violating SCO's Unix intellectual property. SCO accused IBM of unfair competition, breach of contract, and of violating SCO's trade secrets. In late February this year, it dropped the trade secret allegations in the case, but added a claim that IBM had violated SCO's Unix copyright.

    A few weeks after the trade secret claims were dropped, IBM sought a declaratory judgement in the case, a move that opened the possibility of a quick ruling against SCO. Lawyers following the dispute saw this as a sign of growing confidence on IBM's part.

    By seeking a declaratory judgement, IBM was showing that it had not found any evidence to back up SCO's claims, said Jeff Norman, an intellectual property partner with the Chicago law firm Kirkland Ellis. Because the copyright claims form the crux of SCO's case, this week's filing for a summary judgement creates the possibility that the dispute could essentially be over in a matter of months, he said.

    "IBM is saying to SCO: 'As a matter of law you're playing this so weak that no reasonable jury could find in your favor'," Norman said. "They must think that they have a pretty good chance of winning the motion, or you wouldn't bring it."

    This week's filings could also force SCO to provide more compelling evidence of copyright violations, said David Byer, a partner with the patent and intellectual property group at Boston's Testa, Hurwitz & Thibeault. "It is another way to try to focus the court on the evidentiary questions that have been battled about since day one, meaning who is going to produce what when," he said. "SCO needs to respond to this. If they don't respond appropriately, the case can get thrown out."

    SCO is likely to produce more evidence to support its claims, said Blake Stowell, an SCO spokesman. On 19 April, IBM turned over 232 versions of its AIX and Dynix Unix source code as well as internal documents and memos from executives, he said. "Our lawyers are still going through much of the evidence IBM turned over as part of the discovery process. I'm confident that there is still other evidence that will come forward in order for us to be able to prove those claims," Stowell said.

    Complicating matters for SCO is the fact that Linux vendor Novell also claims to own copyright to the Unix source code. SCO has sued Novell for slander in connection with this claim.

    ----------

    Hope be with ye,
    Cyan

    1. Re:Article Text by minkwe · · Score: 1

      Cease and decist. Copyright violation alarm!!!

      --
      "Fighting terrorists with millitary might is like killing a mosquitor on your Dad's forehead with a rifle."
  34. mod parent up by kunudo · · Score: 1

    I was gonna say the same thing, but mod the parent up instead.

  35. Just goes to show... by Flower · · Score: 4, Insightful

    That no matter what the activity, no matter what the field, it is always easy to be an armchair QB.

    --
    I don't want knowledge. I want certainty. - Law, David Bowie
    1. Re:Just goes to show... by kjd · · Score: 1

      I would'a double-bagged it.

  36. This is not over by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This is only the beginning. This AC predicts that the SCO suite will be thrown out. Others will follow but will not be copyrite or license based. Something more sinister will be the basis. Patent infringment. It is only a matter of time. I think that Microsoft will directly sue major distributors and users of Linux rather than indirectly.

    What ever happened to the "for hackers by hackers" mentality? I think that World Domination was initially just a joke. But you can not dominate the world without a big fight. Microsoft has billions at it's disposal so it won't be pretty.

    1. Re:This is not over by n4vu · · Score: 1

      Taking on IBM in the patent arena is tantamount to deciding that since your chess match with Mike Tyson is not going well, you'll challenge him to a boxing match, instead.

  37. Humble suggestion by Syncdata · · Score: 3, Funny

    Why not forgo the whole "sale" route, and just have a fire? I certainly wouldn't want to be the next tenent in their office complex.

    --
    "Inattention makes clowns of us all" -Bean
    1. Re:Humble suggestion by Wakkow · · Score: 1

      Just hire and fire Milton.

    2. Re:Humble suggestion by Curtman · · Score: 1

      No way. They'd probably claim IP rights to the red Swingline.

  38. Let's not forget.... by bad_fx · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ...that no low is too low for SCO. (Ooo, strangely poetic that.)

    Anyway what's the bet that they'll come out with some completly bullshit claims that are highly confusing to the average person who doesn't know much about linux, which sound faiguely plausible and are dificult to disprove legally without jumping through hoops. In the past SCO have proven to be masters of stalling with this sort of thing, I just hope they're running out of slimy tricks to weasel their way out of this sort of thing....

    my $0.02

    1. Re:Let's not forget.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ..that no low is too low for SCO
      I think for SCO it is: No law is law too!

  39. I know what this is! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    "This is like...uh.... *nothing* ...

    --Daryl M. 2004

  40. What I'm trying to work out by mcc · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If I'm reading all these reports right, the summary judgement just concerns the copyrights / "stolen code in linux" claims that SCO had as part of their case, but dropped when the judge ordered them to produce evidence.

    What the summary judgement means is IBM is pointing at the big swath of things that SCO claimed then dropped from the case, and asking the judge, "could you *pretend* SCO never dropped those parts, and give us the ruling you would have given if those parts of the case were still in effect, so that we can declare the matter closed and SCO can't make those allegations again later?"

    So if the summary judgement's granted, IBM's case will still go on, since it has no bearing on the contract claims that SCO's lawsuit against IBM comprises at this point.

    HOWEVER, if the summary judgement is granted, RedHat's case will suddenly start up, since (1) the copyright allegations and slander that the summary judgement concerns is *exactly* what RedHat's case is about and (2) when RedHat's case hit court, it was ruled that that case should be delayed until the IBM case is decided, so (3) since the part of the IBM case that RedHat was waiting on has been summary judgemented, they're free to persue the lanham act thingy against SCO.

    Is the above the case?

    1. Re:What I'm trying to work out by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      The summary judgement is being requested for the 10th ammended counter claim. This is claim from IBM stating that its Linux activities don't violate Unix copyrights. If this is found to be the case by the judge, it does several things:

      1) It establishes that IBM hasn't violated Unix copyrights.

      2) It establishes that the behavior of using Linux doesn't violate Unix copyrights, since this is a behavior that IBM has indulged in.

      3) It establishes that redistributing Linux doesn't violate Unix copyrights, since this is a behavior that IBM has indulged in.

      4) It allows the Redhat case to move forward, since the copyright issues in the IBM case were the reason that the judge stayed that case.

      5) It establishes that their is no copyrighted Unix code in Linux, which will help Redhat and Auto Zone.

      DanW

    2. Re:What I'm trying to work out by chris_7d0h · · Score: 1

      Just two comments to your notes.

      1. IIRC, the Unix violation issue comes from the fact that SCO claimed to have terminated IBM's license to distribute it's Unix version (AIX) and since IBM did not cease distribution, they are claimed to have violated the Unix copyright. IANAL, but perhaps the discussion could then move on to the circumstances which led up to the claimed termination of IBM's rights to distribute AIX.

      3. As to my knowledge, IBM has not distributed Linux externally. Even internally they use distributions from Novell and Redhat primarily. IBM's software runs on certain Linux systems, but that is not the same as saying IBM distributes Linux.

      PS. Note that I wrote Novell instead of Suse since it's time we start getting used to Suse being just a brand / trademark of Novell. Pretty much the same as there being no companies named Lotus, Tivoli or Rational, just IBM.

      --
      In a society that believes in nothing, fear becomes the only agenda ~ Bill Durodié
  41. And ye will KNOW... by Scott+Richter · · Score: 1
    ...my name is IBM, when I rain my vengeance up on thee!

    *blam blam blam blam* *k-thud*

  42. If this were a drinking game... by dacarr · · Score: 4, Funny

    If I had a beer for every time that either SCO said that Linux is for all intents theirs, IBM or others said no it's not, or Slashdot posted about this, I'd be a puddle of organic goo on the office floor.

    --
    This sig no verb.
    1. Re:If this were a drinking game... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >>If I had a beer for every time that either SCO said that Linux is for all intents theirs, IBM or others said no it's not, or Slashdot posted about this, I'd be a puddle of organic goo on the office floor.

      Don't you mean *leave* a puddle of organic goo on the floor?

  43. "We have Hearsay and Conjecture; by Grog6 · · Score: 1

    Your Honor...Those are KINDS of evidence..."

