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SCO Relies On IBM-donated Servers With Groklaw

Technician writes "It appears that SCO and Groklaw have the exact same tie to IBM: the ibiblio service. 'An eagle-eyed Groklaw ninja, sk43, has spotted an ftp site where you can get binary copies of Linux libraries needed by SCO's OpenServer and UnixWare customers who use lxrun. But you can't get the source code from that sco.com ftp site. SCO directs their customers to .... sunsite.unc.edu. Why bless my stars, sunsite.unc.edu is the old name for what is now ibiblio!'"

28 of 100 comments (clear)

  1. I'd say SCO's hoist on their own petard.. by SirFozzie · · Score: 3, Funny

    ... but I'm afraid that hook is buried where the sun don't shine.

    --
    People Talking in Movie shows.. people smoking in bed.. people voting republican.. GIVE THEM A BOOT TO THE HEAD!
    1. Re:I'd say SCO's hoist on their own petard.. by sentientbeing · · Score: 3, Funny

      Mixing metaphors reaps you the most bang for your buck. You dont want to rock the waters.

      --

      ------
      beware he who would deny you access to information, for in his mind he dreams himself your master
  2. Love Triangle by kihjin · · Score: 4, Funny

    Anyone else getting that old-junior-high-school drama vibe?


    Did you hear about Becky? She's been with Dave.
    Dave! But Dave's been seeing Sarah.
    Dude that's my sister.
    Well she's hot.
    Shut up.


    Cue the collective sigh from the rest of /.

    --
    This slashdot-related signature is a stub. You can help kihjin by expanding it.
  3. a-HA by SeaFox · · Score: 3, Funny

    This can only mean one thing...

    SCO is a front for IBM!

    No, wait...

  4. Re:Stupidest SCO article ever. by SashaMan · · Score: 5, Informative

    Did you even read the entire Groklaw article? The whole reason this was posted is in response to this totally asinine Information Week Article headline:

    IBM Helps Fund Web Hosting For Anti-SCO Site Groklaw

    (See http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jh tml?articleID=198100504)

    Basically, Information Week and some asshat reporter named Paul McDougall tried to smear Pamela Jones by suggesting IBM was behind Groklaw because Groklaw is hosted on ibiblio. Well, so is a shitload of other stuff, including support files for SCO OpenWare.

  5. A very good illustration of SCOX folly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Read the SCOG complaint ...

    http://www.groklaw.net/pdf/IBM-1018.pdf

    In that motions, SCOG make the claim ... "In fact, most of the servers on which Groklaw.net and other ibiblio publications run are hosted on IBM-donated servers. IBM's support of ibiblio is, according to the project's director, continuing in nature."

    OK, so groklaw simply points out that SCOG material is found amongst the "other ibiblio publications", and the entire SCOG motion is easily exposed as the utter nonsense it truly is.

  6. Let me be the first to say... by FiniteElementalist · · Score: 2, Funny

    Huh?

  7. Re:Stupidest SCO article ever. by Mistlefoot · · Score: 5, Informative

    http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=200704032 33141649

    Exhibit 15 and 16 as offered by SCO are about Ibiblio supporting Groklaw. This isn't just about an Information week article - this is evidence SCO is offering to the court.

    Sco is using this as evidence IN COURT that IBM is supporting Groklaw. Now we see that SCO is supported by Ibiblio (and therefore IBM, by SCO logic). This nullifies pretty much any benefit these exhibits would be for SCO.

  8. SCO will now sue themselves by MSRedfox · · Score: 3, Funny

    SCO will add themselves to the list of people being sued. They will then quickly settle with themselves thus proving that being hoisted on ibiblio is admission of guilt. It's the ultimate Catch-SCO-22.

  9. It's mostly about media corruption and Forbes etc. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    There have been many strange articles in the media, for example in this forbes article they report that IBM may have destroyed evidence. However that evidence was what SCO used as a basis for starting the case, and so SCO "must" have had it to begin with. Forbes and other similar media outlets report large amounts of SCO material without comment.

