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SCO To Counter Groklaw With 'Fair' Coverage
linuxwrangler writes "Tired of being 'flamed, dissected and dismissed' on Groklaw, SCO has decided to fight back. SCO's site, scheduled for launch on November 1, will be called prosco.net. Just yesterday SCO CEO and favorite /. whipping-boy Darl McBride gave a speech comparing the software industry to the 'wild west' and warning companies that they must protect their intellectual property or risk being 'sacked by open source-touting bandits.'"
And in tonight's news, Fox News is sueing SCO over the use of the word Fair! SCO allegedly plans to countersue saying they've got prior art on using litigation to stifle competition!
More at 11!
"The new gold is IP," McBride said. ...SCO soon to become ghost town, after unsuccessfully mining the Linux kernel and not finding one itty bitty nugget.
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
McBride the sheriff of Naughtingham?
=================
Unix is very user friendly, it's just picky about who its friends are.
that they'll have a public forum open long enough to get their comments debunked on their own site! :-D
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
But can they get anyone to read them ?
It will be even better if they do comment on what groklaw is convering. The SEC takes a dim view about companies making false statements about their business.
I guess when you can't fight on the side of truth then you can always try and rewrite it after the fact.
See Darl? This is why the old guard from Caldera warned you not to go after the 'open source crowd'. Your page of lies will be dissected by hundreds of others on Groklaw. The best thing is, this time instead of shooting off your mouth, your words will be in some web cache.
Choose your topics wisely Darl. You will be watched...
"...Well, there's egg and bacon; egg sausage and bacon; egg and spam; egg bacon and spam; egg bacon sausage and spam..."
I thought it was supposed to be more like the High Seas... ya know with the pirates and all that!
How do these things keep changing on me??
Socialism: A feeling of discontent and resentment caused by a desire for the possessions or qualities of another.
How long before they have to shut off comments or block users en masse because the comments and postings are all negative.
I'm betting that IF they allow user input to be posted it will be heavily censored. It would have to be. SCO has zero friends. That's what happens when you sue your own freakin' customers!
Actually his analogy can be quite true, well, not true about what he has claimed, but the way the whole software industry is working FOR the patents/copyrights/trademarks rather than channeling the resources into something more useful, like Practical Properties?
Uselessful technology (Air-Charged
OK, we all knew the SCO guys were lacking a few parts of brain mass that most others posess, but this is really something. What marketing guy said "let's launch a site called ProSCO under the flag of 'fair coverage of the events', everyone will believe us!"?
It's a universal mantra of any company involved in litigation. "We are unable to comment due to ongoing litigation". Now they're going to be reguarly commenting on active litigation on multiple fronts. They are breaking yet another fundamental rule of the universe (the first being, don't piss off the entire world in a ridiculous attempt to enrich yourself).
I'm a big tall mofo.
As annoying and frustrating as it can be, idiots of this caliber must be allowed to demonstrate why those who know better, know better.
prosco.net
The SCO group
etc. etc.
My amazing wife - Artist, Author, Philosopher - Laurie M
I read this as procto.net. I figgured maybe they were just pulling propaganda out of their butts.
I, for one, welcome our new by Open Source-touting bandit overlords!
---- Den ene knappen er powerknapp, den andre er Bender voice knapp "Bite My Shiny Metal Ass"
No, let's not.
Why don't we, instead, just completely ignore SCO and McBride and their ilk, and just let IBM pick their bones. The only press they are getting is when Linux supporters react to McMouth's gasings. So, NO responses to any 'news' articles, or anything else about SCO and their attempted theft of the Linux kernel and associated utilities will do more to make McBride look the fool he is than any of our responses. He's old news. Forget him.
A site by SCO supporting SCO using SCO facts. I am guessing that knuckle dragging Darl doesn't see the credibility problem with such a site. He continues to respond to his critics by morphing into an angry child on a playground yelling and screaming at the other kids who won't play fair.
http://www.busyweather.com/
prosco isn't so bad, especially when you consider the alternatives:
o .comm .com
ilovesco.com
ohyesyesgimmesco.com
chicksdigsc
mcbrideforprez.com
gaysforsco.com
scorgas
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
If anyone actually reads this site it's only going to be for the comic relief.
===== Murphy's Law is recursive. =====
Isn't this like MSNBC reporting on Microsoft, or MSN.com having "News" about the great new features of MSN messenger?
) Human Kind Vs Human Creation
) It'd be interesting to see how many humans would survive to serve us.
"The open source movement says that proprietary software shouldn't exist. They say that the operating system should be free, but that's a slippery slope," McBride said. "There's 12 million developers worldwide, are you gonna let their work be free?"
Yes?
is positioning for the role of "Robber Baron".
Somebody should tell him that Bill Gates has that job sewed up.
myke
Mimetics Inc. Twitter
At first I thought prosco.com was for pros. co., as in "A Prosecuting Company". That about sums it up.
