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

I can think of better things

[jasper-la]

Well I can think of better things happend to Linux! Big companies choosing Linux' side for example. Or the GPL with version 0.12!

Re:I can think of better things

[falconed]

Sure there could be better things. But there's no such thing as bad publicity, and the more publicity Linux gets, the better.

The SCO case put Linux on the front page. Maybe it wasn't under the best circumstances, but I'll bet it got a lot of people saying "Linux? What's that?" and actually getting an answer.

Re:I can think of better things

[GodLived]

... or IBM offering Linux on its high-end servers, or the SE Linux initiative.

Re:I can think of better things

[DA-MAN]

Sure there could be better things. But there's no such thing as bad publicity, and the more publicity Linux gets, the better.

I agree there are examples of when bad publicity is a good thing. For example Paris Hilton's sidekick get's hacked, and suddenly there is a huge spike of sidekicks.

However I'd hate to be Check Point right now, everyone (incl. Slashdot, FoxNews, CNN) keeps saying Check Point lost thousands of peoples data when in fact that was Choice Point. For a security company losing thousands of peoples data is a bad thing . . .

It just proves the old adage

[winkydink]

There's no such thing as bad publicity.

Re:It just proves the old adage

[Anonymous Coward]

How about
"That which does not kill me makes me stronger".

False

[Coneasfast]

If anything it accelerated the use of Linux, so it is one of the best things that ever happened to the operating system.

Uh, no, the SCO thing had no effect on this, it would have happened either way.

If anything, the only good thing about this whole SCO fiasco is we had someone to laugh at during a rainy day.

Re:False

[Ohreally_factor]

Well, it also made some management types hesitate, until they were able to see which way the wind was blowing. So I think that counterbalances whatever publicity (more or less).

And as things unfolded, we learned that SCO didn't have anything substantial as far as linux goes, and probably contractually to IBM, either.

Really, it was a sideshow, a distraction. Perhaps it gave us a feeling of solidarity, being under attack and all that. And we do have SCO to thank for motivating PJ to start Groklaw. In fact, I think that's the most substantial benefit we've seen from the SCO case. Groklaw and it's paradigm of Open Source Investigative Journalism. (Note: I have been critical of PJ in the past, but mostly because of her very extreme partisanship. The time she compared Linus to a baby seal was too much.)

Not terribly suprising.

[PopeAlien]

Sco news is good news.

theres no such thing as bad publicity.

"There was a lot of due diligence around the world with people looking at the code and looking at software stacks, and all this work validated that there was nothing there, no risk, no issue," said Cohen. "The SCO court case ended up on every Web site, in every newspaper and every magazine. Everybody had to do due diligence -- you could not be a CTO or CIO and not do due diligence in 2003/2004 when SCO was suing end users," he added.

this just goes to show the strength of community involvment.. A system where the teamining bearded hordes CAN check every line of code and confirm each others findings.

Anti-lawsuit FUD

[crow]

This sounds like anti-lawsuit FUD. The message to Microsoft and friends is that they helped Linux by supporting the lawsuit. If they buy the message, then they won't continue to support SCO or others who might file similar suits.

Granted, in this case, the message may well be true, but I haven't yet RTFA.

I agree completely

[Weaselmancer]

The public flogging SCO received at the hands of their entire customer base serves as a stern warning to anyone who would try to lay any similar hijinks in the future.

"Hey Dan, this lawsuit sounds like a bad idea. Remember what happened to SCO?"

It's been wonderful good publicity, too. Nothing like showing the whole world who your allies are. The list of companies willing to back Linux (such as IBM) is impressive. Now, and thanks entirely to the lawsuit - people know that IBM backs Linux.

If Linux ever seemed fly-by-night, it sure as hell doesn't now.

Not according to CIO's

[MLopat]

While he may make optomistic comments about the lawsuit filed by SCO, from speaking with hundreds of technical decision makers, including CIO's, the lawsuits have actually been a stumbling block in using a fullblown linux back end for alot of companies. As a CIO, you're concerned about the longterm value of your solution. And if you're the one that's penned your signature to a $5million system that is using software that may not be supported (or worse) then you can pretty much kiss your ass goodbye. Long gone are the days where "nobody got fired for buying IBM"

You can argue that there is no "safe bet" right now on platform decisions, but with all the positive marketing Microsoft has put forward in recent years, and all the negative publicity that Linux is receiveing as a direct result of this lawsuit, its just one more incentive to check out other avenues, and may ultimately be the deciding factor when a company decides NOT to implement a Linux solution as has been the case with many now Microsoft clients.

So you guys will probably mod this down to a sub terrarian level.

Re:Not according to CIO's

[ajs]

"While he may make optomistic comments about the lawsuit filed by SCO, from speaking with hundreds of technical decision makers, including CIO's, the lawsuits have actually been a stumbling block in using a fullblown linux back end for alot of companies."

I think you're looking at this upside down. How many of those people who are using this as an excuse didn't need this event to make an execuse? Would the fact that Red Hat is a new company or IBM might go back to the Windows camp or something else have been the issue otherwise? I suspect so.

There are many people I deal with who look at the giant farms of Linux servers that I interact with and say, "hey, that's scary stuff!" Invariably, they are the dinosaurs who are busy being rendered obsolete. IBM mainframes were scary stuff at one point too, and no one could understand why you would want to stake your business on a MACHINE that could make MISTAKES... until a few dozen companies made it clear that NOT going that way was a ticket to extinction.

Windows desktops were the same way.

Unix servers: same story.

Web-based business transactions: same thing.

Every new technology requires a period of early-adoptors, and we're exiting (or just starting to exit) that phase with Linux. That's a scary time. These guys see the writing on the wall, and they're trying to make any rationalization they can to avoid the descision that they know they have to make. Tough nuts, industry doesn't care about their rationalization, only results.

