Important, but not for restricting free speech!
on
Germany Muzzles SCO
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· Score: 1
This is not about restricting free speech.
SCO came out and said that all Linux users are infringing their copyrights. Univention then went to court and told them, that SCO is harming their business with false claims and they should not be allowed to do that. In Germany such claims violate competition laws, if they are false.
There was a hearing and the court granted an preliminary injunction that barred SCO from telling their story, because SCO did not show any proof to their claims. At the hearing they only needed to show just the possibility to get that injuction dismissed, but they didn't. The premliminary injuction is only there, to stop any harm that could be done until this is resolved by a real court.
So now there should be a real court trial, where the issue would be resolved.
But SCO didn't want this to go to court, so they negotiated with Univention and got an Out-of-court settlement.
There are two important things to learn from this story:
1. In Germany a business is not allowed to make false statements about their competition until they can proof it. There are special laws to promote fair competition in the marketplace and making false claims to harm a competitors business vialates them.
2. FAR MORE IMPORTANT To avoid having to proof their claims in court they signed a settlement which basically looks like the worst court decision they could have gotten. Please note that usually these settlements remain confidential. That Univention is allowed to show this basically demonstrates, that SCO kneeled down and kissed Univentions butt to avoid going to court.
Univention got the settlement exactly how the wanted it.
And in a full-way intelligent banking system they get a Verisign Global ID certificate which allows 128 Bit security even with browsers crippled for export.
Take a look at Office 2000 and youll know the answer. They dont compete (as if they ever had).
A little example?
Until know the company I work for used NS products: Navigator, Enterprise Server, Proxy Server etc.
Now they are in Microsofts Office2000 Early-Adopter-Program (Im not sure of the name but you know what I mean). So what happens?
"Hmm, when we install Office2000 IE5 will be out there, so why not use it?" "Well, there are a lot of great new functions in Office2000, but we need IIS for that, so lets install some" "Oh, we have IIS running? What do we need NS Enterprise Server for?"
Its like theyre saying: "We know our server is crap but hey, we posses the desktop (which is NOT the REAL problem, that is they posses THE STANDARD OFFICE APP). So lets do what we do best, produce some REAL GREAT NEW FEATURES which only work with our servers."
And BANG, there goes competition.
Im not sure how to compete whith that.
We need something to compete with MS Office which is able to make the transition extremly simple. People in companies are NOT using Windows, they are using Word, Excel or Outlook. And companies are NOT going to change that if they have to send 25.000 employees back to "Linux-Office Training-Camp".
But most important might be the "Openess of protocols" that is reading and writing of MS Office file formats. Give me an office application for Linux which reads and writes MS Office documents perfectly and I get rid of about 85% of my problems (not talking about Outlook, Exchange and that Mapi crap).
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This is not about restricting free speech.
SCO came out and said that all Linux users are infringing their copyrights.
Univention then went to court and told them, that SCO is harming their business with false claims and they should not be allowed to do that. In Germany such claims violate competition laws, if they are false.
There was a hearing and the court granted an preliminary injunction that barred SCO from telling their story, because SCO did not show any proof to their claims. At the hearing they only needed to show just the possibility to get that injuction dismissed, but they didn't.
The premliminary injuction is only there, to stop any harm that could be done until this is resolved by a real court.
So now there should be a real court trial, where the issue would be resolved.
But SCO didn't want this to go to court, so they negotiated with Univention and got an Out-of-court settlement.
There are two important things to learn from this story:
1. In Germany a business is not allowed to make false statements about their competition until they can proof it. There are special laws to promote fair competition in the marketplace and making false claims to harm a competitors business vialates them.
2. FAR MORE IMPORTANT
To avoid having to proof their claims in court they signed a settlement which basically looks like the worst court decision they could have gotten.
Please note that usually these settlements remain confidential. That Univention is allowed to show this basically demonstrates, that SCO kneeled down and kissed Univentions butt to avoid going to court.
Univention got the settlement exactly how the wanted it.
What does this say about SCOs claims?
Regards
Klaus
And in a full-way intelligent banking system they get a Verisign Global ID certificate which allows 128 Bit security even with browsers crippled for export.
Klaus
it canceled almost all export regulations!
German Cryptosoftware freely exportable (in german)
is the day more german than american crypto products are sold in the us.
Sometimes capitalism is just great!
klaus
Easy, ride a bike!
;-)
Preferably an italian one, like Ducati or Moto Guzzi.
Be prepared, itll change you.
And theyll be after you
Future GUI designers should read "Usability of Security: A Case Study" by Alma Whitten and J.D. Tygar.
It shows that A LOT of improvement is needed to make PGP-like security usable for the avarage user.
Klaus
How does Microsoft compete in the server market?
Take a look at Office 2000 and youll know the answer. They dont compete (as if they ever had).
A little example?
Until know the company I work for used NS products: Navigator, Enterprise Server, Proxy Server etc.
Now they are in Microsofts Office2000 Early-Adopter-Program (Im not sure of the name but you know what I mean). So what happens?
"Hmm, when we install Office2000 IE5 will be out there, so why not use it?"
"Well, there are a lot of great new functions in Office2000, but we need IIS for that, so lets install some"
"Oh, we have IIS running? What do we need NS Enterprise Server for?"
Its like theyre saying: "We know our server is crap but hey, we posses the desktop (which is NOT the REAL problem, that is they posses THE STANDARD OFFICE APP). So lets do what we do best, produce some REAL GREAT NEW FEATURES which only work with our servers."
And BANG, there goes competition.
Im not sure how to compete whith that.
We need something to compete with MS Office which is able to make the transition extremly simple.
People in companies are NOT using Windows, they are using Word, Excel or Outlook. And companies are NOT going to change that if they have to send 25.000 employees back to "Linux-Office Training-Camp".
But most important might be the "Openess of protocols" that is reading and writing of MS Office file formats. Give me an office application for Linux which reads and writes MS Office documents perfectly and I get rid of about 85% of my problems (not talking about Outlook, Exchange and that Mapi crap).