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New Caldera Promised
An anonymous reader writes "SCO has announced their plans to release a new version of Caldera Linux by the end of the year. From the announcement: 'To provide extensive reliability and performance features, the Linux Kernel 2.5 codebase has been merged with recently developed additions to SCO's world leading UNIX core operating system. Already contained code owned by SCO is still included benefiting the stability and overall experience opposed to recent Linux kernel releases.' The question is, is anyone listening?"
OTOH, why would SCO even do this? Any belief that it will give them some cash flow or some other position that benefits them is irrational.
This must be the hallucination that precedes death.
- G
Start a happiness pandemic
The current linux kernel is version 2.6.x. IIRC, the 2.5 branch was a development branch. Why would anybody want to use a linux distro based on an old developers version of the kernel?
Is this what they mean by "Linux for Dummies"?
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
It states in the press release that they are anticipating winning their lawsuits so they are releasing this version of Linux because as soon as they win they will be the only legal provider of Linux solutions.
Obviously as others have already stated, if they are using linux 2.5 codebase, don't they have to GPL everything they added? If not, can't Linus et al sue the pants off of them?
Talk about backfiring, here's a scenario for you.. MS gives SCO a chunk of cash to go fight linux, SCO illegally uses Linux code, Linus Torvalds sues them and gets all of MSs money to further linux development...
caldera
n : a large crater caused by the violent explosion of a volcano that collapses into a depression
It somehow just seems so fitting...
Well, I'm not impressed by openlinux.com's parody skills. Using the SCO logo as well as statements that look like standard SEC disclaimers aren't a good idea. How different is this from someone trying to fake news in order to manipulate a stock price? The average user will not realize this is fake.
Two things can happen with this. One, the release the new version of Caldera like a normal Linux distro, in which case SCO has actively released all the "infringing" code under GPL. The second thing that could happen is that they don't release it like a normal distro and put out a binary only version. This of course will lead to the EFF suing them into Oblivion (bada-ching) because of the copyright violations as listed under the GPL.
I guess there is a third possibility: they release Calder and the source, and continue to be asshats and try to sue everyone who uses Linux. Saddly, the third option is looking more and more likely.
Space for rent, inquire within
In some alternate universe where SCO had a case, they perhaps might wind up with copyright ownership of some small part of the linux kernel. But that wouldn't mean they own linux. SCO would own part of the Linux kernel, and all the other parts of the Linux kernel would be owned by a wide variety of other persons who wrote those parts of the kernel. SCO could wind up with ownership of part of the kernel, and say "all you other people, you don't have the right to distribute what we own". But then this raises the question of why SCO has the right to distribute Linux-- they don't, except under the terms of the GPL. And the GPL says that if you can't allow free relicensing and free use of a piece of GPLed software, you aren't allowed to distribtue it at all.
In other words if SCO had valid claims to copyright over part of the Linux kernel, and denied anyone the right to distribute that part of the Linux kernel except under propreitary terms, it would be illegal for ANYONE, INCLUDING SCO, to distribute Linux. But if SCO distributed even one copy of Linux anyway, then they'd lose the ability to deny anyone the rights to distribute Linux, because the GPL says that anyone SCO distributes to automatically has the right to redistribute the copy of Linux they got from SCO...
I wonder if SCO, when they distribute these new copies of Linux, is including and adhering to the requirements of the GPL. If not they're opening a floodgate of lawsuits from all the people who own copyrights to parts of Linux and have only granted ability to use them under the GPL. Either way just this press release might open up for some nasty slander of title lawsuits or at least extensions of the Lanham Act cases already filed against them by Redhat etc...
This is interesting, SCO has made a major misstep here. The only way they can keep this latest action from destroying them is if they know that they'll be bankrupt by the time anyone has the time to respond to it...
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
Caldera nameservers and everything. So this is not a parody site. If this press release isn't real, it's only because SCO got hacked. Which is, y'know, a possibility. Weirdly enough, if you go to the IP address that openlinux.org currently points to (thus stripping away the openlinux.org site's virtual server), you get.. a page saying nothing but "FSI INF". "FSI INF"? WTF?
Meanwhile it is awfully suspicious that caldera.com says nothing about this that I can see. Is there any evidence this "press release" has been... you know... released to the press? Or is it just a page on a website?
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
(emphasis added)
...would anyone still give a shit?