    The question has been raised: where are they getting this material and why are the reporting it as it is. The primary place where that's been raised has been Groklaw and the accusation has been that parts of the media are actively backing SCO even against all possible evidence. Now SCO and those parts of the media have started an intimidation campaign against Groklaw both in court and in the media, along side attempts to by SCO's media friends to invade her privacy. This recent posting is showing the hypocrisy which is behind this campaign and it's media backers who use as accusations in court filings things that they themselves also do.

  10. Re:Stupidest SCO article ever. by Pokerstars+com · · Score: 2, Informative

    I've read some other stuff by Paul McDougall. Total waste of text if you ask me....

  11. IBM - SCO case a mere drama? by jkrise · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Let's remember that IBM is still the biggest 'Unix' vendor - AIX. IBM's association with Linux may be purely incidental. They still maintain BOTH branches - Linux and AIX in their offerings. The case with SCO could've been closed months ago... wonder whether IBM's taking the matter REALLY seriously.

    How will this drama unfold? Given the parallel SCO - Novell case that'd be heard first, I guess it could appear Novell, not SCO holds copyrights... and SCO vs IBM gets dissolved.

    Given the negative publicity surrounding the MS-Novell deal, it's going to look foolish if Novell suddenly sues IBM and shuts down other distros except SuSE.

    Anyways, it now appears SCO is just a front for IBM.. or the other way round!

    --
    If you keep throwing chairs, one day you'll break windows....
    1. Re:IBM - SCO case a mere drama? by sumdumass · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I agree. Settling this once and for all will give IBM so much more leverage then anything. It also clears a shadow over their product and it set the bar appropriately high to discourage someone else decides form making similar claims. I doubt IBM really cares about SCO as much as they do running their product line and making money from it.

    2. Re:IBM - SCO case a mere drama? by Quila · · Score: 2, Informative
      Maybe they -are- taking it seriously. And IBM is purposefully drawing this out.



      SCO has been notoriously drawing this case out, delaying it using every possible legal trick. IBM has repeatedly asked the judge not to give them their delays, but SCO has won them many times.

  12. Well actually ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I would say IBM has bet the farm on Linux. Otherwise, the case might have been over long ago.

    As far as anyone can tell, SCO brought the suit in hopes that IBM would buy them to shut them up. A few people would have made a lot of money and they could move along to the next scam. The trouble was that IBM, having bet the aforementioned farm, needed Linux to be unencumbered by any taint of anyone else's IP. So, IBM has defended Linux vigorously and when it's all over nobody will doubt that Linux is as pure as the driven snow. As Machiavelli pointed out, you don't send half your army into a battle that will determine your whole fate.

    So, no, it's not just drama.

    1. Re:Well actually ... by sjames · · Score: 3, Insightful

      That and IBM is well aware that if you pay extortionists, they or others like them will be back for more. When (not if) SCO goes down in flames for their lame play at IBM, they'll serve as an example for others.

  13. The "exact same" ties? by Rogerborg · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Did IBM donate $50,000 to SCO via the IBM-chaired OSDL organization, as SCO alleges that they did with "Groklaw" (i.e. PJ)?

    Or... are we still not allowed to talk about that part of SCO's allegations, or PJ's refusal to so much as discuss, let alone deny it, until she gets (quote) "lawyered up"?

    Commence troll ratings in 5... 4... 3...

    --
    If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
    1. Re:The "exact same" ties? by PopeRatzo · · Score: 2, Funny

      You've just convinced me this story is too complicated for me to follow. You had me and then you lost me.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    2. Re:The "exact same" ties? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      >>Did IBM donate $50,000 to SCO via the IBM-chaired OSDL organization, as SCO alleges that they did with "Groklaw" (i.e. PJ)?

      I don't know. That's an unsubstantiated allegation made by the same group who claim to be "SCO" and that "mountains of 'UNIX'* code was found in Linux by their 'rocket scientist deep-divers'" so confidence in the truth of their assertions might be low.