    -Lionel Hutz
    (RIP)

    --
    Truth isn't Truth - Guliani
  44. how do you pronounce SCO? by The+Lynxpro · · Score: 2, Funny

    I was just thinking about this since Sarah of The ScreenSavers on TechTV (soon to be the monstrosity known as "G4techtv") pronounces it "Skoh" instead of spelling it out S-C-O like I would assume most of us do.

    I mean, nobody references IBM (I-B-M) as "ibbbb'mmmm" or SGI as "sss'gee" or "sss'guy."

    Then again, we're all about to pronounce SCO as "toast."

    And be sure to check out "Unscrewed with Martin Sargent" on TechTV (G4techtv) weeknights. He's a funny mo-fo.

    --
    "Right now, somewhere in this world, Scott Baio is plowing a woman he doesn't love," - Peter Griffin, *Family Guy*
    1. Re:how do you pronounce SCO? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      I mean, nobody references IBM (I-B-M) as "ibbbb'mmmm" or SGI as "sss'gee" or "sss'guy."

      Or NASA as /nasa/.

      I think we've been over this before. SCO is pronounced /skoh/ by SCO and everyone in the real world. Just like NASA, the acronym is readable as a word, and is therefore pronounced as one.

    2. Re:how do you pronounce SCO? by sbeitzel · · Score: 1

      Man, you shoulda seen this one coming. I pronounce 'SCO', "SCO."

      --
      Oh, go on, check out my job.
    3. Re:how do you pronounce SCO? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The only pronunciation I've ever heard is as a word, "skoh". How did parent ever get modded "interesting"???

    4. Re:how do you pronounce SCO? by radish · · Score: 1

      Of course it's "skoh"...why would anyone spell it out? Does anyone spell out Perl, or DOS, or for that matter bash? In general you say it as a word if you can, even if you have to add a couple of syllables (e.g. SQL = sequel). Only spell it if you have to...

      --

      ---- Den ene knappen er powerknapp, den andre er Bender voice knapp "Bite My Shiny Metal Ass"

    5. Re:how do you pronounce SCO? by leonbev · · Score: 1

      Funny, I've always pronounced IBM as "ibbumm". Must be a Southern thing, I guess :)

    6. Re:how do you pronounce SCO? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      I pronounce it as letters S.C.O. just like IBM, etc. I dunno, calling it "SCO" just seems to similar to "scrotum" and while that might be appropriate I couldn't carry on a conversation saying "skoh" with a straight face.

      Besides, isn't skoh a chewing tobacco or something?

    7. Re:how do you pronounce SCO? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually it is a kind of regional thing. I noticed it in the 1970s when I worked for a company that had major East and Left Coast groups. We on the East Coast tended to spell out abbreviations or acronyms. The Left Coast people tended to pronounce as words the ones that were at all pronounceable, even ones we had coined. We had a Real Time Operating System, which we pronounced, "are-tee-oh-ess." They pronounced it "AR-toss." They had a Basic Operating System which they pronounced "boss" and we pronounced "bee-oh-ess."

      The differences in language went far beyond obvious things like that, though, into all manner of subleties in the finer points of technical definitions and the panoply of associations underlying them. We had great difficulty agreeing on anything. It turned out to be due to the fact that even when we thought we were using the same terms we were really talking about different things.

      On topic, I prounounce SCO as "Scum-sucking, pus-brained, rat-morals, cockroach-ethics Weasels-R-Us." For convenience I abbreviate that to "asswipes" or "fuckwits."

      Sarah on The Screen Savers has very nice tits. I'd take her any day of the week. But my real love is Jessica Corbin, no longer with the show. She's a hottie.

    8. Re:how do you pronounce SCO? by crossconnects · · Score: 1

      southern thing? are you from chile or argentina? maybe australia? :)

      --
      no big sig
  45. As much as I would like... by zeruch · · Score: 3, Interesting

    ...to beleive that this is 'put up or shut up' I have more of a feeling that this will be like Moammar Quadaffi in the mid 80s amking threats to the US: "There is a line of death! You cross this line, you die!" IBM crosses "Ok, you cross this line you die!" IBM crosses... "Ok, you cross this line you die!" repeat as necessary until someone in juducial authority slaps SCO upside their empyty head. As much as I want it to be, I have a feeling this is far from over.

    1. Re:As much as I would like... by red+floyd · · Score: 1

      That's the point. IBM just asked the judge to bitchslap SCOX.

      --
      The only reason we have the rights we have is that people just like us died to gain those rights. -- Cheerio Boy
  46. About GD time! by Teun · · Score: 2, Insightful
    It is about time that someone puts an end to the incredibly broken US judicial system holding honest people all over the world at randsom.

    If it's this simple why has no-one done this earlier??

    In other countries this was the first action taken! And it was successfull

    US legislators (too often lawyers) have to be told to fix a system that seemingly only allows 'justice' for the (extremely) rich.

    --
    "The likes of Facebook and WhatsApp are free to those whose privacy is of zero value."
    1. Re:About GD time! by Darth+Yoshi · · Score: 3, Interesting
      If it's this simple why has no-one done this earlier??

      Chill dude. Timing is everything. After a year and two court ordered motions to compel, it should be obvious to anyone with half a brain (that leaves out Robert Enderle and Laura DiDio) that SCOG's shooting blanks.

      A year ago, SCOG's duplicity hadn't even begun to sink into the consciousness of the "mainstream" analysts and publications. Now, almost every article you read raises questions about SCOG's evidence and integrity. Now, is the time to strike. If IBM had tried this a year ago, the "mainstream" publications would be questioning IBM's integrity, not SCOG's.

      --
      // TODO: fix sig
    2. Re:About GD time! by BCW2 · · Score: 1

      I like the crack about the Congress critters. I always thought it was a conflict of interest to elect a lawyer to any legislative body. Look at the results: laws written in language only a lawyer can understand.

      They are guaranteeing themselves and their peers perpetual permanent employment, translating that crap into english.

      --
      Professional Politicians are not the solution, they ARE the problem.
    3. Re:About GD time! by Parandor · · Score: 1

      US legislators (too often lawyers) have to be told to fix a system that seemingly only allows 'justice' for the (extremely) rich.

      Justice? What a silly thing! The system is not about justice. It about LAWS, as in "Court Of Law". Lawyers, politicians and major shareholders have no interest in justice. The system allow them to control the law. By using precedents, they can destroy the spirit of any law. Giving them a power very similar to that of the nobles during the dark ages. Asking them to do something about it is the same as asking the car manifacturers to make eco-cars: They will do it, just don't hold your breath.

    4. Re:About GD time! by texroot · · Score: 1
      From the article:
      SCO is likely to produce more evidence to support its claims, said Blake Stowell, an SCO spokesman. ..."Our lawyers are still going through much of the evidence IBM turned over as part of the discovery process. I'm confident that there is still other evidence that will come forward in order for us to be able to prove those claims," Stowell said.

      So you're saying that there's something wrong with a system where the plaintiff says "I have no evidence that I've been harmed, but I'd like the court to help me go on endless fishing expeditions to try and find some evidence that I've been wronged"?
  47. Funding SCO by daVinci1980 · · Score: 1

    So when are we going to start giving money to SCO? I mean, seriously.. Before you get all upset and huffy LISTEN TO ME. Are you listening?

    Okay. Of the more interesting claims that SCO made was that the GPL is unenforceable, and unconstitutional. This is a haughty claim, and one that I do not believe has any legal basis whatsoever.

    However, the GPL also hasn't really been tested in court. And this makes it weak, in comparison to other licenses which *have.* Better for the movement as a whole that we get a precedent in our favor on such an easy, obviously wrong case, then one that (potentially) could be more legally tenuous on down the line.

    So as I said, when are we going to start the collection for SCO? I would very much like to see that aspect of the case worked through the court system.

    --
    I currently have no clever signature witicism to add here.
    1. Re:Funding SCO by radish · · Score: 3, Insightful

      As has been explained (undoubtably better) before by many people, the GPL doesn't need to be tested in court. Reason? Imagine a company is being sued for breach of the GPL (for example, they redistributed a binary of something with no source). One of two things must be true - the GPL is valid and the defendent accepts this, or the GPL is not valid. In the first case, they accept the GPL is valid but have broken it's terms, thus they are guilty. In the second case, they must abide by the regular rules of copyright (which have been tested in court many, many times). Regular copyright says you may do NOTHING with the material in question without EXPLICIT permission from the copyright owner. The only thing which grants you those permissions is the GPL, which the defendent says is invalid, therefore they are guilty. QED.

