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Creditor Objects To SCO's Plans
I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "It seems that SCO is never without a trick up its sleeve. In the new '$100 million' reorganization plan, $5 million of which is cash and $95 million credit, one of the creditors is protesting because SCO is hiding the Definitive Documents until there's no time to object. In their own words, 'The debtors are proposing to file the Disclosure Statement 33 days before the hearing, in compliance with the requirement that it be filed at least 25 days before the hearing (F. R. Bankr. P. 3017). However, it is clear that this Disclosure Statement will be inadequate for evaluating the Plan, because it will not include any of the Definitive Documents. The Debtors are proposing to file the Definitive Documents separately, and to do so a mere five business days before the hearing, which is zero days before objections are due.'"
... will SCO disapear? It's enough already.
Hiding important information has always been one of SCO's favourite strategies, right? (e.g. "Linux infringes on our IP, but we can't tell you where, how, or why.").
SCO was able to spew its fud at will in America, no proof required. In Germany they got slapped down. The German courts said in effect: "If you can't prove what you're saying is true, you have to shut up."
It is pathetic that SCO has been able to drag this farce out for so long.
Here is the real story:
Legitimate businesses are dying for venture capital. And here it is, being wasted.
I know, I know, don't feed the trolls. . . but he's so cuuuuuutte.
Judge Kimball already found that there was never any transfer of copyright. SCO's copyright registration was fraudulent (well, I suppose you could make the argument that it isn't fraud if they really *believed* they owned the copyright, but nevertheless, it's still invalid). It's already been decided that SCO does not own Unix copyrights or trademarks (the trademark issue was not decided in court, I do not believe, but by the US Patent and Trademark Office, I believe, which said that Unix was already a trademark owned by the Open Group [which anyone could have told SCO, but they wouldn't listen, of course]).
Basically, SCO owns no part of Unix.
There's also the *small* problem that they've never actually demonstrated any infringement by Linux, even if they *did* own Unix. Which they don't.
This whole Bankruptcy charade, as far as I can tell, has mostly been about delaying the inevitable, so that SCO's execs and board of director could continue to get salaries and outrageous bonuses for as long as possible, bleeding the company dry and leaving a worthless, dessicated carcass for Novell, IBM, Red Hat, and Autozone to fight over.
"We saw a tremendous investment opportunity in SCO and its vast range of products and services, including many new innovations ready or soon to be ready to be released into the marketplace,"
I guess "products and services" means troll patents and lawsuits.
I wonder what "new innovations" of these they are about to unleash?
If you disagree with me on social issues, then it's pretty clear that you are a narrow-minded bigot.
The company just exists to piss us off and spread FUD. If they didn't want the stigma of the company they would have started fresh just putting the money to another company hiring the same legal team and taking it from a slightly different point of attack. They're one step away from being a new company anyway, Darl is being let go there's just going to be another one. If it wasn't for them getting so much time in people's web browsers no one would even know they existed. So in short there are people with enough money involved to make the SCO company keep to its purpose, they aren't going to win anything since the OSS community is too fluid to necessarily point out a single block of code to bring down the whole "framework".
If anything now would be the time to advocate the Linux idea / OS more than ever. Computer kids out there get called all the time to fix friends and families computers, you should offer a special $20 install that would involve you installing a distro on their computer. The price is variable of course but distro's could work with the installers to make the going rate tempting enough for anyone to attempt to offer it at the price. People would look at it as quick cash, distributions would see that the easier it is for someone to install and educate the end user the more people will install their distribution for a price. Eventually as people grow more aware of the OS they will search out to install it themselves, at this point the OS will be so easy to install and run it will catch like wild fire.
Now the ones who were installing the OS move up to support / customization. What ever the price charged to do an install will be used as a type of yard stick of value. Eventually with computer power increasing and OS developers cooperation the time to install a running OS will take less time but as long as the price remains set and the operation is exact and efficient you will be making that $20-$40 in under 10 minutes. From there you can use that as a reference to charge for time in support and customization. As long as the initial price does not waver much people will build trust in the concept and the best will be in demand. This is the most diverse and distributed industry that will ever be.
A loop, by its nature, continues. If that didn't make sense, start reading this sentence again.
Speaking of tags. . .
Holding knowledge of another's dark secrets is one of the foremost ways the game of politics is played.
I remember knowing the daughter of a political figure who had taught her well; he took her out drinking often when she was only a young teen so that she could build up a high tolerance to alcohol. He taught her how to dig up secrets in her opponents, and he taught her how to corrupt her fellows so that they would have secrets to fear losing control of. He was grooming he for political life; in short, he taught her the ways of Fear.
Early on when I met her, I told her that my way of living was to remain open about everything; there was no secret I would be too frightened to share, and in this way, there was no way I could be bound or controlled. I saw fear in her eyes when she looked at me then, and I didn't understand why until I got to know her better.
I have seen more harm arise from secrets kept than I ever would have imagined possible. And I have seen the most ludicrous acts which would normally be sorely condemned by society, not only easily forgiven but benefited from by entire communities simply because the participants were never afraid to share their thoughts and actions openly.
In this way, knowledge shared is power gained, and that is the only kind of power one really needs, because Good Guys don't play chess.
Just some thoughts.
-FL
Another poster pointed out awhile back that another reason for this buy out of SCO is to keep its internal records from becoming public.
The whole thing is just a ploy to shield all those internal emails and documents that would reveal just who was really behind it all, we all know that M$ is in on it but who else could there be? What other companies or business interests have benefited from the FUD that SCO has generated?
By buying SCO and taking it back to a privatively held company it could be quietly dismantled and the evidence of collusion and conspiracy buried permanently.