As much as it pains me to admit it,

[idontgno]

the SCO fiasco has had positive effects.

• Gave the community a good scare, shaking off some of the complancency and reminding us that if software is a business, and you're competing in it, it's a nasty business and a bruising game.
• Made everyone re-examine the code itself, just to be sure we're clean. SCO's charges seem ridiculous, but it never hurts to audit just to be sure.
• Exposed one of the more virulent and extreme anti-OS points of view to objective examination. This examination finds that set of opinions greivously deficient.
• Firmed up the nebulous "open-versus-closed software" battlefield. Now it's harder to avoid taking a side, and those who do (Sun, for instance) have to engage in marketing and PR contortionism to do so, looking visibly quite silly in the process.
• And of course, comic relief.

It was bad publicity

[bonch]

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

With the issues the 2.6 kernel had this year and last, the SCO negativity was the last thing Linux needed. I think this article is one of those positive rallying cries to make people feel better, but SCO was a very bad thing for Linux. It's no longer seen as the invincible little free operating system. Its heritage was brought into question, the issue of code attribution is now on people's minds now and in the future on OSS projects, and it has the PR taint of corporations and intellectual properties in its history.

Re:It was bad publicity

[Weaselmancer]

Respectfully, I also disagree.

It's no longer seen as the invincible little free operating system.

According to the dictionary, one definition of invincible is "Incapable of being overcome or defeated; unconquerable." And up until now it's only been something that fans of Linux have claimed. Now it's something that has been shown to be true. Linux now has a legal track record. It's not hearsay anymore.

Its heritage was brought into question

Yes it was. And that solves another thing that Linux fans have always claimed - and has now been found to be true in a court of law. And also by example - SCO drained itself trying to prove the opposite, drained its investors and came up with absolutely, positively nothing. Again, now it's no longer a claim, it has a track record.

And it's a track record and only a track record that can make something seem stable. Now, thanks to SCO, Linux has one.

That $50mil that Microsoft funneled into Baystar was the best advertising that Linux could have ever hoped for. Even better than the IBM Linux commercials.

Re:It was bad publicity

[MrHanky]

Oh yes, it was bad publicity, but Linux managed fine. The lawsuit was, in the end, obviously frivolous, and proved only that there's actual money behind Linux. And money is the only thing that makes Windows a "safe" bet. Microsoft has lost many lawsuits, and will continue to do so as long as the US patent system is in its current state. Windows is also a security nightmare. Windows safe? No. But it's not going away soon.

(and re: your sig -- why not use a dictionary:
R'egime \R['e]`gime"\ (r?`zh?m"), n. [F. See {Regimen}.]
1. Mode or system of rule or management; character of government, or of the prevailing social system.)

Clueless

[mcrbids]

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"

Gee. Wouldn't "the best thing that ever happened" be, eh, it getting developed in the first place???

(sits and thinks...)

Re:Linux passed the test?

[skiman1979]

well either way, I agree with point 2. It seems Linux has withstood a "well funded/backed instance of that strategy, and people didn't stop moving to Linux..." Linux is still alive and well, even in the heat of all the lawsuits. If point 1 actually is true, and there do happen to be more lawsuits by big companies against Linux, I feel Linux has a fighting chance against them as well. In the end, Linux is not a company or entity that you can sue. Sure, Company A can attempt to sue IBM or any other company into the ground, but there will still be individual users that use the operating system.

Isn't this premature ?

[DrStrangeLug]

There hasn't been a verdict in the case yet, and we all know the judges in the US (or anywhere for that matter) don't always judge logically. Althought it looks promising, lets wait until the end before we pop the corks on the bubbly.

Re:What about your own obituary?

[winkydink]

It results in a better-attended wake/funeral.

Better analogy...

[gosand]

Yeah, it reminds me of the time someone beat me up and stole my bike when I was in grade 4. Best thing that ever happened to me!

Actually, it would be more accurate if: A bully with no friends accosted you and said you stole his bike, but all your friends, even some people you didn't know, gathered around and told the bully to get lost. He kept getting more and more belligerent, said he was going to get his big brother, but everyone started laughing at him. Even an ex-bully was on your side and gave the bully a bloody nose. He finally ran away crying, and went back to the creepy guy in the park, who had given him a bag of candy to stir up trouble because all the guy had was a homemade bike that wasn't very nice because he put it together from old parts of other bikes that he found or stole. The guy in the park didn't have any friends either because he had been a complete jerk to everyone his entire life. The creep really didn't want your bike, he just didn't want anyone else to have a nice bike. But the creep survived because he had lots of money from killing puppies and selling their souls to the devil. And he had a bad haircut. The end.

Lighter Side

[Deliveranc3]

Linux coders work independantly, a lot of them don't care about software patents.
Why? Because they have no incentive to, the truth is in software there is often a "best way"tm to do something and if it gets patented they'll probably trample on it.

SCO sent out a precedent, a company with massive software patents, access to the full source code, and a history as one of the founding forces behind Linux and it couldn't win!

Further Linux stood up to millions upon millions in legal fees thanks to the EFF and others.

Future cases will have to be very convincing to even GO INTO court, no scare tactics will cause companies to shell out for linux licences, and the absurdity of trying to sue software created for society was repudiated and ridiculed.

Re:GPL is next

[Dan Ost]

It's my understanding that the GPL hasn't had its day in court because it's
case is so strong that nobody is willing to go up against it.

If you are aware of unclear issues in the GPL as it currently reads, please
list them. If you're right, then you're right. If you're wrong, someone
knowledgable might demonstrate to you what is wrong and all who read will
benefit.