Punctanym: alternate spelling of words using punctuation or numerals in place of some or all of its letters; see 'leet'
-Derek
Treat me like a marketing stat, and I'll treat your movie like a series of ones and zeros
You've gotta be kidding me! SCO is going to open up a whole site mouthing off while they're still in the middle of a court case?
Quick! Some one start an egg timer to see how long it takes before the Judge sees something SCO wrote on there and takes their heads off for it.
"We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals." --The American President (20.1.2009)
The new web site will be known as... SCOfflaw.net
I think he meant it's the new FOOL'S gold."
-r
Just because something is free does not mean you have to take it.
Which is rather fitting. I imagine that Darl's putting on the rubber gloves right now for visitors to the site. Prosco - the only site on the web that offers a free rectal exam before they completely screw you over.
Slashdot - the place where you can look like a genius by restating the obvious
He has huge stones, I'll give him that.
McBride saying that the FOSS community are trying to take away his precious IP is ... I just tried to think of an analogue and I couldn't.
What hulking brass ones! How does he walk?
sigs, as if you care.
...companies that they must protect their intellectual property or risk being 'sacked by open source-touting bandits.'
As is so often the case, the question here is "how is this issue any more relevant to Open Source than it is to proprietary software?"
Is there any reason to believe that open source developers (who have every reason to believe that they would be caught) would be more likely than closed-source developers (who have a much smaller chance of getting caught) to "steal" someone else's IP?
Damn those evil open source developers! Always stealing my IP, and me with no way to tell, or prove it. You know, unless I look at the code or something. Damn them! And God bless the closed source developers, who don't show me their code, but whom I trust implicitly anyway.
I guess they figured that it'd be a waste of money springing for a two-year registration. It's not like there'll be anybody there left to renew the domain next October after they've been left as a smouldering caldera...
Consultancy: If you're not part of the solution, there's money to be made in prolonging the problem
Darl has run this once innovative and successful company so far into the ground that they see 'the competition' as PJ/Groklaw.
So now it's not about IBM, it's not about UNIX, it's not about Linux, it's not about 'Intellectual Property'.
Now it's about a lone ex-paralegal who had the balls (and i mean that in the nicest way possible) to tell it like it is.
We can't have that, can we Darl? God forbid anyone actually accept a version of events that corresponds with legal and technical realities instead of simply believing whatever stupid lies you cooked up after another hard night on the Canopy crackpipe.
Whats next, are you going to come up with an alternate justice system because no court in the US will accept SCO's ridiculous legal 'arguments' either?
People *hate* what you and your company are doing, Mr. McBride.
It is wrong, and no amount of P.R. spin will change that. Shame on you.
I gots ta ding a ding dang my dang a long ling long
Nobody really cares about SCOX any more.
Nobody is going to buy SCO as an ongoing business because IBM has huge counterclaims against them. Remember, IBM is sueing SCO for stealing IBM code. IBM released IBM code into Linux under the GPL. Then SCO resold it, but refused to accept their obligations under the GPL. So IBM revoked SCO's implied license under the GPL, which the GPL allows, and is sueing them for major copyright violations. And IBM can show (and has shown) exact copying of megabytes of IBM code by SCO.
We're getting close to the day when some of IBM's summary judgement motions get decided. If IBM wins any of those, SCO is in deep trouble. At that point, no spin control will help SCO.
As long as we're comparing to American western history, let's take a more comparable example: General Custer.
1. Rumor has it the guy was a lunatic by the time he decided to attack the natives. Check.
2. He and his little army set out to battle against an opponent with a larger head-count. Check.
3. The natives didn't have a choice: Custer was pretty much set on attacking them no matter what they did. Check.
4. The natives were fighting for existence. Custer for glory. Check.
5. The end result was the glorifying of Custer and a signature point in the demise of the Native American population. Let's hope squashing SCO doesn't backfire into some sort of us against them attitude with big business.
You are checking your backups, aren't you?
Am I the only one who thinks this might just be one of SCO's biggest PR gunblasts to their own foot in quite a while?
I'm not sure if they could've given Groklaw more legitimacy if they tried.
Who are they aiming at? Certainly they must understand that they have no chance whatsoever at building up the kind of community and following Groklaw has?
So who, then? Journalists? Which journalist is going to quote 'pro-SCO.net' as a source? And if they do, in the future, it's hardly likely they'd do it without quoting Groklaw.. now that they're officially 'the other side'.
(The question of who, in such an exchange, is going to come out sounding more trustworthy is left as an exercise for the reader.)
McBride is right about it being the Wild West, but it's more like the railroads vs the farmers and small merchants. The rail roads would come in and pull all kinds of stunts to get what they wanted and at times wipe out entire towns, usually under color of law with the sheriff working to further their interests. I've lost count the number of Kevin Costner-type movies that were made about such subjects, with the good guys coming out as something less than winners.
... sort of thankful.
