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 relate...

[Andrewkov]

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!

Everybody likes a good underdog

[J Barnes]

I've got to say that as a dumb windoze user, I paid a lot more attention to the developments in the linux community once I learned of the SCO lawsuits. I'm still sitting in a windows environment, but after being enthralled with the underdog publicity generated by the legal manuverings, I'm taking alternate operating systems a lot more seriously.

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.

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.

Linux license refund from SCO?

[3770]

Some companies bought the $699 linux license that SCO was selling.

If (or when) SCO loses this lawsuit I would argue that they didn't have the right to sell those licenses. They were selling something they didn't own.

Will the companies that bought those licenses be refunded (yeah, sure)? But could they sue SCO to get that money back? And can they win?

Did SCO protect themselves somehow in the license agreements they sold for this very scenario. They could have done that by not really selling them licenses to use Linux, but to use Caldera Linux and telling the customers that this will give them the rights to use whatever other version of Linux that they are using too.

I don't know how many that bought those licenses but I've heard some rather large numbers. We could easily be talking about _real_ money here.

Could SCO could risk a fast and swift death if they lose their lawsauit against IBM et al?

Re:It just proves the old adage

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes! What a great team! Linux is free and open to EVERYBODY... Just like Paris!!

Re:It just proves the old adage

[Michael O-P]

Wally disputes many old adages today:

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

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.