      In short - because of this either/or, the GPL has not been tested in court, and essentially never will. You either accept it and abide by it, or deny it and pay up.

      --

      ---- Den ene knappen er powerknapp, den andre er Bender voice knapp "Bite My Shiny Metal Ass"

    2. Re:Funding SCO by BCW2 · · Score: 1

      I never thought about the GPL like that, but you are absolutly right. It's really that simple. No wonder Darl and his lawyers couldn't understand.

      --
      Professional Politicians are not the solution, they ARE the problem.
    3. Re: Funding Sco by arkhan_jg · · Score: 1

      You're forgetting SCO's own tactic:

      Claim that the GPL is against the entire spirit of capitalism and copyright law, and that by putting the code out for everyone to see and use, GPL code has been effectively put into the public domain; and thus, copying has no copyright infringement case to answer.

      It's not exactly a sane defence, but it is a third option other than accept the GPL or cough guilty to copyright infringement.

      --
      Remember kids, it's all fun and games until someone commits wholesale galactic genocide.
    4. Re:Funding SCO by Some+Bitch · · Score: 2, Informative
      I never thought about the GPL like that, but you are absolutly right. It's really that simple. No wonder Darl and his lawyers couldn't understand.

      This is why the GPL is so beautiful, it's one of the most elegant hacks ever made.

      Eben Moglen put it this way when he spoke at Harvard a while back...

      The grave difficulty that SCO has with free software isn't their attack; it's the inadequacy of their defense. In order to defend yourself in a case in which you are infringing the freedom of free software, you have to be prepared to meet a call that I make reasonably often with my colleagues at the Foundation who are here tonight. That telephone call goes like this. "Mr. Potential Defendant, you are distributing my client's copyrighted work without permission. Please stop. And if you want to continue to distribute it, we'll help you to get back your distribution rights, which have terminated by your infringement, but you are going to have to do it the right way." At the moment that I make that call, the potential defendant's lawyer now has a choice. He can cooperate with us, or he can fight with us. And if he goes to court and fights with us, he will have a second choice before him. We will say to the judge, "Judge, Mr. Defendant has used our copyrighted work, copied it, modified it and distributed it without permission. Please make him stop." One thing that the defendant can say is, "You're right. I have no license." Defendants do not want to say that, because if they say that they lose. So defendants, when they envision to themselves what they will say in court, realize that what they will say is, "But Judge, I do have a license. It's this here document, the GNU GPL. General Public License," at which point, because I know the license reasonably well, and I'm aware in what respect he is breaking it, I will say, "Well, Judge, he had that license but he violated its terms and under Section 4 of it, when he violated its terms, it stopped working for him." But notice that in order to survive moment one in a lawsuit over free software, it is the defendant who must wave the GPL. It is his permission, his master key to a lawsuit that lasts longer than a nanosecond. This, quite simply, is the reason that lies behind the statement you have heard -- Mr. McBride made it here some weeks ago -- that there has never been a court test of the GPL. To those who like to say there has never been a court test of the GPL, I have one simple thing to say: Don't blame me. I was perfectly happy to roll any time. It was the defendants who didn't want to do it. And when for ten solid years, people have turned down an opportunity to make a legal argument, guess what? It isn't any good.

      Read the whole speach at Groklaw.

    5. Re:Funding SCO by Zebidiah · · Score: 0

      A good post. The only thing the GPL stops is your ability to steal.

  48. Not put up or shut up; just shut up by rgmoore · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Well, this one actually is a bit different, and the headline is a bit misleading. What's been going on so far is that IBM has been saying, with varying degrees of politeness, that SCO needs to put up. The last couple of rounds have involved IBM getting the judge to say it for them. Now they're going to the judge and saying that since SCO has failed to put up, the judge should make them shut up. This is a big deal because it will decide the most important part of the case- SCO's allegations of copyright infringement- should the judge rule in IBM's favor. If IBM wins this motion, neither SCO nor anyone who buys their rights to UNIX will be able to sue for copyright violations in Linux.

    --

    There's no point in questioning authority if you aren't going to listen to the answers.

    1. Re:Not put up or shut up; just shut up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      If IBM wins this motion, neither SCO nor anyone who buys their rights to UNIX will be able to sue for copyright violations in Linux.

      Not exactly, it means that IBM can't be sued for putting SCO's IP into Linux.

      Other companies may be sued for doing this, or IBM may be sued by a different litigant for leaking their IP.

      This is only regarding IBM's (alleged) improper contributions to Linux. Check Groklaw for all the details and the plain english translations...

    2. Re:Not put up or shut up; just shut up by mark_lybarger · · Score: 2, Interesting

      all that would say is that they didn't come up with enough evidence to go to trial over it. there would be no ruling of anykind. just thrown out. anyone could come back later (and probably will) and sue anyone for linux copyright violations.

      afaik, this suit is all over a contract dispute and the whole linux copyright is merely a major point in the contract litigation.

    3. Re:Not put up or shut up; just shut up by rgmoore · · Score: 5, Informative

      No. The idea behind a motion for summary judgment is that the judge decides that there is no substantive factual dispute, so he can rule on who is right and wrong as a matter of law. Once the judge makes a summary judgment, the matter is treated just as though it had been decided by a jury. If IBM wins this motion (and any possible appeals) it is final. Somebody who buys SCO's rights in their bankruptcy liquidation won't be able to turn around and sue IBM over the same point, because it will already have been decided.

      Equally important, IBM is asking for a ruling covering Linux as a whole. IBM is claiming that:

      IBM is entitled to a declaratory judgment pursuant to 28 U. C. 9 2201 that IBM does not infringe, induce the infringement of, or contribute to the infringement of any SCO copyright through its Linux activities, including its use, reproduction and improvement of Linux...

      IOW, they're not only not guilty of violating any SysV copyrights from having contributed code to Linux, but they're not guilty from simply copying it. That would only be true if there were no code over which SCO has a claim, so an IBM victory will have the side effect of protecting anyone else from copyright infringement claims.

      --

      There's no point in questioning authority if you aren't going to listen to the answers.

    4. Re:Not put up or shut up; just shut up by pfdietz · · Score: 1

      No, this has to do with anything (currently) in Linux, not just what IBM added. IBM has been distributing Linux, internally and to customers, so anything in Linux that SCO had hooks on would make IBM a copyright violator. IBM is asking for declaratory judgment that *all* of Linux is free of violation.

    5. Re:Not put up or shut up; just shut up by darkonc · · Score: 1
      No. If SCO tries to sue other companies, they can say to the judge "SCO Vs IBM determined that there's no SCO IP in Linux as of 2.6". At that point, the only thing that SCO would be able to sue a Linux user for would be something that gets added in After this month. This would essentially make them into no more of a threat than any other company. (probably less).

      Note that PJ at GrokLaw doesn't feel that this motion is necessarily a slam-dunk -- but the IBM lawyers seem to be running on the sharp side, so I'm giving it at least a 75% chance (with most of that other 25% coming from my lack of shureness given that IANAL).

      According to PJ, even if this motion doesn't pass it'll help get the judge up to speed on SCO's shenanigans (The memorandumm in support provides a pretty good quick history of what's been going on in the courts {and elsewhere} in the last year). FYI, it's a different judge handling this motion than handled all of the disclosure motions.

      Part of what makes figuring out the probablility of success for this motion is the fact that much of the relevant disclosure is under wraps, but IBM's summary of it makes it seem like SCO disclosed a big goose egg in a mildly convoluted package.

      --
      Sometimes boldness is in fashion. Sometimes only the brave will be bold.
  49. How many times have we heard this before? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Every time IBM files some new motion, up goes a breathless story to Slashdot: Its "decision time" and IBM is finally going to get this done. The truth is that everyone realizes motions like these are routine in a lawsuit, and the chances of it being accepted and leading to imminent victory are pretty slim. If you looked on the other side, you would see SCO doing much the same thing. Until IBM either agrees to a settlement, or SCO prevails in court, this is going to keep going, and the fundamental soundness of SCO's case, acknowledged by all but a few open-source fanatics, ensures that in the end justice will be done and SCO's property rights over its code will be recognized.