McBride is merely a sheriff working for his boss (Microsoft, Sun, etc) and looking to bring some good old "law" to The West on their behalf. I have no idea what to call IBM and Novell. They'd kill us tomorrow if it suited their interests, but I guess for the moment they are the gun slinging Clint Eastwood types that have a disdain for the townsfolk, but really, really, really hate the corrupt sheriff, his henchmen and the railroad goons. I guess we should be
So McBride's notion about it being The Wild West is actually pretty accurate, with SCO representing the interests of the railroads and robber barons.
Why do you think when you were getting shafted in the old days the term often used was "This was a railroad job" or "We railroaded those guys off the map" and so on... it was because the railroads had lots of power and generally screwed over the little guy.
Created on: 04-OCT-04
Expires on: 04-OCT-05
Last Updated on: 04-OCT-04
Obviously, SCO feels that they aren't going to be around after this date... or one would think they would at least have bothered to splash out the extra cash for a 2-year reg rather than just a 1-year reg.
"Be vewy vewy quiet, I'm hunting wuntime ewwors!" - Elmer Fudd
Meanwhile so far Darl's public statements have done nothing but hurt him in the actual courtroom. Recent IBM filings have used public statements made by SCO against them. I imagine in the coming months prosco.net postings will show up in legal filings against SCO as well.
That said, once this site goes up someone should start keeping a local mirror of it to make sure that if prosco says something that turns out to be embarrassing later, they can't just remove it.
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
There is a pattern here:
There's a company called PROSCO, for "Promotional and Supply Services Co.", in Saudi Arabia.
http://www.prosco.com.sa/
Prosco Internacional S.A. de C.V. is out of Mexico City. I'm not sure what they do, though their home page has a link titled "Candy Recycling". Hmm.
http://www.proscoint.com/
Sweetshops, something that sounds like was raised for convincing the US to attack Iraq.
And a company with a policy of:
1: Steal candy from children
2: Recycle?
3: Profit!
I am telling you: They are all evil!
At least as far as HE is concerned. If there was ever a man who should be characterized as "all hat, no cattle", that would be Darl.
BWAHAAHAAHAAHAHAHAAHAH!!!!
*deeep breath*
BWAHAHAHAHAAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
Socialism: A feeling of discontent and resentment caused by a desire for the possessions or qualities of another.
You know it's just got to be a honey pot, right? I'm guessing they are trying to bait someone into hacking the new web site in hopes of making the Open Source community look bad to the press and to the courts. Remember, they already claimed Open Source advocates attacked their main web site a while back... but now they'll spin it as us trying to censor free speach. It's a setup to try and identify our Open Source community with the evil dregs of computing, script kiddies.
This sig intentionally left blank.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Besides, if the site does get slashdotted McBride will just claim it was "hacked" by Linux zealots.
Obviously no one is going to go to prosco.com, surely not even the PHBs in SCO think that. Perhaps the purpose of this web site is just to dilute the DOSing they're constantly under by giving people more target.
Not that I suggest DOSing under any circumstances...no matter how stupid the recipient might be.
Kind thoughts do not change the world
SCO is a company with good intentions. Remember, fellas: they developed the original Unix from scratch with punch cards and tweezers and jumpers and things.
Now they're being picked on by all these dangerous firms on the edge of legality like "International Business Machines" (clearly a front for the communist and/or nazi party) and an irregular army of anarchist hacker geniuses.
I mean, seriously, if SCO doesn't turn this thing around, what WILL happen to Unix?
Or at least I think it would be fun to have a field day with this:
:)
Darl: I've learned something, too: selling out is sweet because when you sell out, you get to make a lot of money, and when you have money, you don't have to hang out with a bunch of poor asses like you guys. Screw you guys, I'm going home.
---
Linus: Wow! That's a lot of seamen, Darl.
Darl: Yeah, I bought all that I could at this bank, and then I got the rest from this guy Ralph in an alley.
RMS: That's cool.
Darl: Yeah, and the sweet thing is, the stupid asshole didn't even charge me money for it. He just made me close my eyes and suck on a hose.
---
Darl: Why is it that everything today has to do with things either going in or coming out of my ass?
---
Darl: Now stop wasting Bill Gates' time, you little pussy prick.
Linus: Don't take that tone with me, kid. I'll kick your ass.
Darl: Yah. Well, I'd like to see you try. I'm, like, 6 feet tall.
RMS: Yah. Well, you sound like a little bitch to me.
Darl: Bitch! Don't call me bitch, bitch!
RMS: Bring it on then, bitch!
Darl I already brung it, bitch. I brung it, opened it, and set it on the table, bitch.
----
IBM Executive: How would you like to go meet with our litigation counselor?
Darl: How would you like to suck my balls?
IBM Executive: What did you just say?!
Darl: Oh, I'm sorry (Clears throat and pulls out megaphone), actually what I said was, "How would you like to suck my balls?"
----
Linus: The note (from Carly Fiorina) says to meet her at Stark's Pond after meeting.
Linus: Whoa, maybe you can kiss her.
Darl: Or slip a little tongue.