      On the other hand; we know that:

      " SANTA CLARA Calif., Aug. 30, 2000 - Hewlett-Packard, Intel Corporation, IBM* and NEC Corporation today announced the Open Source Development Lab, the industry's first independent, non-profit lab for developers who are adding enterprise capabilities to Linux*. The four companies plan to provide significant equipment and funding to the lab over the next several years. Additional contributors and sponsors of the lab include Caldera, Dell, Linuxcare, LynuxWorks, Red Hat, SGI, SuSE, Turbolinux and VA Linux."

      So we might surmise that OSDL has simply made a check out to the smelly hippies at Groklaw in the exact amount that Caldera (dba/ the SCO Group) paid in membership dues.

      Therefore SCO is covertly funding Groklaw in its campaign to dissect SCO's nuisance lawsuits and bogus claims (and there are more of them than those that are brought against IBM).

      Q.E.D.

      * Third party marks and brands are property of their respective holders.
      * IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation.
      * Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.
      * UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group.
      * Trolling is an unregistered service mark of BIFF in Belgium and other countries.

    3. Re:The "exact same" ties? by someone1234 · · Score: 2, Informative

      Wiring in the red dress?

      --
      Patents Drive Free Software as Hurricanes Drive Construction Industry
  14. Re:Stupidest SCO article ever. by rbanffy · · Score: 3, Funny

    It now proves IBM is also behind SCO and this whole trial is nothing but a PR tool so IBM can sell more AIX and zOS licenses.

    Oh.. Wait...

  15. Re:Stupidest SCO article ever. by hey! · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Exhibit 15 and 16 as offered by SCO are about Ibiblio supporting Groklaw. This isn't just about an Information week article - this is evidence SCO is offering to the court.


    You pay peanuts, you get lawyers who throw monkey shit at the judge.
    --
    Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
  16. Misunderstanding SCO's goals. by Eevee · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Except they aren't paying peanuts.

    SCO didn't just pick some random lawyers out of the phone book. One of the firms has Kevin McBride as a partner. Last name sound familiar? Kevin is the brother of SCO's CEO Darl McBride. In my paranoid (yet possibly true) ravings, part of SCO's plan has alway been to funnel part of the money to their friends and relatives in these law firms. Grab as much as they can for themselves, send the rest to friends as legal fees, and leave as little as possible for the damages that they'll be forced to pay once the farce is over.

    On the other hand, this monkey shit is exactly what the lawyers are getting paid for. Not to win the case, not even to make valid legal point--only to draw the case out as long as possible. SCO isn't trying to win, just to get more money out of the market. (Does Microsoft pay "licensing fees" based on how long SCO keeps up the FUD about the legality of OSS?)

  17. there's more by hebertrich · · Score: 5, Interesting

    didnt beleive it .. so i did it myself ..
    ir.sco.com is the investors relations website for SCO
    well ok .. so lest see :

    ric@ric ~ $ host ir.sco.com
    ir.sco.com is an alias for cald.client.shareholder.com.
    cald.client.shareholder.com is an alias for webcenter360.shareholder.com.
    webcenter360.shareholder.com has address 170.224.5.57
    ric@ric ~ $ whois 170.224.5.57

    OrgName: IBM
    OrgID: IBM-1
    Address: 3039 Cornwallis Road
    City: Research Triangle Park
    StateProv: NC
    PostalCode: 27709-2195
    Country: US

    So .. IBM is hosting the SCO's investors relations
    website ..

    errr .. conspiracy theories are surfacing that
    IBM actually owns SCO :)

    ROFL

  18. Re:It's mostly about media corruption and Forbes e by sumdumass · · Score: 2, Informative

    Well, TO be fair, SCO claimed IBM destroyed evidence when they had their linux developers remove the Unix source from they workstation. But IBM claims that it wasn't destroying anything because they already had copies of everything as well as what was released to the public supporting their claim.

    So, there was some destruction of evidences. Although this so called evidence had nothing to contribute other then what was already known and wasn't really destroyed in the sense of trying to hide it. It was just removed from particular workstations after SCO had copies of everything.