  50. Astroturf by Teahouse · · Score: 1

    Hi Darl! Looks like things are getting mighty slow in Utah. Glad you could join us!

    --
    "Curiosity killed the cat, but for a while I was a suspect."- Steven Wright
  51. Darl pronounces it by overshoot · · Score: 1
    "skoh," rhymes with "D'oh!" or "snow."

    On the other hand, my friends and I think it works better as "skow," rhymes with "now."

    --
    Lacking <sarcasm> tags, /. substitutes moderation as "Troll."
    1. Re:Darl pronounces it by demon · · Score: 1

      I thought he pronounced it as "my money machine"... but of course, I could be wrong.

      --

      Sam: "That was needlessly cryptic."
      Max: "I'd be peeing my pants if I wore any!"
    2. Re:Darl pronounces it by AsimovBesterClarke · · Score: 1

      > On the other hand, my friends and I think it works better as "skow," rhymes with "now."

      Yes, and it is what is used to haul garbage. But taking a cue from TeeVee, they should be hauled off as garbage.

      --
      Ads are broken.
  52. Finally by Y+Ddraig+Goch · · Score: 1

    It's about friggin' time. I'm tired of playground bullies holding us hostage. GO IBM!

    --
    Meddle thou not in the affairs of Dragons, for thou art crunchy and with most anything.
  53. Tally? by MP3Chuck · · Score: 2, Interesting

    How many times does SCO have to be told to "Put Up Or Shut Up" before they actually do so? Courts, companies, third parties ... Maybe obvious, but their silence speaks volumes.

    1. Re:Tally? by Error27 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      IBM's not actually saying "Put Up Or Shut Up". That's sort of what they said with the request for a Declaratory Judgement.

      This request for a summary judgement is more, "You've been claiming for a year to have evidence. You've been told twice by Judge Wells to produce evidence. You've signed avidavits that you've produced all the evidence. But you still haven't produced any evidence." The point to produce evidence or to shut up has come and gone but you haven't produced any.

      At some point the judge has to decide whether IBM violated the copyrights or not. SCO hasn't shown and evidence and they've sworn that they showed everything they have. Either SCO is lying or IBM hasn't violated their copyrights...

  54. That most reporters seem to miss.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Is that trials are not sports games. Reporting that one side 'slammed' the other with particular evidence is extremely inaccurate. Courtroom drama.. isn't.

    A real courtroom is a place where the facts of the matter are compared in a careful, calculated manner. Each position is weighed calmly before any decision is made. The point of the system is to make sure a fair judgement is made, not to 'smack down' offenders with lightning speed.

    Also, people complain about 'frivolous lawsuits' (such as SCO's), but a truly fair court there are no frivolous lawsuits - everything reasonable is considered. We may consider this whole thing to be stupid and frivolous, but SCO deserves their day in court. Otherwise we'd have another Your Rights Online story...

    1. Re:That most reporters seem to miss.. by RecycledElectrons · · Score: 1
      "A real courtroom is a place where the facts of the matter are compared in a careful, calculated manner."

      I could answer this 2 ways:

      1. Call the mental health officials.

      2. Asuume that you will not be beside me with a rifle during the revolution, later this year.

      I'm not sure which is more apropriate.

      Andy Out!

    2. Re:That most reporters seem to miss.. by Parandor · · Score: 1

      A real courtroom is a place where the facts of the matter are compared in a careful, calculated manner...

      In theory, yes. But in reality you are forgetting about the jury. By ranting in the medias for more than a full year, SCO is aiming at influencing a potential jury which may be composed of computer illiterates. In some country, this would be a case of court contempt.

      We may consider this whole thing to be stupid and frivolous, but SCO deserves their day in court.

      I fully agree. And they will. I can hear the sound of grinding axes from here.

  55. Testing the GPL by overshoot · · Score: 1
    However, the GPL also hasn't really been tested in court. And this makes it weak, in comparison to other licenses which *have.*

    Of course it hasn't. Think about it. Here's SCOX telling the Court that their company was founded on distributing the copyrighted works of others without a valid license.

    Pause.

    At that point, IBM or whoever turns to the judge, shrugs, and rests their case.

    --
    Lacking <sarcasm> tags, /. substitutes moderation as "Troll."
  56. Re:Andrew Tanenbaum v Alexis de Tocqueville Instit by Teun · · Score: 1
    If you'd read /. more regular you would have known about it earlier :-)

    --
    "The likes of Facebook and WhatsApp are free to those whose privacy is of zero value."
  57. "Evidence that will come forward" ?!?!?! by morcego · · Score: 2, Interesting
    "Our lawyers are still going through much of the evidence IBM turned over as part of the discovery process. I'm confident that there is still other evidence that will come forward in order for us to be able to prove those claims," Stowell said.
    Is this a joke ? Any judge with something over his shouders should close the case in the same instant he read this. This basicaly means:

    "Hey, we have no evidence yet. But if you give us a little more time, we are sure we will be able to find something that looks like evidence. Yes. Sure. Trust us."
    --
    morcego
  58. Look At what you get? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is what yo get if you try to buy a linux liscence off sco! :-)


    A fatal error has occured.


    Confirm that all the necessary e-commerce services are running.




    The busincess model has definitly shifted to sueing people... you can't even buy a liscence now!

  59. Whee! by arevos · · Score: 4, Funny
    1. Re:Whee! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      here comes the splat...
      ....
      wait for it...
      ...
      *** SPLAT ***

    2. Re:Whee! by mabu · · Score: 1
  60. You'll know this fiasco is over... by mabu · · Score: 3, Insightful

    when all the principals and their cronies have cashed out their stock, leaving a bunch of clueless mutual fund holders and low-level employees holding the bag.

    Until then, expect SCO to grandstand some more until they can drain the last little bit of value out of the company before they retire to their homes in the Hamptons.

    Meanwhile, the SEC and the Justice Dept. probably have armies of agents pouring over the finances of Oprah Winfrey and Cheech Marin.

  61. SCO's fair day in court by steveha · · Score: 4, Informative

    If the judge had given SCO, say, one week to provide the evidence, and then thrown the case out -- SCO would appeal. And the appeals court would give SCO a new hearing.

    The judge has given SCO multiple, generous chances to cough up some evidence. Now that it has been a year, the judge can entertain a motion to toss out the parts of the case for which no evidence has been offered.

    SCO will appeal if this happens. However, if IBM and the judge have crossed all their t's and dotted all their i's, the appeals court will refuse SCO's appeal.

    Only once the appeal has been made and rejected is it truly over!

    The wheels of law grind slowly, but they do get the grinding done eventually.

    steveha

    --
    lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
    1. Re:SCO's fair day in court by KFK+-+Wildcat · · Score: 1

      I don't know. I would think myself that SCO stock would miserably collapse after a first judgement. Darl & cie would bet on an appeal for sure, but I'm not sure the stock holders would try their chances...

    2. Re:SCO's fair day in court by Tough+Love · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The wheels of law grind slowly, but they do get the grinding done eventually.

      The American legal system is broken. Look at the treatment SCO got in Germany: one court application to put up or shut up, and they had to do it or else. Sanity prevailed.

      In America, insanity prevails.

      --
      When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
    3. Re:SCO's fair day in court by Halfbaked+Plan · · Score: 1

      "One bullet in the dark of night, and the problem was solved. . ."

      Umm...

      --
      resigned
  62. ...or the whole sorry affair is over... by exp(pi*sqrt(163)) · · Score: 1

    But then what would we all talk about?

    --
    Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
  63. This just in by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The rumors about Bin Larden funding his Sue everyone campaign have been confirmed today as US Forces raided Darl McBrides home \, said somthing about searching for weapons of mas destruction then promptly blew the place up then proceded to bomb SCPO headquarters!

