Linked by Roberto J. Dohnert on Tue 10th Jun 2003 01:06 UTC
On March 7th 2003, the SCO Group filed a lawsuit against IBM for misappropriation of tradesecrets and contractual agreements. The scope of SCOs complaint is that IBM introduced parts of Unix System V and Project Monterey into the Linux kernel. Project Monterey was a effort to port IBM's AIX 5L onto the Intel Itanium platform, IBM withdrew from that project for reasons unknown according to the press, I believe that it was because the Itanium is a bomb. 
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{ So, you feel it would make more sense for them to show the code that has 0% of backing up their claims? Whatever. }
SCO says it has hundred of Lines of code that Linux incorporates illegally.
80 Lines is nothing. It is foreplay in the modern day of software development. I can tell you dont write code. By only showing a few lines of code it shows me SCO has something to hide.
{ Do you really think this is about USB drivers? Honestly? }
Device support plays a large role in any kind of adoption, their claims state that Linux surpassed them in the Enterprise. Let me ask you. If you are planning a deployment of Linux and you have hundreds of USB devices and FireWire devices are you as a company going to buy any kind of system software that does not support your devices, and another case in point I have 16 servers at work that are Xeon based, Why would I bother to purchase system software that doesnt even support my processors. So yes device support plays a large role. I was showing where UnixWare was lacking and pointing out many reasons why UnixWare then and to this day remains a total flop.
{ You're so wrong here it's not even funny. So, you believe that if SCO wins they will play all nice-nice and just forgive all of the commerical Linux distributors and companies that have had Linux deployed for the months/years that they have been illegally using patented code? If so, then why would they even bother with the suit. It's all about money and SCO wants what they feel they are due. }
We are both being hypothetical here because if SCO had as strong a case here as they say. IBM would have already settled a long time ago. But, who cares if they play nice or not.
{ A $1B judgement against IBM would certainly be felt by IBM. Not only financially, but possibly in their desire to continue working on/using Linux. SCO would also have the legal ammo to go after SUSE, RedHat, etc... and all of the companies using Linux. SCO would want their pound of flesh for patent infringements and would have legal precident to get it. The Linux community would most definately suffer if SCO wins. Just because the offending code could be replaced it doesn't mean that SCO won't bother going after monetary damages for the time that the offending code was used. }
What planet are you living on ? a billion dollars is a spit in a bucket for IBM, they have 4 billion in petty cash. Also SCO would not have any legal Ammo to go after anyone, because in the end of the IBM trial the only thing they would have is a victory over contractual violations. When and if they ever make patent infringment claims is when the real, " is itSCO's or not " will fall into play. The linux community is gathering their ammo for those trials if it ever comes to pass. Which I doubt, I see either a settlement where IBM pays SCO petty cash to make them go away and any past infingements will be forgiven. And if that doesnt work, I see either IBM buying them out or the Linux distributors forming a consortium to shut them down. I do not see where Open Source or the Linux community would suffer.