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SCO's McBride Testifies "Linux Is a copy of UNIX"
eldavojohn writes "Here's a short update on the Novell Vs. SCO case we've been following. Our good friend Darl McBride made some interesting comments in court yesterday. He stated (under oath): 'Many Linux contributors were originally UNIX developers... We have evidence System V is in Linux... When you go to the bookstore and look in the UNIX section, there's books on "How to Program UNIX" but when you go to the Linux section and look for "How to Program Linux" you're not gonna find it, because it doesn't exist. Linux is a copy of UNIX, there is no difference [between them]." This flies directly in the face of what SCO found in extensive investigations in 2002 and contradicts what SCO Senior Vice President Chris Sontag had just finished testifying earlier that day (testimony that McBride did not hear)."
Unfolds chair. Grabs popcorn.
If Novel Owns Unix and if SCO got money for Linux and its relationship to Unix-rights, McBride basically said "we need to pay Novel the money we got."
The only reason I can think he said this:
1) He actually believes it.
2) He is afraid of fraud charges if he says otherwise. Throw lawsuits into this as well.
Except for ending slavery, the Nazis, communism, & securing American independence, war has never solved anything.
I have a copy of 'Beginning Linux Programming' from Wrox. Doesn't say UNIX anywhere. Hey guys, if you want me to testify I'd be happy to fly over. All expenses paid of course.
IANAL, but if I've ever learned anything from Mock Trial in high school, it's that you never want to contradict what you say on the stand with what you've ever said publicly or under oath. See, it tends to give the impression that you're changing your story, and if the court doesn't know which one to think is true, they're just gonna ignore you.
Nobody will tell Darl about POSIX, or the poor guy will have a heart attack of litigation-happy joy!
Tsunami -- You can't bring a good wave down!
Well, I actually do have a book on how to program Linux: "Beginning Linux Programming" (Matthew and Stones), in all its red glory here on my shelf. Now I don't know whether the summary quoted McBride very well and I don't have much time to investigate right now, but if he did say what he said, that was pretty silly.
I also have the "Teach yourself Linux Programming in 24 hours, did not read it much, though. However, it exists, and more Linux programming literature exists, too.
"The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
I write to inform you that the product you are bullshitting about is not Linux, but GNU/Linux. GNU/Linux, unlike products released by Microsoft (Such as OPENXML), tend to have names which are not doublespeak. This practice of not praciticing doublespeak is also adopted by the Free Software Foundation.
As you are most certainly aware, GNU/Linux stands for GNU is Not Unix. Ergo, Linux is not Unix.
Thank you for your time. My lawyers will send you the bill for mine.
In a trial, with a jury, they are introducing their opinions as testimony. Even though the facts have been proved this theory to be wrong, this is EXACTLY what they have been waiting for.
Linux and UNIX are very similar. Just as a Toyota is similar to a Ford, 4 wheels, gas powered motor, disk brakes, etc. Hell take a tundra and an F-150 and put them side by side. Besides aesthetic differences, explain to me how one is "clearly" different than the other. Using SCO's logic, the Tundra contains a Ford.
They will use the similarities to confuse the jury who have no clue about the history of "*NIX* beginning with Multics. I certainly hope Novell is ready.
PARANOID FEAR: Novell is working with SCO to establish in a court of law, by losing, that Linux is the property of Novell.
"I'm sorry, your honor. I wasn't clear. I was referring to a 1980 bookstore."
No jury.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
is that McBride really COULD go to prison over this for perjury. And if done right, a deal could be offered to him (1 month or year, instead of 20 years), if he will spill the beans about it. That would have to include MS's and Sun's participation in this. I would guess that McBride is enough of a gutless wonder that he would take the deal. But if he confirms that (Gates and/or Balmer) and McNealy were participants to fleece the companies, what could happen to them? I am guessing nothing.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
In other words, what he's saying is the equivalent of "Toyota is a copy of Ford. See, they all have four wheels and an engine, and you drive them with a steering wheel and a couple of pedals! And they both have doors and seats, too!"