  64. The beginning of the end by Animats · · Score: 4, Informative
    This is not the end, but it is the beginning of the end. SCO has stalled for some months, but eventually, the courts won't put up with any more stalling. IBM is now saying that "eventually" has come, and asking the court to rule accordingly.

    This is unlkely to result in outright dismissal. But IBM is also moving, alternatively, for "foreclosure of factual defenses pursuant to discovery rule 37(b)(2)," That's the real "put up or shut up" motion. IBM is saying that SCO has had enough opportunities, after two court orders, to come up with specific evidence of copyright infringement. So SCO should now be barred from submitting any new evidence of infringement in future.

    They'll probably get that. They cite all the embarassing background material, including press statements by SCO and an .MP3 of Darl mouthing off. IBM uses the words "fear, uncertainty and doubt" twice in its latest court filings. But what really matters is that two tightly focused discovery orders have failed to elicit evidence of copyright infringement from SCO. That's so unusual that a ruling by the judge that SCO has had its chance isn't unreasonable.

  65. Freudian slip? by grepistan · · Score: 1
    hahaha, I thought you were a BSD-is-dead type troll for a moment there!

    Back on topic, this 5-year chart of SCO's plummeting stock price is even more instructive. Note the spike where the FUD and lawsuits started to kick in, then the steady decline more recently.

    --
    Real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time.
    -- Terry Pratchett, Hogfather
  66. and don't forget by phr1 · · Score: 2, Funny

    carving their bones into flutes for Linus's children to play.

  67. It's time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Let's all take a look at at this thing again. Rejoice!

  68. Re:Let's just bury Linux by oberondarksoul · · Score: 1

    Funny way you have of deciding something's over, when there are millions of active users and more by the day...

    --
    And tomorrow the stock exchange will be the human race
  69. Visual aid by Dog135 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I just hope that the SEC seeks criminal cases against SCOX board members over this one. That would do everyone well for the long term.

    Not likely. They all have their golden parachutes on, ready to jump out the window while laughing at the investors all trying to get a piece of the business.

    --
    "That's so plausible, I can't believe it!" - Leela
  70. Not at all unexpected by Evets · · Score: 4, Informative

    An MSJ (Motion for Summary Judgement) is filed by one party in civil suits more often than not. The idea that IBM would not have filed it unless they were confident has no merit.

    From here, SCO will file an argument against MSJ, and the judge will rule according to a timeline specified by local rules. (Some districts do monthly motion hearings, some deal with them as they come).

    At this point, since discovery is over, SCO will not be allowed to submit further evidence, only to argue what they have shown is enough to continue.

    Typically, the plaintiff in a case like this will hold back evidence until just before trial. It's of course unethical to do so, but they will argue that it was not discovered until then. In civil court, unlike criminal court, last minute evidence is more often than not allowed. Judges are allowed to allow any evidence they see fit that will help bring the truth to light.

    Expect this motion to be denied, and expect IBM to file for an extension to review the mass amounts of last minute evidence that SCO brought to the table. Also expect that there will be such a large amount of last minute evidence brought to the table, that a small amount of patently false information will get through. Frequently, you'll see things like e-mails without full header information, and other technically unsound evidence that will be contested at trial, but will allude to guilt.

    When you pile a bunch of allusions together in civil court, you have a shot at winning. You don't have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt, you only have to prove a likelyhood that the crime or tort has occured.

    If you sign up for a pacer account, you can get access to the court documents for 4 cents a page. I don't know if this filing is online yet or not.

    1. Re:Not at all unexpected by wes33 · · Score: 1

      I don't think you're following this closely enough. It is SCO that has already asked for an extension of discovery which IBM has argued against. And discovery is not over, I think December 2004 is that date ...

    2. Re:Not at all unexpected by BobaFett · · Score: 2, Informative

      Ah, but IBM is seeking declaratory judgement, not summary judgement. IANAL, but as far as I understand, summary judgement means "you can't prove anything", while declaratory judgement means "even if you could prove all your claims, the law provides no penalty for me or remedy for you, so your best possible result is nothing at all". While summary judgement requires the judge to weigh the facts, declaratory one only involves interpretation of the law.

    3. Re:Not at all unexpected by Evets · · Score: 1

      Perhaps not, but MSJ's are generally not filed until the end of discovery. If discovery is extended, then the MSJ will have virtually no chance. I'm not sure from your post if the motion to extend was approved or not. The reason it will have no chance is that there is still time to discover new evidence, and the plaintiff should have a chance to discover it.

  71. drivel. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    C'mon, 'interesting'? -1, paranoid crap would be more appropriate, surely.

  72. Wierd. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That looks a lot like a young Tom Sizemore.

  73. Maybe IBM was waiting on the stock price? by shanen · · Score: 1

    I think the crossing point graph tells the story pretty well. Only thing is that the lawsuit started more a year ago, so the start of the graph is already after SCO had moved up a little bit. If you click for the two year version, it looks like SCO hasn't really bottomed out yet. (I think it's fair to think of it in the relative terms to IBM, since IBM is the big target, and all of SCO's "virtual possible future value" is based on IBM's real value.)

    --
    Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
  74. In other news by orcrist · · Score: 4, Funny

    Slashdot announced an expected 10% loss in page views once the SCO case is wrapped up. VA Investors are looking for a new company to rally the slashdot readers against...

    -chris

    --
    San Francisco values: compassion, tolerance, respect, intelligence
  75. In the end . . . by dlharper · · Score: 2, Funny

    . . . SCO has about as much a chance of winning as does Andy Kaufman does COMING BACK FROM THE DEAD!

    Hell, even Elvis doesn't have a Blog

    Snopes

  76. On that note. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Some lines I picked up on the yahoo board:

    "No more Mr. Nice Nazgul?" -- lumber_cartel

    "This answers the question I have long wanted to ask of Amy Sorenson: What's a Nazgul like you doing in a case like this?" -- mck9

  77. Not long now by BiggerIsBetter · · Score: 4, Insightful

    http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=SCOX&t=2y&l=on&z=m &q=l&c=

    Last trade was 4.754. Hard to believe it peaked at 22.29, and with no real difference in strategy or product. The stock market is a strange and wonderful place...

    --
    Forget thrust, drag, lift and weight. Airplanes fly because of money.
  78. There's nothing to stop Microsoft..... by slittle · · Score: 1

    There's nothing (significant) to make them start either. Businesses exist to make money, and they've been doing a pretty decent job of it so far, even with their little antitrust problems. Becoming a company geeks could love is a major risk to the shareholders, and they might have a little problem with that.

    --
    Opportunity knocks. Karma hunts you down.
  79. Bias based on limitations by dunng808 · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Except in a few instances, it's not the corporation that's "evil", but the people running it, or their policies. It's time to get past that simplistic view of big is bad and small is good.

    This is not the way I see things. A small business is more likely to reflect the personality -- the values -- of its owners. Large corporations by their nature gravitate toward impersonal, dehumanising treatment of their employees, the surrounding community, even their customers. This was seen as a flaw of capitalism in general, but from where I stand, what matters is the size of a company.

    Costco is large and not evil

    Even Costco cannot look after its people the way Scrooge did after being visited by the three spirits. Managers are constrained by HR policies, memos from Legal, and paltry funding from the Comptroller. Big corporations stage supportive activities, but can no more care about an employee than I care about the ant I squashed on my way to work this morning.

    I am grateful for IBM's action in this matter, but will always be wary of them starting to throw their weight around.

    --

    Gary Dunn
    Open Slate Project

    1. Re:Bias based on limitations by Oligonicella · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You think small businesses don't exhibit "impersonal, dehumanising treatment of their employees, the surrounding community, even their customers"?

      What planet are *you* living on?

      So, even though IBM has changed "after being visited by the three spirits", you still don't give them credit?

      Bias agains corporations, pure and simple.

    2. Re:Bias based on limitations by mroch · · Score: 1

      This is not the way I see things. A small business is more likely to reflect the personality -- the values -- of its owners.

      What if their owners are greedy and desperate to save their floundering company at any cost, as SCO's execs are?

    3. Re:Bias based on limitations by corbettw · · Score: 1

      A small business is more likely to reflect the personality -- the values -- of its owners. Large corporations by their nature gravitate toward impersonal, dehumanising treatment of their employees, the surrounding community, even their customers.

