What if SCO was leveraging their claims against BSD instead of Linux? The precedent behind all of this is the same regardless.
Ah, but there's already a precedent WRT BSD and System V... AT&T had to settle their suit when it became apparent that, while BSD did have a smattering of AT&T code in it, System V had substantially more AT&T and the Regents of the University of California cross-licensed each other, making it all legal and proper
So if the code in question was in SysV and BSD, and was thence brought into Linux in accordance with the BSD license, SCO is pretty much scrod.
Too many witnesses that will say otherwise
on
Darl & SCO Overview
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· Score: 1
It is quite possible that either of the above scenerios could be combined with an outcome by a relatively uninformed court that finds in favor of the litigant, leaving the original creator of the code in a situation where they are now forbidden from using their own code, while those who violated their copyright are granted ownership of it.
Possible, but extraordinarily unlikely. As Ollie North's case taught the non-tech folks in the legal community, e-mail is forever. There are bound to be multiple, independently-maintained archives of LKML (as well as of the lists where non-kernel items are developed) and tarballs of source trees far enough back to establish, whenever SCO finally identifies what they allege was stolen, when that code was first (dis)cussed by the developers. Given the often contentious discussions, there will be plenty of witnesses who recall vividly those events, and can verify that the archives were not tampered with based on their own independent recollections.
At a minimum, this will prove that the alleged infringments occured before IBM even knew how to spell L-I-N-U-X, or were brought in by Caldera's own people as Cringely suggests.
And am I the only one who finds it just the slightest bit fishy that after repeatedly trying to buy the copyrights from Novell, SCO suddenly finds some document that seems to prove they did after all, but it is not anywhere in Novell's files nor was the alleged transfer ever registered with the Copyright Office! (Yes, I know, you don't have to register such things, but lawyers always tell you that registering adds validity to your claim when you go after someone.) Excuse me? I don't believe that crap for a minute, and a lawyer who can't get a jury to think it's bogus isn't good enough to work for IBM.
There is no way SCO's lawers beat IBM's lawyers with such ammunition. SCO doesn't win in court, they win by making it more expensive to fight there than to be bought off or out.
Then just go with 2-character codes. We've established the precedent internationally of 2-character codes for countries, and those unique US State abbreviations. I've even seen our system extended to CA and MX provinces, retaining uniqueness throughout the 3 countries, which is a Good Thing - you might want to work with the Kiwis and make sure their 2-letter abbreviations don't conflict with yours, which brings the "A" back into play (using the traditional provincial divisions of NZ, and treating the -land suffix as if it were a second word, which keeps Auckland from being AU!):
QL=Queensland
VI=Victoria
TS=Tasmania
SA=South Australia
WA=Western Australia
AC=Australian Capital Territory
NS=New South Wales
NT=Northern Territory.
Mixing letters and numbers like that has no mnemonic value whatsoever. I would prefer to use political subdivisions in two-letter increments like so:
I live in the United States (.US country code)
In the State of Kansas (.KS. 2nd level domain)
In Wyandotte County, which is abbreviated WY on the sticker on my license plate - we have 105 counties, each of which has such a unique code. Even Texas, with 254, should be able to come up with such a scheme if they wanted to abandon their existing numeric codes.
In the area served by the Rosedale Post Office (66103 under the ZIP system) - RD?
Now, a properly-addressed piece of mail should already say KS on it, and if sent from outside the US, might as well say KS-US or equivalent - if you go two steps further, I'm RDWYKSUS, or maybe more sensibly USKSWYRD. I've taken the 5-digit ZIP code and turned it into 6 characters, with the extra two just for internationalization, and encoded mnemonic value in the bargain.
Now, we can add some digits for further detail as needed - my street address is 30xx West 4xth, where the numbers get larger as you go south, (and named streets can be assigned numbers) which makes me
The Monster
USKSWYRD-30.xxW-4xS
Post Office - 1st Coordinate - 2nd coordinate. It doesn't get much easier than that.
W>TM> This sounds like he's saying that the alleged IP violations precede IBM's involvement.
W> Seems like you imply this is fishy.. which it is, but is there anything that doesn't allow this?
Let me connect the dots for you - the claim is not just that there is SCO code in Linux - it's that IBM violated a contract with SCO by putting it there Now he seems to be saying that someone other than IBM was doing it all along. This not only makes it difficult to prove that IBM was doing it, but it puts into question another element of their ever-shifting claims - their 'trade secrets' weren't so damned 'secret' after all.
While SCO alleges that part of the Linux sources are copied from their OS
That's what makes this quote from the article so intriguing:
Asked why SCO has suddenly started looking at these issues now, after years of declining revenues at his company and the increasing popularity of Linux, McBride said SCO had few options in the late 1990s as Linux began surfacing in the business computing world. "Even if you potentially had a problem [with concerns about Unix code in Linux back then], what are you going to do?" McBride asked. "Sue Linus Torvalds? And get what?"
This sounds like he's saying that the alleged IP violations precede IBM's involvement. This guy can't keep his stor{y|ies} straight.
wouldn't it be more competitve to merge certain distros?
