OSDL Says SCO Suit Was Good for Linux

sebFlyte notes a zdnet story thats says "Speaking at Queen Mary, University of London, on Monday night, Open Source Developer Labs chief executive Stuart Cohen said the lawsuits [SCO suing everyone in sight over supposed issues with Linux] were "the best thing that ever happened to Linux"'

Comments

Re:At Queen Mary

[Mindwarp]

...or of course when he's talking about The College Formerly Known (tm) as Queen Mary College, then Queen Mary and Westfield College, and now just Queen Mary.

Queen Mary

Yeah, I know. I preferred it when it was called Queen Mary College too.

Re:It just proves the old adage

[Michael O-P]

Wally disputes many old adages today:

http://www.comics.com/comics/dilbert/index.html

Re:it was even better for the bsd's

[yamla]

That's very strange as SCO has repeatedly claimed that the BSDs infringed on their intellectual property as well. So why would you ditch Linux and go with BSD if you were concerned about SCO?

But heck, SCO also claimed that Microsoft Windows infringed as well and threatened to go after Microsoft's customers (this was after Microsoft invested in them), so you really couldn't be safe no matter what you did.

He has a point. It did help.

[Animats]

Somebody challenged Linux. Spent lots of money, got expensive lawyers, issued public statements, and went to court. And they got rolled over. From a business perspective, that means Linux isn't going to fold up at the first challenge.

Look where SCOXE is today. Nobody is trading the stock. Volume is down 90% since the NASDAQ listed them as out of compliance with SEC regs. They may be kicked down to the Pink Sheets next week, but they're already trading like a Pink Sheet stock.

Everybody laughs at SCO now. Business Week, Fortune, and Forbes are all very negative on SCO.

Darl was interviewed by Business Week a few days ago. Some great momments:

• Q: Ralph Yarro was terminated in December as CEO of Canopy Group, SCO's longtime financial backer, for allegedly overpaying himself. Is Ralph Yarro still on SCO's board?

  A: Yes.

  Q: Do you want him to stay on the board?

  A: Ralph has been a great board member. He's been very supportive and valuable in terms of the input he has provided.

  Q: What has he helped you do?

  A: Ralph has a great entrepreneurial mind. He's been good on intellectual property and legal battles. I wouldn't call him the architect of our legal strategy, but he clearly has added value. How that's all going to play out, I don't know.

  Q: Are you concerned about his ability to serve?

  A: We had a board meeting last week. The company needs to get some clarity about the situation. It's important to figure out who represents the Canopy shares. As long as the cloud is there regarding the Canopy situation we want to remove the cloud.

  Q: Will he stay on the board?

  A: No one on the SCO board has asked him to step down. He will continue to serve.

Canopy owns part of SCO. Yarrow used to represent Canopy on the SCO board, but he doesn't, any more. Canopy fired Yarrow. Yarrow and Canopy are sueing each other. This is clearly a dysfunctional organization, not a serious threat. They've been referred to in the press as "the gang that couldn't sue straight".

Re:It was bad publicity

[falconed]

It makes Linux seem like this chaotic thing with lawsuits that you might get embroiled in. Windows would be the "safer" choice.

You're right. Microsoft has never been named in a lawsuit and is clearly the safer choice in that respect.

Re:It was bad publicity

[deepestblue]

Stop saying "Bush regime." You've never experienced life in a REAL regime or seen what a real regime does.

regime:

1a. A form of government.
1b. A government in power; administration.

Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.

Yeah, I guess it was

[Ridgelift]

FTA: "And look at what happened with the market share; people did not say let's wait until this thing is over. If anything it accelerated the use of Linux, so it is one of the best things that ever happened to the operating system."

Although this whole ordeal probably hasn't changed the faith and minds of the technical community, it most certainly has garnered the attention and confidence of the general public, most of whom really don't care all that much about Linux (no, I'm not blaspheming...I'd say most people are as excited about Linux as they are about their toaster or refridgerator).

When it comes time for Joe Consumer to buy a new server, they will probably find Linux a lot more palatable than before the SCO lawsuit. And as Microsoft continues their assault on Linux, those same people will probably be able to see through their ridiculous FUD.

I also think that politicians and lawyers may see more clearly the value and strength of the Open Source community. Maybe they'll head off the SIG's that will try to thwart Linux in the legal arena.

Linux went through the fire and came through unscathed. Thanks Darl McBride for helping strengthen Linux.

Re:Lighter Side

[Zelatrix]

SCO hold no patents. I assume you're referring to the Unix source code - yes, they do have access to that but so do IBM. IBM will have known the meritless nature of this lawsuit since it was filed - they must have researched the provenance of the Linux codebase themselves before deciding to make it a cornerstone of their business. Caldera used to have a reasonably nice Linux distribution, but I don't think you can fairly describe them as one of the founding forces behind Linux.

I agree that it will be very difficult to use scare tactics to cause companies to shell out for Linux licences in future though.

Speaking of underdogs.

[kinema]

If you're in need of a serious underdog take a look at Hurd.