      I don't know, man. Inittech seemed like it was a pretty small company, and that place was evil.

      --
      God invented whiskey so the Irish would not rule the world.
  80. Likely to present evidence if they find any? by Dachannien · · Score: 2, Interesting

    SCO is likely to produce more evidence to support its claims, said Blake Stowell, an SCO spokesman. On 19 April, IBM turned over 232 versions of its AIX and Dynix Unix source code as well as internal documents and memos from executives, he said. "Our lawyers are still going through much of the evidence IBM turned over as part of the discovery process. I'm confident that there is still other evidence that will come forward in order for us to be able to prove those claims," Stowell said.

    In other words, SCO didn't have any evidence when they filed the suit, and this whole thing has been one massively expensive fishing expedition?

    1. Re:Likely to present evidence if they find any? by BCW2 · · Score: 1

      That is what most ofus have been sying for a year now. SCO had nothing and wanted IBM to give them the rope to hang em with. It's always been pretty obvious who would get hung.

      The way this has been dragging on forever I hope it turns into a nice Christmas present for all Linux and IBM users. Because i'm sure nothing definative will happen until then.

      --
      Professional Politicians are not the solution, they ARE the problem.
  81. Someone tell the Judge by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What if legions of small, zombie bunnies attempt to take over the world?

    Sometimes, there are more important and more likely things to be worried about.

    I KNEW IT!!! I saw a bunch of Zombie bunnies hanging out a the 7-Eleven last night and I thought to myself "Those durn zombie bunnies are up to no good . . . "

  82. I must be psychic by kilgortrout · · Score: 1

    Saw this one coming a mile down the road: http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=102379&cid=872 6739 as any competent litigator would. And so did SCOs lawyers. That's why they have moved for this part of the case to be stayed and IBM has moved for partial summary judgment on their carefully crafted counterclaim.

  83. Quick Summary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    From a post at Groklaw (http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20040520 162431732#comments) for those who want it fast.

    Please read PJ's article there for a much better analysis of events.
    -------------

    SCO: IBM infringes on our IP!

    IBM: What are you talking about?

    SCO: IBM took our trade secrets and our copyrighted stuff.

    IBM: What trade secrets and copyrighted stuff?

    SCO: We won't tell you.

    IBM: Magistrate, make them tell us.

    Wells: Tell IBM with specificity.

    SCO: We need IBM's source code first!

    IBM: Magistrate, make them tell us.

    Wells: Tell IBM with specificity.

    SCO: Ok we will.

    SCO: We are dropping the trade secrets claim. It's all about derivative works
    now.

    IBM: Magistrate, they didn't tell us.

    SCO: We need IBM's source code first!

    IBM: Bull.

    Magistrate: SCO tell IBM with specificity. IBM, give SCO the appropriate
    source code at the same time.

    SCO: We have complied with the court order.

    IBM: There is no specificity.

    SCO: We have complied with the court order.

    Blepp: I have all the evidence in my suitcase!

    SCO: Hold off on the RedHat case until IBM's counterclaim is settled.

    RedHat: This is weak. Our business is being damaged while we wait for IBM's
    counterclaim to be settled.

    SCO: Dismiss IBM's counterclaim, please.

    Blepp: Our strategy is not to show everything at once.

    IBM: Judge, they told us they had given us everything. They promised us that
    this was everything that they had that we asked for. What they gave us isn't
    even close to proving copyright infringement of SysV in Linux. Please rule on
    this counterclaim.

  84. Hope Springs Eternal by werdna · · Score: 2, Informative

    But Motions for Summary Judgment aren't trivial to obtain. The standard is quite high. The moving party bears the burden to suggest the absence of any triable question of material fact and entitlement to relief as a matter of law.

    After that, the burden shifts to the non-moving party to introduce record evidence that raises a genuine question of material fact. More than a bare minimum showing is necessary, but not much at all. Every reasonable inference goes to the non-moving party.

    SCO will have to put up something at last, but they don't need to show their entire hand to survive this motion, and very little is required for them to survive. Don't be surprised to feel a bit queasy as you see little more than a hand-wave or two from SCO with pointers to record evidence, and then the judge saying, well, that's a question for the fact-finder to decide in a technical case.

  85. IBM is saying, Dismiss, period! by kuwan · · Score: 4, Informative

    Yes, IBM is saying that a Summary Judgment should be granted on their Tenth Counterclaim because SCO has not shown, and should no longer be allowed to show, any evidence. IBM is effectively saying that SCO should no longer be allowed to show any more evidence because SCO has sworn by affidavit to the court that they have already shown all their evidence. Since the evidence that SCO has provided doesn't show any copyright violations on IBM's part then a Summary Judgment should be issued in favor of IBM. From page 30 of IBM's memorandum:

    SCO has advised the court that it has provided complete and detailed responses to the court's orders. If that is true, then summary judgement is appropriate because SCO has no evidence of IBM's alleged infringement (as SCO has adduced none). If it is not true, then summary judgement is appropriate because SCO has not only defied two orders of the Court, but it has also falsely certified that it has provided complete, detailed and thorough answers to IBM's interrogatories and the Court's orders.

    It's not a "put up or shut up." IBM's saying that even if SCO's right, they're still wrong. ;)

    1. Re:IBM is saying, Dismiss, period! by 1iar_parad0x · · Score: 1

      Why do I have a feeling that on the bottom of some of these pages it says:

      "This page was intentionally left blank!"

      --
      What do you mean my sig is repetitive? What do you mean my sig is repetitive? What do you mean....
  86. I belive its just "Shut up already.." by aralin · · Score: 1

    The title is not really correct, since IBM argues in their motion that SCO had plenty time to put up so now they'd like them to just shut up and go away.

    --
    If programs would be read like poetry, most programmers would be Vogons.
  87. dejavu by abertoll · · Score: 1

    Ever have dejavu?

    --
    "he drew his sword Ringil that glittered like ice... and he wounded Morgoth with seven wounds..."
  88. Finally... by Dozix007 · · Score: 1

    Finally someone has told SCO in a court of law to "Put up" which will hopefully end with the "shut up". I wonder how many customers they will lose, or possibilty the insuing lawsuits for slander and purjury.

  89. Its all just a ruse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    SCO doesn't actually think it is going to win this suit. They would like to - but they know they can't.

    SCO is just acting as Microsoft's pawn here.

    Microsoft gave SCO $50 million to help fight this and spread the seeds of doubt against Linux to delay what is inevitable - Linux will dominate business and government operating systems around the globe.

    I am certain that Microsoft considers this money well spent. Afterall - how many corporations and government entities DIDN'T change over to Linux because of the fear this suit created.

    1. Re:Its all just a ruse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      For now. But when this case is lost, and the plot is disclosed, how many will change because of that?

      It is like claiming that some country has weapons of mass destruction, while it actually doesn't, and then bombing it. While this is going on, others might respect you for going after the evil, but after the truth about the background of the action has become clear it will just mean a steap or two down on the ladder of respect.

  90. That's defamatory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    McDonalds would never hire a scumbag like that.

  91. Yesterday's news, now and forever... by rice_burners_suck · · Score: 4, Funny
    June 07, 2019 - For immediate release

    International Business Machines (NASDAQ: IBM) today announced a new court motion aimed at ending the lawsuit by One-Click Lawsuits - formerly SCO. The motion is aimed at ordering One-Click Lawsuits to release the details of IBM's alleged misappropriation of One-Click Lawsuits' alleged valuable intellectual property into Linux, IBM's legal.....

    (In other news, on the same day...)

    Microsoft today announced immediate availability of the Legacy Windows Compatibility Layer for the 4.8 kernel, with support for over 12 microprocessor architectures, others forthcoming. The LWCL allows enterprises completing their migration path towards Linux to retain their investment in custom code written for the legacy Windows operating systems. Microsoft's chairman and CEO, Linus Torvalds, said it feels good to have completed his purchase of 75% of what was arguably the world's most influential software company since the 1980's. He hinted at some of the more exciting changes occuring in the 4.9 development kernel, along with.....