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
The grand jury rightly refused to indict Clinton because the lie he got caugh in, while crappy and self-serving, wasn't sufficiently germane to the facts of Paula Jones's suite against him. Lying about something that happened years later, in another state, with a different woman had too little bearing on the claims presented in Jones v. Clinton to warrant a perjury charge.
...is to treat Darl McBridge the same way some people dealt with Alan Ralsky: Send him as many Linux programming books as we can.
I realize this is a bit redundant now, but Darl, you're a fuckin' idiot.
No sig for you!!
errno.h is part of the POSIX standard and is the property of the Open Group.
i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
Claude Elsinore: And I'd like to point out that these tapes have not been faked, or altered in any way. In fact they have time coding, which is very hard to fake.
The Judge: Would you please explain for the court "time coding."
Claude Elsinore: Well, uh, just because I don't know what it is, it doesn't mean I'm lying.
I'd rather have someone respond than be modded up.
Darl McBride and Steve Ballmer* have the same motto:
"No gnus is good gnus".
-mcgrew
*The linked article refers to Steve Ballmer, president of Microsoft and dancing, mentally deficient, foul-mouthed chair-throwing psychopath. For another dangerously unstable person, see "Tom Cruise".
mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
It turns out that most lawyers and judges have very limited imaginations and are terrible at what they do. Most likely this sort of thing would never occur to them. Quite likely, they won't even recognize the contradiction with the recent testimony mentioned in the summary.
I worked once for the law firm that helped invent the class action law suit, helped sue Exxon for billion dollars in Valdez and won, helped police the securities industry when there was no enforcement, brought down Milken...and that was just to start.
There is not a writer for a TV show or a movie that could even accurately depict just how smart these people are. Those lawyers ask those sorts of questions all the time. These are all Ivy Leaguers that came from the likes of U-Penn, Harvard and they do. It wasn't even worth lying to these people because they could just pick you apart like a rotisserie chicken and you wouldn't even know it until they are ready to throw the bones out.
This is my sig.
Probably the cock you're smoking.
Either that or the teabags.
Sorry. Sorry. Sometimes I just can't help myself...
"I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
Darl is a copy of an asshole.
Don't tell them about helloworld. Please. I don't think the courts can handle that.
This monkey needs to get his sak out of the fire. I don't know how many people remember Unix before Linux. I do. And I think I can safely say that unix was on the way out before linux came along. Many unix shops where ether packing up or converting to windows nt at that time.
Then out of the fray come a penguin with a mission. Linux put unix in the hand of whole new generation of hackers and programmers. McBride and his monkeys need to be down on their knees sacrificing a goat to the penguin gods for saving their market. They should have adapted not fought. Everyone saw that writing on the wall. Hell, IBM embraced linux. That alone should be enough to tell you something.
So if it wasn't for linux, unix would just be a entry in the hacker jargon file, see VMS, or assigned to a few nitch shops and jobs.
Supporting World Peace Through Nuclear Pacification
but because SCO went after some deep pocketed businesses( IBM, Novell, etc ) they actually got a fight instead of being handed over millions and millions. Usually this is a bully vs weakling type of fight and the weakling must give in. It takes alot of weaklings to make a business plan work though so there are $ in the eyes when someone gets the bright idea to go for the big guys pockets.
Come to think of it, Lindows wasn't really a big-guy but I guess Microsoft had to stop them one way or another. I'm thinking of this case because it is another case where the outcome wasn't what was expected. ie, Microsoft almost lost their "Windows" trademark and the result was that Lindows became Linspire, Lindows got paid millions, and Lindows got 5 years of licensed software.
At least the Lindows vs MSFT case only took a couple years. Had it taken longer and Lindows/Linspire might have had to settle for much much less. They were not rolling in the doe.
This case has been dragging on for over 6 years and in that time, just little me, I've had small business owners mention licensing issues with regard to using Linux and OSS. The exact reason why I feel Microsoft and Sun helped fund SCO and the reason why Microsoft created their own SCO-ish licensing threats against Linux and OSS.