They tried that. It's called UnitedLinux. And one of the partners in that enterprise has decided to serially sue everyone else in the Linux business, based on an exotic theory of IP violation. You may have
seensomethingaboutthisrecentlyhereonSlashdot
terrible bug with some microwaves . . . wouldn't shut off if the door was opened.
It is to prevent exactly this sort of nonsense that every Microwave I've ever seen the inside of (nice to have the schematic glued inside the case) has either three or four (this more on commercial models) redundant 'interlock' switches that prevent the unit from generating radiation with the door open. The first 2/3 switches are 'normally open' but held closed by the spring that engages the door latch. The last switch is 'normally closed' but held open by the door being shut, and is designed to short the current that would normally flow through the MW emitter straight to neutral, blowing the fuse if the other switches fail to disengage the current between the time the latch is disengaged and the door actually starts to open.
lpd is quite cool. i've used it to queue software builds on remote machines where we aren't given ssh accounts.
This is just another example of the power of simple, 'dumb' design, especially at the low levels of the protocol stack: Unix says that 'everything is a stream of bytes' and so does TCP/IP, having been heavily influenced by Unix. Even though it's called 'Line Printer Daemon', it is written generally enough to be used to queue any stream of bytes. As a transport mechanism, it need not know anything about the content of what it's transporting. It just moves the bytes, leaving it to the filter that acts as the next layer in the protocol stack to worry about what to actually do with the byte stream once it's delivered.
In trying to explain the mentality to those unfamiliar with it, I use this analogy:
A mechanic has to reach a bolt in a particular location that constrains the path the handle of a wrench can traverse to a difficult S-curve. He can:
Go to a tool store and purchase a specialized (and therefore quite expensive, especially including the cost of his time going to the store) wrench with the right curve and end size to fit this particular bolt head. Then he hangs the tool on the pegboard and doesn't use it again until he sees this same exact situation, so the cost per use of the tool is quite high. This is software usage as most people are familiar with it. Every time you change the situation even slightly, costly rewrites of monolithic compiled applications eat you alive.
Reach into his tool box, pull out the socket that fits the bolt head, and add to it the right combination of components that allows him to manipulate this bolt, effectively building the equivalent of that one-off wrench as he goes. When the job's done, he puts those components back in the socket set, ready to be used for the next job. This is the Unix mentality The system is designed to be that socket set with a bunch of small, reusable, general components that each do one part of a job, and can be easily assembled to do just what the situation requires.
If you ask a garage manager which makes sense, he'll tell you that the mechanic who knows how to use the components gets more done in less time with cheaper tools, and is therefore earns every penny of the higher wages he gets for it. And the one who doesn't know how to do it is in big trouble when he goes to the tool shop and they don't have what he needs, because nobody ever thought someone would need that exact combination of twists and turns
lawsuit is an extortionate gamble, a desperate grab for cash and a FUD tool of their new friend Microsoft.
SCO and MS do not want the suit to actually go to trial. They want it to drag out as long as possible, because if it goes to trial they will lose bigtime, and strengthen Linux.
Meanwhile, as long as the suit hangs like the Sword of Damocles over the heads of IT managers considering a move to Linux, it fuels the FUD. It's the threat that Linux could cost some undefined amount if SCO wins that gives MS the ability to scare the crap out of the PHBs.
"Qapla'!" ("Success!"), as if it were the equivalent of "goodbye"
That is not an accurate assessment. When an officer is through briefing his warriors on a mission, it would seem reasonable for him to dismiss them with "Qapla'!", as if to say "I've told you everything I'm going to say, now get out there and WIN the battle!" The warriors would respond in kind, indicating that they understand their mission, and are confident they'll be able to complete their assignments for the greater glory of the Empire. Not that the order would matter so much. The subordinate initiating the exchange would serve the same purpose.
Just because the word is used to terminate a conversation does NOT mean that it is the same as goodbye (which literally means 'God be with ye', as does the Spanish 'adios' or the French 'adieu' - not the sort of thing a Klingon would say at all.)
I've lived in KS since age 2 (before that just north of the NE border) and have been in the basement under a sturdy table while a tornado stripped off some of our shingles and took the lawnmower up the hill 3 houses - the neighbors called us after it was over and asked if that was our Lawn-Boy...
However, the radar can rarely (if ever?) tell for certain if a rotation in a storm is actually a tornado or if it is on the ground.
It doesn't matter. If there's sufficient rotation in a storm, whether there is a funnel cloud or not (much less whether it's touched down just now), what counts is that the funnel cloud can form and drop on your head in seconds. Yes, we get the occasional Tornado Warning issued for a storm that never produces a funnel cloud. But if you've ever seen how fast a funnel cloud forms, you'll be glad they issued the warning based on that rotation, instead of waiting until it's already on the ground tearing someone a new asshole.
Perhaps the first 'shot' of the TEMPORAL COLD WAR was the Borg going back to try to prevent Cochran's warp signature from being detected by the Vulcans.