  92. Please please please... by localman · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I hope IBM sues the hell out of the officers (not just the corperation) for libel or whatever they can. It's just not enough for these assholes to wave a gun around and then laugh it off when we find it's not loaded. They have caused a lot of people a lot of trouble and the _individuals_ who pushed this need to be appropriately punished. It should be made clear that it's not worth it to play these frivolous lawsuit games.

    Cheers.

  93. They're people, not companies.. by cbreaker · · Score: 1

    Some big companies actually do good things.

    It's not the size of the company, it's the level of greed in it's executives. IBM might have more top execs then a smaller company but not hundreds more.

    Remember, it's not the companies screwing you, it's not the "government" screwing you. It's PEOPLE screwing you.

    --
    - It's not the Macs I hate. It's Digg users. -
  94. Re:Good point I agree 100%. by ArcticCelt · · Score: 1

    Good point I agree 100%.
    Even Steves Jobs who was apparently the great defender of the people who think diferent as turned to the dark side.

    Some insightful article
    Some video critic
    Some Original Insult

    Kudos to IBM and shame on Apple!

    All for freedom and for pleasure
    Nothing ever lasts forever
    Everybody wants to rule the world
    -Some has-been band

    --

    Yahh, hiii haaaaa! -Major Kong, from Dr. Strangelove
  95. No it isn't it is fun by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 2, Insightful
    I don't agree with many things americans do but one I like "If you can't do the time don't do the crime".

    Was the criminal intrested in my rights of freedom when he robbed me at gunpoint? Invaded my privacy when he broke into my house? Tortured through rape? No? Then I don't care about him.

    Those who say nasty prisons don't work forget to add that nice prisons don't work either. Holland is about as liberal as you can get with communisties being sentenced to being serviced by rapists. (I am still waiting for pedofiles being told to help out at their local school) AND CRIME IS NOT GOING DOWN. In supressed reports it is even said to be going up. We are approaching america in hard crime (murder) and passed it in the lower (theft) stuff.

    So fuck you. Don't want to raped in jail? Don't be a criminal. Human rights == Human duties.

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

    1. Re:No it isn't it is fun by TheRaven64 · · Score: 0, Offtopic
      Don't want to raped in jail? Don't be a criminal.

      Well, it's good to hear that your criminal justice system is 100% accurate and never convicts the innocent. I wish the one in my country was as good.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    2. Re:No it isn't it is fun by Rob+Kaper · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      It's not that our system is good, but when criminals forego conviction because their name was misspelled on the warrant. We barely ever lock up the guilty, what makes you think we have time to pursuit the innocent? ;)

    3. Re:No it isn't it is fun by blancolioni · · Score: 1, Offtopic

      Was the criminal intrested in my rights of freedom when he robbed me at gunpoint? Invaded my privacy when he broke into my house? Tortured through rape? No? Then I don't care about him.

      I particularly hate the way that criminal pissed all over my rights when he lit a joint.

    4. Re:No it isn't it is fun by Peaceful_Patriot · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      I will agree with that when the prisons only contain murderers and rapists. Unfortunately, with the current 'get tough on crime' and 'the war on drugs' mentality, most folks in prison are there for non violent drug crimes.

      Should rape be considered appropriate punishment for someone selling pot?

      --
      There is nothing so powerful as an idea whose time has come.
  96. Wouldn't have worked by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 1
    They are now saying, Look we all waiting a full year for SCO to show us anything and they haven't this means they can't and there is no need to wait any longer.

    If they had said this after 1 month the judge would and should have ruled that SCO deserved (on the basis that anyone needs to have a fair chance at a trail even if they are morons) more time.

    But now with a full year passed SCO has had all the time that they could possibly expect in even the nicest of legal systems. IBM now can say that its been long enough.

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

  97. And a tip to you by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 1

    Learn to read.

    The post you are commenting was looking at what would have happened had IBM filed this motion AFTER 1 MONTH.

    I know reading is hard but he was responding to someone asking why this was not done after 1 month and he was showing through something called humor why this was not done.

    As to the mods who marked you up. Geez. Learn to read as well.

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

    1. Re:And a tip to you by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What did you expect? HIAL, after all.

    2. Re:And a tip to you by mkoenecke · · Score: 1

      Good point. I did not see the original post, which said IBM should have done this within a month, and so read the reply by itself and handily inserted my foot into my mouth. Mea culpa. Oh well, it isn't the first time.

      --
      TANSTAAFL
  98. It sure is by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 1
    Remember during the boom time when companies who showed a stable profit saw their shareprice go DOWN????????

    Companies on the other hand that were burning through borrowed capital like their was no tomorrow (wich it turns out there wasn't) and had never shown a profit or even a sale had their shares go through the roof.

    This should have shown everyone that the market is insane. The rise of SCO shares was for me the least suprising. Their is always a sucker somewhere. The market isn't about investment it is about gambling and the larger the odds the bigger the payout. Remember that if you accept a small payout on your gamble their is no need to gamble. Banks are quit willing to pay you a small amount on your investment with very high certainty of payout. They are called saving accounts.

    But lets see. SCO changes of winning 1% but payout several thousand percent? Saving account changes of winning 99.9% but payout 4%.

    Considering the amount in savings accounts most people are smart. Considering some people bought SCO stock, not all people though.

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

    1. Re:It sure is by MarkusQ · · Score: 1

      This should have shown everyone that the market is insane. The rise of SCO shares was for me the least suprising. Their is always a sucker somewhere. The market isn't about investment it is about gambling and the larger the odds the bigger the payout.

      No, the market is sane, once you realize that it isn't about investment or gambling--it's about taking money from foolish people as quickly as possible (e.g., before they can use it to do something bad) and giving it to wiser people. If a person believes that you can make zillions of dollars selling dog food over the internet, or that SCO has IBM dead to rights, or that Elvis is going to save Enron, you want to make sure that they don't have the means to act on their dellusions. Likewise, if someone can spot the seed of a good idea or the first bloom of a reasonable company doing something that needs doing in a field of tall grass and cow pies, and is willing to risk a bit of their own funds to help their pick grow to the point where we all can benefit from the fruits of their effort, you want to let them do so.

      The stock market handles this process quite nicely. Unlike comunism, which takes from the rich and gives to the poor, capitalism takes from the dumb and gives to the not-as-dumb. The SCO saga is just one more case in point.

      -- MarkusQ

  99. Fair trial and giving the benefit of doubt by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 1

    Imagine that you were accused of murder. First day in court the judge ask if you have any evidence that you didn't do it. No? Well please sit down on that chair with the leather straps over there then.

    The legal system needs to give everyone plenty of chances to defend OR attack. It is the only way for it to be fair or to allow the little guy to win against a big guy.

    The problem is of course that it can be abused. BUT that is the price to be paid for a fair legal system.

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

    1. Re:Fair trial and giving the benefit of doubt by fymidos · · Score: 1

      this is exactly the other way around ...
      imagine you were accused of a murder. And stay accused for a year waiting for evidence to be found against you..

      --
      Washington bullets will simply be known as the "Bulle
    2. Re:Fair trial and giving the benefit of doubt by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 1
      That to sadly is fair. Imagine the police is called to a murder and finds a suspect but has trouble connecting up the evidence. It happens. Would you want every murder case to be dismissed if the police doesn't have a conviction in a month?

      The legal system ain't perfect and yes it sucks that trials drag on and on. You know what? They solved this in some countries. There you can judged and executed in a matter of hours.

      Both IBM and SCO need to have fair time to make their case. Every idiot deserves their chance in court even if we think one of them is evil.

      --

      MMO Quests are like orgasms:

      You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

  100. One tiny bit of difference between IBM and MS by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 1
    IBM stuff is actually good. If you ever had the chance to work on some of their hardware then you will have fallen in love. Think linux on a intel P3 is stable? HAH! You need to invent new words then to talk about it on a RS/6000. I worked with some of their machines where the biggest diffculty during upgrades was finding the bloody thing. I once worked at a big ISP and we had several machines working but lost. That doesn't even count the number of machines at customers where they were hidden around the factory under tons of dust.