RMS: [mumbles] Or slide a finger up her pussy.
Linus: I didn't know she had a cat.
---
Darl: That judge rulling has warped my fragile little mind.
---
Darl: I hate linux hippies! I mean, the way they always talk about "protectin' the earth" and then drive around in cars that get poor gas mileage and wear those stupid bracelets - I hate 'em! I wanna kick 'em in the nuts!
Darl: Hippies.They're everywhere. They wanna save the earth, but all they do is smoke pot and smell bad.
---
Darl: Don't worry, Tweek. Your family can go on welfare. RMS's family's on welafare and they're happy, isn't that right, RMS?
RMS: Fuck you.
---
Darl: Linus, I am out of control. Yeah, I use drugs. I can do what I waunt, biatch! Yeah, I have sex, and I don't use protection! It's my hot body; I'll do what I waunt! I don't go to school and I kill people! What-evah! I'll do what I waunt!
---
RMS: Does anybody know anything about corporations?
Darl: I think my mom is a corporation.
Linus (sarcastically): Yeah, that makes sense.
aah, it's just an excuse
You can't handle the truth.
Hey lets ask Al Gore, after all he is the one who invented it!
Don't you see, this is SCO's next step in their vexatious litigation strategy. They're going to launch their Pro-SCO site and open up the forums. Then when the masses of FOSS supporters flock to the forums to debunk all of SCO's claims, SCO will be secretly recording their IP addresses, personal information, etc.
Then they'll take their newly acquired information and track you down so they can sue you! Then they'll be rich Rich RICH!
MWAHAHA MWAHAHAHA MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
infested with jello like fishes no melotron wishes
Can you imagine the (well-deserved) trolling this will generate if they have a comment forum? Any chance of reasoned pro vs anti discussion will be drowned hot grits.
If any real arguments on either side manges to get through, I'm going to guess the pro/anti sco ratio will be like 1 pro to 100 anti.
There is, perhaps, a bit of irony in Darl McBride's choice of gold-rush metaphor. He seems obsessed with IP, and even states that "The new gold is IP". What he doesn't seem to understand is the old saying about how the only people who get rich in a gold rush are the ones selling the pick-axes and shovels to the dollar-sign-eyed prospectors.
It's clear from The SCO Group's lawsuits and 'SCOsource' licensing efforts that they are not in the mining equipment business in their gold rush. Indeed, they have invested heavily in trying to mine IBM, and others, through the courts and by their threats of litigation. How appropriate it is that they are based in the Rocky Mountains!
Freedom of expression includes the freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas expressed in software form.
I wonder if he's also waiting for aliens hiding behind a comet to come and rescue his business from all the 'open source bandits' who want to rob real developers everywhere of their work.
Has he not yet realized that open source doesn't mean that developers can't be paid. Does he not realize that there is a commercially viable business model for open source and free software? Doesn't he know that open source doesn't mean free?
Darl, wake up: you are crusading against something that will only end up helping people!
I bet that the '12 million developers worldwide' would prefer to see SCO invest their litigation costs in actual software development.
That kind of money (multibillion dollar lawsuit ) could produce a valuable open source software package. heh. With the right business model, they might even be able to turn a profit without suing the pants off everyone they can point a stick at. more heh.
If "the new gold is IP," why is it costing SCO so much to have enforced? It's alchemy they are after, not mining. Unfortunately for them, lead doesn't become gold without great expense.
1. A method to be flamed.
2. A method to be dissected.
3. A method to be dismissed.
Groklaw must pay license fees!!!
Of course, greed is nothing new, but "IP" is just a way for companies to milk something that isn't really there. To be fair, I do believe there is some innovative effort that deserves protection, but the key word here is "innovative". Amazon's "one-click" patent, for example, is in NO WAY innovative. Most of the patent applications coming from the software industry aren't innovative, they're just attempts to steal empowerment from the public at large.
I was thinking about this the other day - software is the only industry I know where an individual or company has the right to own common methods. What if, for example, I went to the hardware store to buy some lumber, nails, and a hammer so that I could build something that would add value to my life? What if I also had to consult a patent attorney before doing so, fearing that the method I use to construct this item might be covered by someone's patent? The idea is ludicrous, but this is the very situation that we now face in the software industry. Every time a developer puts an idea into code, there is a very real possibility that a patent violation is in the works - not intentional, not maliscious, but by mere virtue of the fact that the developer has the ability to empower both him/herself and others by what they produce. Any alleged infractions exist only because someone also had the same idea, and was greedy enough to claim ownership.
Let's face it - this isn't about IP. It's about greed, lockout, and theft of empowerment.
that the company that brought the first successful UNIX port to the pc, the ATT B1 doesn't count, to have fallen so low. They should be supporting open source and competing with Red Hat and other commercial suppliers by adding value to the operating system rather than trying to get their revenue from the court. Maybe they've been turned to the dark side by Emperor Bill.
