Indemnification Roundup

Skapare writes "O'Reilly Network's LinuxDevCenter has a great article summarizing the indemnification possibilities for businesses considering switching to (or staying with) Linux. Author Tom Adelstein covers the business risk mitigation aspects of using Linux today, and details available indemnification offerings from Novell, HP, Red Hat, and OSRM. So why not print a copy and send it to your company CEO."

Comments

Re:Am I safe just running Microsoft stuff?

[aixou]

I suppose it's somewhat analagous to volcano insurance. Everything's cool until your house is covered in soot.

Do I need to buy or worry about this kind of stuff when I buy Microsoft software?

No, but then Microsoft software is all done in house. 95% (give or take) of software included in a Red Hat distribution was not created by Red Hat, so they don't have the same level of accountability as Microsoft. With an indemnification plan, they are taking on the accountability of the linux kernel writers, which might give a justified peace of mind to any potential customer.

Microsoft end users have been sued

[walterbyrd]

Nobody has ever been sued for just using Linux. However, end-users of a msft product (SQL server) have been sued over a patent violation.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/02/20/sql_serv er _developers_face_huge/

From the evidence that exists so far, it is clear that msft end-users are the ones more likely to be sued.

Of course the most likely to be sued of all, are end-users of scox proprietary products. For the simple reason that scox has made it a normal business practice to sue anybody who has any sort of contract with scox. So far that includes: ibm, chrysler, autozone, and novell.

What was it scox spokesman blake stowell said? "Lawsuits are what you use against people you have a contract with."

CEO

[Mr_Silver]

So why not print a copy and send it to your company CEO

Unless you're in a very small company, the CTO would be a better bet.

If you're in a really big company, then the chances are it should be going to the Director of IT.

Don't immediately shoot yourself in the foot by annoying people whose job is not to consider/deal with these issues.

Definitely Not.

[gillbates]

For your consideration:

• Microsoft's customers were sued by Timeline when Microsoft distributed code with SQL server that Timeline had only license to Microsoft for internal use.
• I have never heard of a Linux vendor suing their customers. Yet fairly recently, Microsoft sued the LA school district for about $400,000. They sued a school .... Think about that one for a while.
• Microsoft was convicted of abusing their monopoly position to hurt competitors. Misgivings about code written by volunteers are understandable, but it would be downright foolish to eschew code written by someone with altruistic motives in favor of code written by a convicted felon.
• The idea that a convicted felon's code - code which is intentionally kept secret - is somehow less likely to infringe on IP rights is laughable, at best.
• Furthermore, the fact that the source is closed means a company cannot even begin to evaluate the risk of infringement. One simply cannot determine how much or from whom Microsoft has stolen code - or if they've stolen any at all.

One could make some very good objections to using Linux, but liability is not one of them. If anything, the fact that the source code is freely available means that absent frivolous plaintiffs (*cough* SCO *cough*) there is a very small risk of being sued. Unlike the proprietary, closed source model, cases of actual infringement can be mitigated by the end user. If I was sued for IP infringement and didn't have the source code, my only option (assuming that infringement really took place) is to pay royalties and licensing fees. But if I do have the source code, I can simply remove the infringing material, substantially reducing the damages that a plaintiff could collect.

And for all you Microsoft-vs-Linux trolls, save it. Microsoft and Linux are just good examples of the relative strengths and weaknesses of open versus closed source. The argument would apply equally well to Adobe Photoshop vs. Gimp or Oracle vs Postgresql, etc...