    During one takeover it became necessary to do stocktaking and we needed several days to locate them all. These machines had been put in place turned on and in several years time noone had a need to touch them. You didn't measure uptimes on these machines, why would you? Uptime implies downtime and they didn't have any.

    I am not experienced enough to truly compare the various unixes but comparing AIX to windows is easy. A steaming pile of crap on the one side. Something wich actually works on the other.

    So yes IBM was the original inventor of FUD, but when they said their product was best every geek in the world was not rolling on the floor in hysterical laughter. It wasn't always the truth but at least it wasn't a complete lie either.

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

  101. WOW, you left out the most important by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 1

    Make their software WORK. Simply work. No crashes, no unexplained lockups. No things suddenly changing between the eternal reboots. No weird stuff in explorer suddenly happening. No secret installs of software that monitors everything I do.

    Simply a working OS. I don't need anything fancy. You can keep your Skinning and translucent windows and god knows what. Just a bloody OS that I setup once and then just keeps running.

    Oh wait I got one. It got a quit little penquin I think during bootup. Not sure as I have only booted it once during the last year and my memory ain't what it used to be.

    Oh and to be fair yes windows has slowly become more stable. I now run 2k3 and it doesn't crash to often although the taskbar buttons do keep rearring themselves, explorer now opens search when I click on a folder in the right pane, and it does still crash for no reason every other day, despite the fact I don't use it for anything but games. Sad really. Here I got this nice opera on linux wich remembers exactly what I was browsing if it should crash and it doesn't and on windows I got a browser wich doesn't and does.

    Oh and don't give me it is the hardwares fault. The linux machines are asus boards with mis matched overclocked P3 and mismatched nobrand overclocked memory with tons of hds hooked up to joke raid cards, while the windows machine is a pure intel board with perfectly matched brand memory and only 1 soundcard as an extra.

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

    1. Re:WOW, you left out the most important by TiggsPanther · · Score: 1

      To be honest on the other side...

      I've had problems where Linux has locked up unexpectedly. Sometimes I can still ssh in and either kill the X-Session or at least force a clean reboot, sometimes it requires cycling the power.
      Similarly I've had problems in Windows which are the hardware's fault - I know this as Linux had fallen over at similar points.

      True, Windows has a habit of tripping over more often. Often for no reason, and often running straight into hardware issues without stopping... (until stopping dead, that is). True, Linux tends to be more tolerant of these issues, and often easier to recover from. (Crashes are less fatal, if not less frequent)

      Personally I think it's to do with the Many Eyes aspect of Linux coding. Or at least it's close-cousin Many Hardware-Combinations.
      Windows Devs (comercial) are probably running on top-spec hardware. Linux Kernel-hackers aren't always. And if they run into a problem, they might see if they can code around it, and if they can then submit a patch.

      I think Windows is getting more stable. Just the politics of DRM and Activation far outweigh the improvements in amny cases. Similarly I don't think linux is perfect or bullet-proof, but the benefits (price, freedom, choice) can often outweigh the problems it does have.

      I still think Windows main (technical) flaw, however, is it needing a reboot after every little change. I like Linux's approach where you many need to restart a service, but apart from the Kernel (oh, and new hardware...) there's very little that requires the entire system rebooting.

      Tiggs
      --
      Tiggs
      "120 chars should be enough for everyone..."
  102. Crusher say "crush 'em" by crusher-1 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Looking back at the 4 year activity of SCOX stock and it becomes apparent what is going on. All that have followed this debacle are painfully aware of SCOX business behavior. But just to paint the picture a couple of factoids.

    Four years ago SCOX stock exceed over $100/share. In january of last year the stock was on the verge of dropping below $1/share and ran the risk of being delisted (as penny stocks are on NASDAQ). So we have this brilliant claim the "Linux ripped off SCOX via IBM". We (the F/OSS community) worried about the possibility of this being a reality. I and others scurried to dig up as much factual and cogent info on who contributed what, as well as when and where.

    It was of course determined that many of the former Caldera (pre-SCOX) employees/devs had contribute source work to the Linux kernel. It was further determined that there appeared to be nothing out of the ordinary about the manner in which this was done. Then the discussions regarding SCOX' focused on fixing any possible problem insofar as determining what tainted the kernel in order to cut it out and replace it.

    SCOX didn't like this in the slightest. They refused to be specific because they claimed that it would invalidate their claim and leave them with no recourse. Though this was not taking to kindly by the F/OSS community but it was understandable, wherein one doesn't invalidate ones torts by giving away the evidence in this manner. So be it.

    However glaring inconsistencies began to appear in SCOX' claims and contentions. All the while SCOX stock was rising. They played the industry press like a fine fiddle and the industry press bought it hook, line, and sinker. They didn't delve into the deeper questions but simply repeated SCOX' claims and essentially became a mouth piece for these idiots.

    So the question arose - "what the hell is really going on here"? Speculations abound and over time it became apparent the SCOX my well be a player for a bigger entity - many saw M$ behind this. Then evidence of the PIPE deal began to come to light. A convuluted cavalcade of backroom conversations and a lot of money changing hands and all the while SCOX stock was rising.

    At every turn SCOX shows that it has no conpunction whatsoever to legally and economically assualt any one or any thing that they felt would further their cause - but just what really was the crux of their jihad? Ok let's get serious here. It wasn't about being ripped off, it wasn't about securing their market channels and product line. It was about money - no real shock here. But the logic was baffling to both tech head, end-user, corporates, and financial analysts. All the while SCOX is making the rounds with the bigger players, those being for example IDG, The Yankee Group, and many others (including Harvard Business School lectures?).

    But as in Germany that unquestionably stated to SCOX "put up or shut up" the time has come in America as well and we see that SCOX has little or nothing at all to present. It's not about holding your cards to up the ante. It's about holding your cards because you hand has nothing but junk and bluffing in hopes that the other guy will blink. Well IBM didn't blink - as if you would expect them to.

    But what about all those poor dumb saps (bless their souls) that just wanted to invest in a company that would afford them a margin of profit on their investment? The majority of -l users don't understand the deeper issues of this technology. They see computing as a tool to use (and one that is often extremely complicated and intimidating from their point of view - I mean hell I just showed my mother the virtues of right click menus in WinXP for crying out loud).

    At the start of this fiasco SCOX started at just around one dollar per share and rose to over $22/share. Not a bad investment from a strictly market perspective. But now it's dropping and at the close of business this Friday it is down to $4.754/share - ouch. This would be ok if their was any validity

  103. Profit has nothing to do with it. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Profit has nothing to do with it. The real reason MS wouldn't do this is simple: Bill Gates' ego wouldn't allow it.

    By all accounts, he is a sore loser. So much of one that it's not enough that he succeed - everybody else must lose. If he can't get his way, he throws tantrums. (Read about his poker games in college.)

    Profit has nothing to do with it. It's all ego.

  104. Re:Kerry comment. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Kerry voted for the Democrats version of the 87$billion for Iraq operations. This was significantly different from the Bush version which passed. The Democrat version paid for the money by repealing a like amount of Bush tax cuts. The Bush version that passed paid for it by deficit spending- passing along our problems to future generations- just like Bush promised he wouldn't do in the 2000 election. Certainly not Kerry's most eloquent answer, but at least he can string together a complete sentence and doesnt make up words. OT rant over.

  105. Yes we own all comments by leakingmemory · · Score: 1

    /*\ * This is our property.\ * A proprietary comment, (c)(tm)(r)\ * We own all comments, they are all\ * written in our language, since we\ * own them all\ * Don't ever dare to steal our includes:\ */ #include

  106. mod parent up please by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    see subject

  107. offtopic? wtf! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    that wasnt off topic you IDIOT MODERATOR

  108. I am dutch. by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 1

    So that hardly gets you locked up. What the law maybe in america I don't care. That is the problem of americans. I don't want them to interfere wich dutch politics and I kindly return the favor.

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

    1. Re:I am dutch. by blancolioni · · Score: 1

      Well, I live in Utrecht, but Slashdot is mostly Americans, so what can I say?

      It could be argued that sentencing is in general too lenient here, but I really don't see crime going up particularly.

  109. Re:from the outside in..? by jason.mitchell · · Score: 1

    Wow, your grammar skills blow my mind.