When the site launches, and some wag *looks in mirror* finds a reason to submit a story about it every day for the first few months, one of 2 things will happen.
/. for using M$ based stuff...
Their servers will keep running at a nice, cool, 40 degrees c, and we'll all find out that they're running THEIR operating system, yeah, the one which everyone else has and THEY want to keep for themselves, or something, because they claim that it's theirs, although everyone else has it.
Or they'll be running windows..
Nice choice, effectively hang a sign around their necks saying "we're hypocrites" or have their site go down and get ridiculed on
Oh the dilemma, my heart bleeds for them...
FGD 135
"...What are they smoking now?..."
It must be some strong stuff. Look what they said:
"...There are, however, no plans to allow readers to discuss the documents on the Web site. "If we opened it up to that, it would simply become another one of the message boards that our detractors use to try and overwhelm us," Stowell said...."
No public comments. So it will be a one-sided story. And it sounds like they are only going to post their court submissions too! SCO will go to its death bed thinking it has the high moral ground on this case.Come on - "prosco.net"? At least they're not doing something like "fairandbalancedonsco.net"...
It should be fun to see what positive spins they can put on their case, and I'm sure the fellow over at GrokLaw will have a ball with what they post!
Sure it's propoganda, but it's way to late to do them any good.
--LWM
Nevermind the legalese and who can "win" lawsuits...
I was reading a recent review of SCO's Unixware. The review seemed fair, objective and Unixware didn't come out too badly, BUT it was amply clear that the MAJOR reason that Unixware is still a product that one wouldn't be totally crazy to deploy, the MAJOR reason that Unixware could be viewed as even somewhat competitive is OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE, the OSS packages such as Samba, Apache, Open-SSH, etc that SCO "grabbed" from OSS to make Unixware a credible product.
So here we have SCO borrowing HEAVILY from OSS, not paying a dime for key, strategic software that form the basis for whether Unixware is even slightly competitive on the market, and yet SCO is crying that OSS is 1) bad for the industry, 2) is stealing their oldy-moldy SysV code. I just find that APPALLING. Those guys have no shame, really. They should be GIVING BACK to OSS something for all the software they have taken into their own products, rather than trying to claim IP rights to this SysV, invalid as their claims are. This "all TAKE, no GIVE" approach of theirs to the community is the ultimate in despicable behavior.
SCO could get in trouble with the SEC if they misrepresent their standing in court on their website.
Besides which, the judges are noticing SCO's public statements, and if SCO contracticts what they're telling the judge, or what the judge is telling them, they could annoy the judge.
Behind every corporate website is a SysAdmin.
I'd like to hear their story -- are they just doing it for the buck? Do they believe what their web site is promoting?
"The purpose of argument is to change the nature of truth." -- Bene Gesserit Precept
Whoa! I see my surname in ohyesyesgimmesco.cmo, heheh... "syes".
That's weird, because back in 1985, as a radioman with the sub-specialty of teletype repairmain, I was testing a teletype after after reassembling it. I had to also to a "Red" patch panel and the "Black" patch panel line tests.
As I yanked out and reinserted the short patch cord between the receive and the coupler, the RYSGRYSGRYSG (the "RYSG" test) from the signal generator spat out "SYES" midstream.
Shit! I was scared. I was wondering if this ship (the John A. Moore (FFG-19)) was haunted. It was eery. "SYES" was not part of the signal generator program, nor was anyone locally or remotely using any teletype terminals.
Anyway, that was a digressive-intro...
I thought I ALSO "prosco" was one letter off from sco's true calling: "Self-Protology." Maybe darl and company can open up their own "Church of Self-Proctology" and preach ALL the fake shit they want. Hell, they can even incorporate as a church (heheh, of the poisoned/mined (or, okay, "mind")) and get organized religion tax write-offs.
Alternatively, my mind thought, Pro TCO (Total Cost of Ownership)... reasons to avoid the sco (sinister, conniving, and orgasmic) licensing scheme co-opting (program)).
I guess sco gets the 'scoop'. Now, if only they use that scoop to dig around in their upper and lower colons and their 5 sphyncters and find out what DNA switching set them back, ummm aback.
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
That's not funny.
MSN can't post links to Groklaw. SCO's anti-Linux FUD that M$ bought is failing. M$ needs a way to spin these latest developments and send up more FUD signals.
First SCO puts up a site to blow smoke up our collective asses. We don't bite, but we're not the target audience.
Next M$ has MSN announce "news" stories along with links to case analysis on SCO new sites. Again, the few of us who actually visit MSN to see the FUD shake our heads and laugh at the unbelievable remarks. Unfortunately the ignorant masses buy into it and repeat it as truthful objective news.
M$ ends up with much more FUD bang for their buck while SCO prepares to spin their bankruptcy in a way that squarely places blame on FOSS. FOSS killed SCO, you're next!
Hey, maybe SCO can charge MSN freelance fees for doing stories for them! That'll help resupply SCO's dwindling war chest!
sorry for the bad links
One day
6 months
SCO must be the band of train robbers.