SCO could create the Perfect Operating System. It could be blessed by God, Linus Torvalds, Steve Wozniak, Steve Jobs, and Bill Gates at a joint press conference. And I still wouldn't use it just because it was SCO that released it. They've shown us that just because they support it today doesn't mean they won't file a lawsuit against anyone using it tomorrow. Any business that trusts SCO is obviously being run by idiots.
I want a new quote. One that won't spill. One that don't cost too much. Or come in a pill.
I think it's also likely the GP was confusing the EFF with FSF..
my password really is 'stinkypants'
Well, one description is here
A caldera is formed when a company ejects a large volume of magma, fire and crap, creating a huge void within itself. Consequently, it collapses under its own weight.
Oh, did I say company? I meant volcano.
> they want to get sued for violating the GPL.
0 43539340
They already are; it's one of IBM's counterclaims in SCO v IBM.
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20040331
The sixth counterclaim, to be precise. (Just search for "SIXTH".)
But of course, in a case like this (as opposed to the IBM case), you don't normally sue for "GPL violations"; you sue for simple copyright violation, and leave it up to the defense to raise the issue of the GPL if they think it will help (which it won't if they haven't followed its terms). Note that IBM also includes copyright violations for their code in Linux in their eighth counterclaim (which is going to be the basis of a motion for summary judgement as soon as expert testimony is complete).
If they want to get the GPL ruled unenforceable, they're going to need to find a better trick than distibuting someone else's code without that someone else's permission. 'Cause that's illegal whether or not the GPL is involved.
Try entering an invalid page for openlinux.org (e.g. this) Note that repeated requests result in different responses.
For example:
- Remove the &id=24097 from the Querystring. The page still loads this press release. Releasedetail.cfm is nothing but a static page
- Now mess w/ the URL to generate a 404. You'll get this error:
> 404
> [...]
> because Bill Gates is a Jehovah's witness and so nothing can work on St. Swithin's day.
Not to mention the whole front page is reduced to linking to this single press release? The site has no navigation.
Just try any one of these out:
5 634632 561
http://www.openlinux.org/releasedetail.cfm?id=
http://www.openlinux.org/releasedetail.cfm?id=543
http://www.openlinux.org/releasedetail.cfm?id=235
You can put in whatever value you want for the releasedetail.cfm id field, but either way it shows the same thing. I don't think any real company would have a Web site which worked like that – if it were real there would be some sort of error message or another press release.
And as I said earlier, I don't think it's that hard to set up an Apache virtual server and provide false information when registering a domain... depending on the registrar it may be quite a while before they realize that the domain doesn't belong to who it says it belongs to.
Besides, notice that there are (1) a lot of typos, and (2) no references on the main SCO site...
Creative misinterpretation is your friend.
$699 seems a bit expensive for linux.
$cat
Seriously Slashdot editors, pull this story and make yourselves look less retarded.
1) SCO distributes ALL of their press releases through PR Newswire, not through some random website
2) the openlinux.org site hasn't been changed in years before this change, and has obviously been hacked, or a student at the hosting university in Germany is playing a nice prank
3) This press release is not available on SCO.com
4) The grammar in this press release is atrocious, which is highly unusual, even for SCO. Probably written by a non-native english speaker, which makes sense since this abandoned web server is hosted at a German university.
Seriously....just pull the freakin article....
Morons.
Well, when I visit the site, it freely admits it's a hoax:
"Recently, on this site a fake anouncement of Caldera Open Linux X was found.
We thought it was obvious enough that it was fake. We had to learn it was not for all people reading it. So we took it down now. Apparently, also the DNS records are changed/deleted, so soon enough you won't get to this site using openlinux.org anyways.
We thought, it would not spread from Slashdot before we stop it (ie, this weekend). It was funny to follow people speculating and finding out about this site. Some people pointed out good reasons why this is hoax/parody, some bad or wrong reasons. Overall, we hope most people concluded it indeed was a parody.
Our submit to Slashdot concluded with "Is this real?" - sadly enough, Slashdot's editor wrote up a new text without any hints about this. We can't blame him, he maby was just in a hurry..
Nothing got hacked, it's just we got a previously used IP for this machine, so why not having some fun content on it? We apologize for any inconviences arised though! We didn't suspect it would be taken so serious. Some hints in the text proving this weren't read (talking about XML on a Server OS?), others were found but still taken serious. Please stop spreading this fake news, and if you know some sites who published it, please inform them to update their content. Thanks."
So, basically, Scuttlemonkey fucked up.
It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.