  19. Don't believe the GPL violation hype on this one by mr_mischief · · Score: 2, Informative

    Lots of places have been accusing SCO of violating the GPL by providing lxrun but not the sources for it, and referring people to ibiblio for the sources. It's quite difficult, though, to violate the GPL when the project seems to be licensed exclusively under the Mozilla Public License.

    Let's not sink to the level of SCO by making accusations which are easily demonstrated to be false. Of course, if there's GPLed code in lxrun which was relicensed without permission of the original author that's another matter, but I haven't seen any claims of that.

    People really should not assume someone is violating a license without checking to even see what license is involved. That includes when the accused is a big ball of crud like SCO.

  20. Re:It's mostly about media corruption and Forbes e by Samari711 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Not only that, but logs of who checked what out when should be a part of their source control system. IBM gave SCO a server that contained a complete copy of the repository that would have had that information in it, if SCO actually bothered to look for it.

    --

    I never said I was smart, I just said I was smarter than you

  21. IBM's Statement by jgoemat · · Score: 2, Informative
    Read IBM's statement on the matter:

    IBM has no connection to the editorial content posted on Groklaw.

    Groklaw's website, and hundreds of others, are hosted on a website at the University of North Carolina (UNC), called ibliblio. This site is described by UNC as a public library. ibiblio runs on IBM System x servers which were funded through an IBM Shared University Award Grant awarded to UNC -- a grant that predates Groklaw ever being hosted on ibiblio. Anyone can host a site there and IBM does not sponsor, nor endorse, the content of those sites.

    IBM is proud to sponsor many universities around the world in various ways, including helping them host websites like the one at UNC."

    Groklaw met the criteria for hosting on ibiblio's free servers. If your web site meets the criteria, you can host it there for free also. View some other sites on their collection page. Groklaw is a site to discuss open source legal issues, it is not limited to IBM or to SCO, although that is the predominant legal battle going on at this time. If you read Groklaw, you will know that there are not only articles about the other SCO litigation (RedHat, AutoZone, Daimler-Chrysler and Novell), but discussions about Microsoft, patents, ODF vs. MSXML, other GPL cases and the new GPL V3. Ibiblio is run by the University of North Carolina. IBM has contributed servers to the project long before Groklaw came into existence. IBM has no say in the sites hosted at Ibiblio or their content. Ibiblio could host SCO's site if it met their criteria.

    I want to know why it matters though... Groklaw looks at the public filings that anyone could get if they were willing to go to the courthouse for a copy. They don't have any secret information and don't get information from IBM. IBM has been nearly quiet in the media since the case has begun, citing their preference not to comment on litigation.

    Since before the IBM case started, SCO has been issuing public statements both through their media shills and on their own web site. They've made outrageous claims with no evidence whatsoever to support them. They've tried to co-opt the GNU/Linux operating system as their own, charging $700 per processor to run it. That's a slap in the face for the thousands of contributors who relied on the GPL and made their own contributions, and to Linus Trovalds who initially developed Linux. After initially claiming that three teams of experts found millions of lines of infringing code in Linux, they waited three years to show ANY evidence and then it was only 326 lines. They transformed their case from Trade Secrets (since UNIX contains none as admitted by their lawyer Kevin McBride) into some bizzare "ladder" theory where IBM loses control of it's own independent creations simply by associating them with their flavors of licensed UNIX.

    The most bizarre thing is how they value their "core UNIX intellectual property". Caldera was created as a Linux company in 1994. They raised about $70 million in an IPO as a Linux company when they went public in 2000. They purchased assets and operations from Tarentalla (Santa Cruz Operation) for $93.8 million in 2001. You can see that in the 10-Q report they filed with the SEC (search for "Purchase price allocation"). They allocated that money this way:

    1. $66.1 million - Goodwill (SCO customer base)
    2. $26.7 million - Distribution/reseller channel
    3. $5.8 million - Existing technology (consisting primarily of UnixWare and OpenServer)
    4. $1.5 million - Acquired in-process research and development
    5. $1.4 million - Distribution agreement
    6. $0.8 million - Trade name and trademarks

    Calde