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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."
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...
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!
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?
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
...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.
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
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.
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.
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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
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
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.
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?