...Twice a year, instead of doing what it's supposed to do, the program would instead tell you how great Free Software is, and ask for your pledge to support Free Software, before continuing with the regular programming
I already covered this over a month ago. Any and all discontnuities with the established TOS/TNG/DS9/Voyager timeline are explained away by First Contact.
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I don't feel like putting up 40 quid just to see the bloody article and be able to tell you what it said about this.
I can see it now: When the BSA auditor comes in...
"These are not the servers you're looking for."
"These are not the servers I'm looking for?"
"We pay no license fees for Linux."
"You pay . . . no . . . license fees for Linux?"
"That's right. Here's a copy of the GPL to read on your way out."
"I guess . . . that's right . . . I'll take this copy of the GPL for our attorneys to review."
assuming your [sic] paying around $40 per pre-mix box
Well, no wonder. You were buying pre-mix, not post-mix. The economics of it are really quite simple: With pre-mix, you're paying to ship water as well as syrup, and therefore occupying roughly 5.5 times the volume of the syrup alone.
With post-mix, you use your own water, which is virtually free by comparison. Having done time in the fast food business, I can tell you that the only people who use pre-mix are the ones who don't have a water supply, like the circus concessions mentioned in the article. OTOH, if your municipal water is as bad as mine, you'll want to invest in a home water purification system.
Slashdot Mirror
So if the code in question was in SysV and BSD, and was thence brought into Linux in accordance with the BSD license, SCO is pretty much scrod.
At a minimum, this will prove that the alleged infringments occured before IBM even knew how to spell L-I-N-U-X, or were brought in by Caldera's own people as Cringely suggests.
And am I the only one who finds it just the slightest bit fishy that after repeatedly trying to buy the copyrights from Novell, SCO suddenly finds some document that seems to prove they did after all, but it is not anywhere in Novell's files nor was the alleged transfer ever registered with the Copyright Office! (Yes, I know, you don't have to register such things, but lawyers always tell you that registering adds validity to your claim when you go after someone.) Excuse me? I don't believe that crap for a minute, and a lawyer who can't get a jury to think it's bogus isn't good enough to work for IBM.
There is no way SCO's lawers beat IBM's lawyers with such ammunition. SCO doesn't win in court, they win by making it more expensive to fight there than to be bought off or out.
Yeah . . . we generally keep the good stuff here. But we make a few exceptions, like Lynx. . .
decided to sue IBM.
Just when the buzz was wearing off
they got some cash from Microsoft
So there's no stopping the attacks
Never mind their changing 'facts'
Then they said "Oh, what the hell -
we might as well include Novell"
I bet they could, in nothing flat
draw up the papers on Red Hat
And at this rate (It's just a guess) .
Bruce Perens, Linus, RMS . .
If that does not bring in the bucks
Sue everyone who's worn a tux!
QL=Queensland
VI=Victoria
TS=Tasmania
SA=South Australia
WA=Western Australia
AC=Australian Capital Territory
NS=New South Wales
NT=Northern Territory.
NL=Northland
AL=Auckland
GI=Gisborne
TR=Taranaki
HB=Hawkes Bay
WN=Wellington
NE=Nelson
WL=Westland
MA=Marlborough
CA=Canterbury
OT=Otago
SL=Southland
Now, we can add some digits for further detail as needed - my street address is 30xx West 4xth, where the numbers get larger as you go south, (and named streets can be assigned numbers) which makes me
Post Office - 1st Coordinate - 2nd coordinate. It doesn't get much easier than that.W> Seems like you imply this is fishy.. which it is, but is there anything that doesn't allow this?
Let me connect the dots for you - the claim is not just that there is SCO code in Linux - it's that IBM violated a contract with SCO by putting it there Now he seems to be saying that someone other than IBM was doing it all along. This not only makes it difficult to prove that IBM was doing it, but it puts into question another element of their ever-shifting claims - their 'trade secrets' weren't so damned 'secret' after all.
(See if you recognize that one.)
In trying to explain the mentality to those unfamiliar with it, I use this analogy:
Meanwhile, as long as the suit hangs like the Sword of Damocles over the heads of IT managers considering a move to Linux, it fuels the FUD. It's the threat that Linux could cost some undefined amount if SCO wins that gives MS the ability to scare the crap out of the PHBs.
Just because the word is used to terminate a conversation does NOT mean that it is the same as goodbye (which literally means 'God be with ye', as does the Spanish 'adios' or the French 'adieu' - not the sort of thing a Klingon would say at all.)
Oh. I get it now. You just have the order wrong:
That makes perfect sense now.Perhaps the first 'shot' of the TEMPORAL COLD WAR was the Borg going back to try to prevent Cochran's warp signature from being detected by the Vulcans.
...Twice a year, instead of doing what it's supposed to do, the program would instead tell you how great Free Software is, and ask for your pledge to support Free Software, before continuing with the regular programming
I already covered this over a month ago. Any and all discontnuities with the established TOS/TNG/DS9/Voyager timeline are explained away by First Contact.