The speechwriter of Darl McBride has been sacked. Anyone offering further commentary on the person who sacked the person who was supposedly sacked, will be sacked. This thread will now continue in a completely different manner and at great expense.
Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress at this period in history.
What do you mean don't fall for it? They can fake a DDOS attack or a hacked site without anyone actually even trying. Heck, they probably have the "linux rulz, sco sucks!!" hacked page already done up and ready to post when they need a stock boost.
Finkployd
Perfect Tommy: Look at all these members... Reno: Look at these names! Darl Yaya, Darl Many-Darls,Darl Bigbute... it's a joke!
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." ~The Honorable Daniel Patrick Moynihan
hope they do something fun with it.
That's right, companies should protect their "IP". And how do we do that? Let's review:
I'll valiantly sacrifice myself at the feet of Godwin's Law:
Darl McBride is comparable to Hitler.
There, it had to be said. I know I lose the debate, but it was worth it.
"Destroy science and religion. Science would re-emerge exactly the same; but not religion." - Penn Jillette, paraphrased
How can it be "fair" if the website address already shows that its leaning to one side?
What a bunch of idiots.
This is going to bring in some real revenue for them. All they have to do is put some banner ads on the site, maybe some Google AdSense boxes... since everyone's going to be constantly visiting prosco.com to see what absurd things Darl is saying next, SCO can just sit back and let the ad revenue pour in!
It'll be more profitable than SCOsource ten minutes after the site launches!
Tired of FB/Google censorship? Visit UNCENSORED!
More importantly, is it really a good idea to post rants on a public Web site stating your position in a lawsuit that's still pending? Isn't that the very first thing pretty much any reputable attorney says to clients -- don't go running off your mouth about the case? "Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law" is what the cops tell you in criminal law ... this certainly will apply to SCO as well.
Breakfast served all day!
OK, so let's play along with Mr. McBride's crazy gold-rush metaphor for a minute...
In a gold rush, lots of get-rich-quick types run around trying to grab a nominally free resource (minerals lying on the ground) and peddle it as their property. Some of them are rather, shall we say, unscrupulous in their methods.
If we accurately apply this metaphor to the situation of IP, and more particularly to Open Source software and the IP rights thereto, the present SCO are a bunch of thieving claim-jumpers screaming "Mine! My Preciousss! Gollum!", and the Open Source community are out there giving the stuff away for free -- as long as you're willing to share it fairly.
"Counter-cultural," says Mr. McBride? Maybe so; I for one am totally counter to the culture he advocates. Let's counter that culture for all we're worth!
"My strength is as the strength of ten men, for I am wired to the eyeballs on espresso."
I see, so the idea is to employ a few SCO bods to put up a website describing every detail of the court case, transcribing all of the court documents and putting up articles describings SCO'S opinions and related news articles.
:-) ) but only now do they bother to even try and counteract it? I bet nothing that gets put onto their new toy will ever contain ever really important, most of it will probably be paid-for PR by either made-up persons like the MIT deep-divers or by known rubbish-talkers.
And you think that the little bit of money that you throw into that website is going to counter a huge base of dedicated people who work on the website on their own time, for fun, go to the courthouses of their own accord and get every little thing that's filed and publicly available as soon as it's released? That it'll make anybody think twice about whether they've misjudged SCO?
They seriously think that people don't already know what SCO think (we own the world, give us money, why not? Boo Hoo) and that anyone (except Groklaw and the terminally bored or mindless) will actually bother to rifle through their PR rubbish? This can only provide Groklaw with more ammunition to make the whole world laugh at SCO.
It's also far too late. They've been whinging about Groklaw's influence for months and always seem to manage to talk about it in derogatory terms (sponsored by IBM, you know
And what's worse is that the site ain't even up yet. By the time it does get up and get anything useful or vaguely interesting up, it'll all be over.
Do they intend to use this site like an anti-Groklaw, to take IBM's public statements and court transcripts and try to poke holes in them, to find inconsistencies, to watch the superb work of SCO's lawyers ripping the opposition to shreds? That'll be fun to read.
Do they intend to answer all those questions that everyone is just dying to know the answer to, like "Which lines of code?" or "Why can't you tell us which lines of code?" or "Why are you stalling so badly when you've publically claimed such good evidence that you haven't shown anyone yet?". That'll be fun to read.
It's just a ruse. They hope that some middle-manager somewhere, having heard about all of this legal thing that affects their software decisions, will see Groklaw as a collection of amateurs (which can obviously be safely ignored) but will see ProSCO as a glowing advert which closes their doubts because it's got pretty eye candy and some sort of statement which says they are in the right and it's got quotes from SCO's management on it. Maybe then a few of these managers will just ignore their doubts and go SCO.
Can't believe this will help their cause at all and can't wait to see the site when they actually get it working. IP may be gold but a good SCO quote can keep you laughing for the rest of your life.
