Linux Kernel Code May Have Been in SCO UnixWare

Random BedHead Ed writes "Groklaw has some interesting new information online. In an entry today, PJ has posted the Deposition of Erik W. Hughes (PDF), a SCO employee. Hughes' 2004 testimony reveals that the Linux Kernel Personality (LKP) of UnixWare somehow used kernel code. Exactly how it was used is not clear. UnixWare was released under a proprietary license, but the General Public License under which Linux is distributed requires derivative works to use the same license. As PJ says, it's "now apparent why SCO tried to say the GPL is unconstitutional" back in 2003."

Comments

How Dare They Call Them Legal "Briefs"?

[Doc Ruby]

Why the hell should it take years to find out a fundamental fact like this? How can the judge in the case take their career in "justice" seriously, knowing that it's taken so many years just to screw around with bullshit from SCO, endless countersuits, and getting nowhere?

Cases like this should be open/shut. If SCO put Linux GPL code in their proprietary product, violating the GPL, the evidence can be found in 30 seconds with grep for christ's sake. Why should some $1000:hour lawyers spend a century arguing about some suit's deposition? If geeks ran our coding like these lawyers run their litigation, if compilers were as slow and stupid as these judges, we'd all be making $2M a year, though we'd have to wear powdered wigs and black dresses to work. What an incredible scam.