Unfortunately, Microsoft is learning alot from all this and will most likely stay way clear of filing suit against any of the big companies using or backing Linux and OSS. They know that they get more value from threats and little fear of having those threats exposed as long as they stay out of court. Their game is to use the threats to keep the Linux/OSS market contained and then use their wealth to pay off any large business thinking of being a GNU/Linux/OSS poster child. They have the funds to keep down alot of the uprising and the business customers are the ones willing to take short term payola from Microsoft to keep the current course with running Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office, and Microsoft Server software.
Where this is not in Microsoft's control is in government and the public sector. They've already had a tough time using the BSA to muscle some school districts into longterm licensing contracts when the Linux K12LTSP group showed the way to Microsoft/BSA independence and low cost computing. Recent financial belt tightening is opening the door further and there's little Microsoft can do but deeply discount their software and they are already showing signs of reduced revenues( (24%) this quarter ) from their big money maker, the Windows OS.
SCO is smart to try to devalue the licenses paid by Microsoft and Sun and if they are able to pull it off and get Novell out of the revenue stream, Novell also knows that Microsoft and Sun will not ask for their money back. After all, both Microsoft and Sun got what they paid for and that was not really a license for UNIX. IMO.
One more thing, McBride should get burned for what he's done to SCO, IBM, Novell, AutoZone, and all others involved. It was a scam of epic proportions and took way too long. IMO.
LoB
"Anyone who stands out in the middle of a road looks like roadkill to me." --Linus
One line of code:
}
I support the Center for Consumer Freedom
I'd rather spark an intelligent discussion than rack up meaningless points. But maybe that's just me...
Because, you know, having good discussions benefits the whole community, and points just benefit my own karma.
I support the Center for Consumer Freedom
when you go to the Linux section and look for "How to Program Linux" you're not gonna find it, because it doesn't exist.
That's funny, my copy of Linux System Programming must be a figment of my imagination, then.
"Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives" should be a convenience store, not a government agency.
The U.S. government taxes all property. If you don't pay, you lose your property.
This shows the true ownership belongs to the government. We are merely "leasing" the land from the government.
He's effectively saying that they are the same because their APIs are (mostly) the same.
This is true, but not because Linux is a copy of UNIX, but because Linux and UNIX both conform to a published API standard (POSIX). One can easily implement something that behaves like UNIX without looking at a single line of code, because the API (POSIX) is documented, standardized, and published.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
From the description:
"When you go to the bookstore and look in the UNIX section, there's books on "How to Program UNIX" but when you go to the Linux section and look for "How to Program Linux" you're not gonna find it, because it doesn't exist"
Taking a quick look at my bookshelf, I see the titles "Beginning Linux Programming", "Professional Linux Programming", and "Linux Application Development". And that's not even counting the boxes and boxes of books I have stored on shelves in my basement.
Perjury charge?
Those who believe the Internet is private,
find their privates are on the Internet.
In a perfect world they'd find McBride in contempt of court and throw him in jail, or they'd find him legally incompetent and insane and would have him committed to a wonderful place with padded walls where he'd be perfectly allowed to ramble on and on about whatever he thinks is true, but in reality they'll probably just strike his testimony from the record.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
We must believe that Unix is a part of Linux on faith alone. This is what we refer to as a "religious mystery," ala the Holy Trinity. Thus, to ask how can Unix and Linux be one in the same is equivalent to asking how the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit can be one, yet distinct. I, for one, need no other proof than the Divinely Inspired testimony of McBride, and anticipate the coming day of His own Passion.
Perjury charge?
No. He's an idiot. You can't reasonably expect him to know that he was wrong when he made the statement, therefore, no matter what statements he makes, they're not perjury.
Code or be coded.
The worst thing is the lengths that open source devs will go to try to obfuscate their copyright-infringement.
I just did a deep dive on the kernel source and found that half of those braces had spaces and tabs pre-pended in an attempt to evade detection.