"If the facts are on your side, pound the facts. If the law is on your side, pound the law. If neither the law nor the facts are with you, pound the table."
SCO has gone from pounding the table to claiming the table is biased against them.
If we are looking for a literary metaphor McBride is more akin to Snidely Whiplash.
Mcbride is the almost perfect villian and hollywood writers should take note - for inspiration if nothing else.
He is a consummate blend of hubris, arrogance, ignorance, knavishness casted into a tongue wagging, smirking package with just barely enough intelligence that you don't completely discount him.
Unfortunately, I don't really think this is true - it's just that in the computer industry we find out about computer-related patents more.
Lots of industries seem to have similarly absurd patents. Razor companies patent the design of the clip that holds the disposible blade to the handle, and then use the patents to prevent people making compatible disposible blades, for example.
The hot-air hand dryer in our bathroom proudly lists the patent numbers that protect its design of heating up air and blowing it out....
What they need is a message board where editors excercised the unlimited privilige to moderate. That way, everything could stay totally one-sided while maintaining the appearance of balance.
Wh47 d1d j00 541, 31337 15n't t3h r0xor5 ne m0r3???
What happened to: "I disagree with what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it!"
I think most people are educated/intelligent enough to recognize corporate astroturf for what it is when its as blatiant as a SCO owned and operated website. And if they aren't, that's where our speech comes in, to inform Joe Average and criticize our enemies; but not to silence anyone.
"Mission Accomplished" -- George W. Bush May 1, 2003
SCO doesn't get it. They just don't get it. People who are monitoring the SCO lawsuits follow Groklaw...but why? Because it's the only voice out there? No...they also go to the SCO website for press releases, and to all other interested/involved parties as well.
No, they go to Groklaw because the content is GOOD. While Groklaw may not even pretend to be impartial, what they DO succeed in doing is sticking to facts. They start with the extant nature of our law, and apply it to facts and statements that are put forth in public documents. This analysis is what the people go to Groklaw to read. And while the analysis tends to support Groklaw's supporters' views, I think that is actually a chicken-and-egg thing; if SCO wasn't wrong, the law wouldn't work against them, and Groklaw's volunteers wouldn't so dearly relish the thought of McBride being sodomized by a gorilla.
So SCO is coming up with a dog-and-pony show equivalent to their press releases? So what? It's just the same content that couldn't compete with Grokloaw in the first place, just fluffed out into more pages.
For your security, this post has been encrypted with ROT-13, twice.
Maybe we should approach the battle against software patents the other way around. Instead of looking for ways to protect against patents and/or get patents for OSS, why not play the game out to its ultimate consequences. Start up a website and start matching patents with software products: when a likely match is found, notify the patent holder, the software vendor and possibly the software users of this potential patent violation. For the large fish (IBM, Microsoft, etc.) focus on the patents of patent trolls: litigation companies existing merely of a patent portfolio. If lots of companies are targetted, this would create a lot of publicity and when there's a website to back up the claims, there's a lot of proof about the untenability of the situation. Furthermore: it only takes work, not deep pockets to do this.
If the situation is as bad as is claimed, this would mean that any software vendor and/or webshop is forced to concede the fact that they can be put out of business overnight due to patents. Once this awareness is there it would just be a matter of time before the case law is overturned. As an example see this site. Imagine it targetted at real software products and real webshops. Probably we can match a couple of hundred patents to any particular product/shop, showing the seriousness of the situation, while at the same time confronting the potential victims with it. I know, this is a real weird proposal, but the question is: would it do the trick?
Uh, what about: www.sco.com?
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
One-Click can only be defined as "innovative" if you accept the notion that taking a simple real-world noun and appending the phrase "on the internet" is a valid form of creative enterprise.
The essential concepts behind One-Click (pre-store the customer's credit information, allow them to purchase from you without hassle, then charge them later) have been in common usage worldwide for decades, if not millennia.
Persistent client interactivity, who would have thought that was possible with cookies? Apparently only the brilliant minds at Amazon (and the dim bulbs at the Patent Office).
Guess they don't expect to be using that domain name for very long ?
Voltaire died defending it.
Of course, it doesn't mean I'd agree with them. I still think SCO is full of shit and hope it gets what it deserves.
It is not our abilities that show what we truly are... it is our choices.
Here's the payout matrix:
McBride | Lawyers
--------+------------
STFU | Get paid
Talks | Get paid
---------------------
Where's the surprise?
Belief is the currency of delusion.
To get the truth about SCO vs IBM, we should go to prosco.net?.
Ok.
Belief is the currency of delusion.
Honestly, could these pack of has-been sink any lower, or get any more sleezy than this? Probably, but it's beyond me exactly how. Imagine it, a couple of PR people, writing about how SCO are maximising profits, enhancing shareholder value, and serving it up to the Linux community. It's pure deperation, and makes me depressed even thinking about it, it's so pathetic. Throw in a web designer, and a graphic artist, there they are sitting around the table wondering, how they're going to save their jobs, and continue their corporate bullshit and thievery. One look at their share price, and that's all the information you need on SCO.
