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SCO Says No Way To a GPL Solaris, Moves Trial Back

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the the-change-of-the-times dept.

penguino writes "Looks like it didn't take long for SCO to formally respond to claims by Sun that it will open source Solaris. According to SCO 'they [Sun] still have licence restrictions that would prevent them from contributing our licensed works wholesale to the GPL'. The company has also released a statement dated June 8 that 'SCO is making a motion to move the scheduled trial date to September 2005 and split IBM's counterclaims into a separate case'. Also quoted is AUUG president and FreeBSD developer Greg Lehey who recommends 'that the best thing for IBM to do would be to print out every single version as requested and send the resultant 20 tonnes or so of paper to SCO. That would keep them quiet for a while'."

13 of 429 comments (clear)

  1. Sun will Shine at the Big Blue by stecoop · · Score: 5, Interesting

    What version of Linux is IBM using now-a-days. Whichever it is, Sun should basically drop Solaris and focus developing Linux for sparks along the same lines as IBM is doing. I like Solaris machines, they're fast and reliable but I only see a future for Sun at IBM. Sun has Java technology that IBM could really use as a synergy for the core products. IBM with SUN would be a large player in the future of computing, but currently SUN standing alone will be like SGI and other once powerful computing companines.

    1. Re:Sun will Shine at the Big Blue by turgid · · Score: 4, Interesting
      Whichever it is, Sun should basically drop Solaris and focus developing Linux for sparks along the same lines as IBM is doing.

      Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings, or something.

      Have you any clue as to how many years more advanced than Linux Solaris is at the high end?

      Sun is already using Linux at the low end, where it has it's niche. It's called the Java Desktop System.

      --
      Stick Men
    2. Re:Sun will Shine at the Big Blue by pegr · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Have you any clue as to how many years more advanced than Linux Solaris is at the high end?

      Agreed, but how much of that "high-end Solaris" is under SCO license restrictions? (None, or it would be in SCO's products.) While Sun may not be able to open source Solaris due to SCO license restrictions, as soon as a judge declares that IBM enhancements to AIX are not the property of SCO, Sun can roll whatever "high-end Solaris" code they have into Linux. This would have the added benefit of destroying whatever is left of SCO.

    3. Re:Sun will Shine at the Big Blue by pegr · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Sun can roll whatever "high-end Solaris" code they have into Linux.

      Why bother, when it's already in Solaris?

      Because the stated goal was to Open Source Solaris... Without that, this whole exercise is meaningless.

      While bolting on Solaris functionality to Linux would be a formidable task, it would also put Sun squarely in the middle of Linux development as a strong Linux consulting and implementation partner. Pretty cool way to beef up your Linux "street cred" if you ask me...

    4. Re:Sun will Shine at the Big Blue by molarmass192 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Hang on there. I like Solaris and I admin a dozen Sun servers myself, but since the 2.6 kernel went prod that's only true on the biggest and baddest >64-way E-series servers. Obviously, Sun would have a little issue with our service contract if I were to slap Linux on any of those servers, but I don't have a doubt that it could be just as reliable if I did.

      --

      Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws-Plato
    5. Re:Sun will Shine at the Big Blue by elmegil · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Linux "street cred" doesn't improve your revenues, nor your standing on Wall Street. It should be pretty clear from the public statements of management that Sun does not want to be "a Linux company". Personally I think that's a good thing--everyone derides Microsoft for promoting a monoculture, but here they are all advocating Linux uber alles for everything. Solaris for what it's good at, Linux for what it's good at, MacOS for what it's good at, and (gasp) windows for what it's good at (games and viruses! :-) all seem to be reasonable things to have around. [tongue-in-cheek]Not sure that I see any reason for HP/UX or AIX though...[/tongue-in-cheek]

      --
      7 November 2006: The day Americans realized corruption and incompetence weren't addressing 11 September 2001
    6. Re:Sun will Shine at the Big Blue by jedidiah · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Dell needs to get themselves at least some 12-way NUMA kit to sell before the more interesting features of Solaris become relevant.

      SGI is already bolting 200+ cpu NUMA support onto Linux, so any "help" they might get from Sun would be irrelevant.

      Other vendors such as Veritas are also already contributing to the (Linux) stew. Before too long, "all those years" of Sun "superiority" may be moot.

      --
      A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
  2. Hmmm by liamo · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Hmmm. I wonder if Sun expected this response from SCO, allowing them to say "Well, we offered" without actually opening anything.

  3. Re:Ummm... by Pharmboy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The question isn't really if the code has any SVR5 in it, as it likely has little. The real question is how "derivative" is defined, and how that applies to the license Sun had with AT&T and more recently, SCO.

    --
    Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
  4. No more stalling! by the_mad_poster · · Score: 4, Interesting

    That would keep them quiet for a while.

    We don't WANT to keep them quiet for a while. We want IBM to go in for the kill and cut their tongue out to keep them quiet for GOOD. No more stall tactics, and definitely don't aid them in their stall tactics by giving them something to do. If they get even the faintest air of legitimacy again, rest assured some moron with more money than brains is going to pump funds into their hot air balloon to help reinflate it. I don't think I an take another year and a half of these stories every day like they were coming for awhile...

    --
    Alito: A vote for Alito is a punch in the eye to put that bitch back in her place!
  5. More misunderstandings of the "viral" effect by Sunnan · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Speaking of which - this debacle kind of proves which license is really "viral". It's the proprietary ones, such as the one half-assedly half-granting Sun use of the Unix source.

    "You can use it, but you can't give it away." So much for ownership.

  6. Update as of Wednesday ... by Random+BedHead+Ed · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I don't think Darl's dream of prolonging the FID will come to any fruition. The court has replied to one of their attempts at delay, as reported on Groklaw today:

    "Court hears arguments and DENIES the motion due to lateness of the objection and inconvenience to the parties scheduled for deposition."

    IBM had argued that SCO didn't need a delay because "two of the witnesses scheduled next week ... are former employees of AT&T, not IBM. .... Similarly, Mr. Rodgers was employed by Sequent, not IBM, and IBM does not have any of his documents. The final deponent, BayStar, is an investor in SCO, wholly unrelated to IBM, and that deposition apparently will not go forward." Today Judge Wells agreed and denied SCO's attempt to prolong the FUD. This guy really seems to understand the importance of getting these decisions out sooner rather than later, since the claims are enormous and the business impact could be huge. Their arguments to postpone the trial date are equally without merit, so expect more embarassing setbacks for SCO soon.

  7. Future of Patents and Derivative Works by endofoctober · · Score: 4, Interesting

    For me this brings up an interesting future scenario re the "Solaris is a derivative work of System V". If a company (SCO) licenses software to a second party (Sun), then the second company builds a huge code base around the licensed work, at what point does the second company's contribution become large enough that it's no longer considered "derivative"?

    If enough new code is written to replace original code, is the resultant work still considered to be a derivative of the original? It may be inspired by it, but is it still legally hemmed in under the original copyright?

    Maybe in this case Sun feels that enough of the licensed work has been re-written (and vastly improved) by their own staff that it no longer resembles the original System V.

    --
    - Jack