Si tacuisses philosophus mansisses. If you had kept quiet, you would have remained a philosopher.
Costner movies? Hell, boy. This is Blazing Saddles!
The analogy sort of starts to break down here. For example, who's Bart and the Waco Kid (Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder)? Red Hat and IBM? What about Olsen Johnson, Rev. Johnson, and Gabby Johnson? Linus, Stallman, and ESR?
One thing's certain: that campfire scene with the cowboys eating beans and farting? Slashdot. For sure.
k.
"In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart." - Anne Frank
I'll bet it's more like no one in the press is going to print their BS anymore so they have to do it themselves. They might get one or two reporters to look at it, but that will stop when the reporters notice that there's no difference between the site and their nutty press releases. They won't stop reading Groklaw.
It's amazing, you tell lies and people quit listening to you.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
I'm an architect so I have some insight into this. Your example is much too simplistic.
Nailing four boards together into a square configuration is covered by patent law, not copyright law. All kinds of wall systems, paints and construction assemblies are patented all the time. Just about the only thing that isn't patented is a 2x4. Even some brick glazings and concrete admixtures are patented. Unless you are in manufactured housing however, it is almost impossible to patent an entire building, because every building is unique in some way and most of the techniques are based on principles which are hundreds of years old.
As far as copying someone else's blueprints, in architecture the owner is entitled to use the architects design as long as the owner pays the architect for his services, that doesn't mean he always has access to the drawings to copy them. In architecture, the design and the drawings are separate entities. The drawings are copyrighted and owned by the architect, the design is an interpretation of the drawings by the architect, the contractor carries out the means and methods by which the design is implemented, the owner 'owns' the product or building, provides the land and money for that building to built and tells the architect what the building is supposed to do and pays his fees.
When an architect gets fired, he is to be paid for the services he has rendered, and then a new designer picks up where he left off by redrawing everything for himself and carrying on from there, most architects however will loan their drawings to the new architect as a professional courtesy for them to redraw from, sometimes they are obligated to do this under their contract. All architects used to write in their contracts that you couldn't use their design if they were fired, but this was thrown out in court about 70 years ago, and marked the end of the old school profession.
Needless to say, architecture is a high stakes profession at times. Sometimes billions of dollars exchange hands in complicated deals that equal/exceed anything that typically happens in the software profession, involving an owner, architect, contractor, local government, state government, federal government, banks, lenders, shareholders, consultants, tenants, utility companies, suppliers and manufacturers and so on and so forth. All of this must be accomplished with very low failure tolerance, any one of these issues can stop a project dead in its tracks. Take the New World Trade Center project for example, it must be a nighmare to organize that based on the infrastructure alone. The only reason this comes together at all is because everyone has an implicit and explicit understanding what they are supposed to do and they get paid. I think the main problem with software is that there isn't a long tradition of making software. People don't know what is practical or traditional, so they think up and imagine all kinds of ways to give themselves leverage in confusing ways. This creates a minefield of problems specifically intended to bring ruin to another party and make vast amounts of money for very little work. I would wager there are more lawsuits in the building industry, but the overall risk level is lower because those risks are insured for one, and two, people know what to expect and performance and benefit can easily be measured (did that wall fall down, does that roof leak, is there mold in the ductwork, was I paid what I was worth, etc.) and we have 10,000 years of building experience to rely on. Software has about 50 years of relevant history.
In software, who owns what isn't easily established, it isn't a standard practice, no one knows what anything means or what it is truly worth. What is a graphical tree interface worth, I have no idea? Is it worth $1 billion or $1.99, who knows? Compare that to architecture, where even if there is no contract signed, typical business practices are so strong that a contract is always implied and everyone is always held to known standards.
SCO has hired Muhammed Saeed al-Sahaf, the former Iraqi Information Minister, as their new public relations officer. He reports that the infidel operating system Linux is being crushed and destroyed by the mighty SCO Army at this very moment.
Nah. He'd just claim that SCO holds the patent for
"...Posting a link to a site with heavy traffic from technologically-savvy open source enthusiasts who disagree with companies such as SCO, and then directing said users to visit said site."
Then he would claim that it's called SCOdotting.
apparently only SCO will be allowed to author content on proSCO.net. There will be no feedback areas, no forums, no bulletin boards, no threaded discussions, no nothing.
Yep, that's really going to compete with groklaw.net, which is a true community effort.
Every fiendish trick he tries blows up in his face and/or leaves him momentarily levitating over thousands of feet of empty air (followed by an amazing impact at speeds faster than that of sound in the rock he hit).
Wile E is particularly apt because he leaves everyone guessing about who is funding his unending stream of Acme contraptions, and because the bird is always too fast for him.
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
Comment removed based on user account deletion
IANAL, but Voltaire always had a loophole with that one. He never actually specified whose death he was referring to.
"I disagree with what you say, but will defend to Darl McBride's death your right to say it."
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