The SCO Group said today it had never planned to sue any Linux companies, had no concrete plans to sue anyone and also no current plans to take a commercial Linux customer to court. The company was responding to questions routed through its PR people in Sydney. Full story at TheAge.
No Plans to Sue Linux Companies, says SCO
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Shhh! Listen! Is that the beginning of the end I hear?
Right, and on Monday Red Hat will get a lawsuit for selling Linux and Google will get one for using them.
And on Tuesday SCO will deny having filed the lawsuits.
On Wednesday Darl McBride will claim ownership over all BSD derivatives.
On Thursday Chris Sonntag will clarify what Darl said, explaining that SCO has no ownership over BSD at all.
Yes, Darl will say on Friday. We’re suing BSD users.
Chris: No, no we’re not. By the way, we own all free software code ever written. And this is a complex copyright issue.
Darl: This is not a copyright issue.
etc …
of course, after they’ve waited for 2 months without anyone paying their stupid fee they “never” actually wanted anyone to pay.. nooo. it’s nice to see them step back. next week’s news’ll probably be somethin like “no, we never actually said that there was copyrighted code in linux, we just wanted to mention the possibility – and in addition we like james bond”
just as long as it keeps them in the news. they’re obviously trying hard to keep the stock holders from selling out and ending their pump-and-dump stock fraud scheme.
I think ‘schizophrenic’ comes to mind – they have lost their marbles – let’s not call the lawyers’, lets call a psychiatrist. oh dear and men like that are alowed to run companies ????
What, are they chicken?
No – simply history, finnished, kaputt, ari vi derci – i think that soon we will see the end of SCO.
No – simply history, finnished, kaputt, ari vi derci – i think that soon we will see the end of SCO.
at SCO. Why didn’t they clarify the WHOLE issue right from day one. If this is a contract issue why not simply state that? Also, how on earth are they expecting end users to fork over $699 for a license? how are they going to track these people?
Again, if the issue is simply contractual them sort it out in the courts, IBM vs. SCO, and drag no one else into the ring. IMHO, if I was SCO, I would simply settle the issue, grab the money and keep quiet. The only people they are hurting is themselves because in the long run, people will remember their tactics and unwillingness to negotiate.
At http://radio.weblogs.com/0120124/
GROKLAW there is speculation that this is the start of an attempted defense to the Red Hat suit.
1. http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,1223994,00.asp
SCO recently said
“We are in the process of contacting them about coming into compliance and taking a UnixWare license from us. “If they refuse to do so, we will sue them directly and see them in court”
2. http://www.cbronline.com/latestnews/62cbf9d13b40711e80256d880018c80…
SCO recently claimed:
“three groups working on identifying and approaching Linux users”, plus were preparing to take a Linux user to court
So why the change?
This really does seem like the beginning of an attempted defense to http://www.redhat.com/ Red Hat’s law suit. It would seem like a good idea for the community to collect as many examples of SCO’s legal threats as possible – especially to Linux companies and Red Hat in particular – and post them – as well as make Red Hat aware of SCO’s latest PR spin, and all the contradictory evidence in their prior actions.
SCO will sue all of you very, very soon. Just because they say there are no plans does not mean they wont. As soon as they kill IBM and Linux they will go after the customers and users of Linux. SCO’s case is unbeatable and their chances of losing are nil. I fully support SCO and I hope they get this major victory.
Redhat will sue all of the Canopy group very, very soon. Just because they say there are no plans does not mean they wont. As soon as they kill SCO and Microsoft they will go after the customers and users of Windows. Redhat’s case is unbeatable and their chances of losing are nil. I fully support Redhat and I hope they get this major victory.
… Bill Clinton’s “I never had sex with this woman”. 🙂
SCNR
scsimodo
I’m going to sue SCO’s ass with my foot.
Seth are you referring to a different case than the rest of us? SCO is screwed.
That’s their story this week. Next week I’m sure we’ll get a new one. I’m just waiting with baited breath for Darl McBribe to open his great big BS factory of a mouth and start spewing forth yet even more BS.
It’s better than watching a soap-opera! 😉
Literally, one day they say they are going to start going after Linux customers and the next day they say they have no “concrete” plans to do so. By “concrete” I guess they are qualifying that they do have plans, but that they haven’t come to a definite conclusion as to what they are going to do.
Someone poignantly pointed out the motive for more of this obfuscation–more press. As McBride stated in his opening address, the relevance of SCO as a technology company rests on how much press coverage they get rather than any contributions to the OS and computer technology world at large.
Yea right, and monkeys might fly out of my butt.
Do we know if the source (TheAge) is reliable? I don’t believe SCO really have a case, but I’ve seen enough anti-SCO FUD to doubt articles like that right now…
It’s better than watching a soap-opera! 😉
Not really – at least I can turn off soap operas when they make me sick
I think A. Smith is right. This is part of an attempt to avoid the Redhat lawsuit by saying that they’re not going after Linux companies or users at this time. It’s clear to me that SCO does not want their claims addressed in court any time soon. They want more time to create more FUD and cause as much damage to Linux (and therefore IBM’ Linux business) as they can, so that IBM will settle or buy them.
B: We’ll sue everybody
G: We’re not suing anyone
B: Linux stole our IP
G: We’re not suing anyone
B: We want $699 from everyone in the world
G: We’re not suing anyone
Looks like to the folks up at Lindon(SCO) can’t make up their minds on what they want to do.
First. . .via McBrides mouth. . .its a contract dispute so lets sue IBM for $1 Billion bucks. . .
Second. . .via McBrides mouth. . .its a contract dispute and Linux infringes on our UNIX copyrights. . .so lets sue Linux companies. . .and up the ante with IBM for $3 Billion bucks. . .
Third. . .via McBrides mouth. . .heck, while we’re at it. . .lets think about FreeBSD too because “they maybe issues there. . .”
Fourth. . .via McBrides mouth. . .well. . .well. . .we have line by line proof that Linux infringes on our code. . .sign this draconian NDA and we’ll show you. . .heck, while we’re at it. . .lets sue Linux users too because our current business model can’t generate a penny of sympathy. . . .
SCO infringing code is displayed and turns out to be old code that is not in use no more. . .McBride and Co. says its their words against ours. . .
This week. . .now they don’t intend to sue Linux companies or any company for that matter. . .hmmmm. . .and what about those letters to those 1500 companies. . .?!?! Begs for me to wonder, is that harrassment?
Unfortunately, in this country you can threaten and not put up front the evidence. . .
I propose a SCO-Needs-A-Clue Fund. . .so that we can all chip in and donate to SCO’s cause so that they can go out in the market and buy themselves a clue. . .because after IBM, RH and any other company/users that sue them. . .they’re going to need one to talk themselves out of it. . .
Ridiculous…
All of us must to sue them back!! L7… Chicken…
“Why didn’t they clarify the WHOLE issue right from day one. If this is a contract issue why not simply state that? Also, how on earth are they expecting end users to fork over $699 for a license? how are they going to track these people?”
It isn’t a contract issue, it is a stock market manipulation issue. Their problem now is how to get out with their money and without jail terms.
it is a real pity about this…
I was going to patent the code for “Hello World” and make everyone, everywhere who has ever learned to program to send me $1 to my paypal account.
Looks like I will have to change my plans for world domination…. again
All of us must to sue them back!!
Pick a date and everyone go to your local small claims court for your free 3000 SCO bucks, or whatever you can get out of them.
They might be able to defend against a handful of suits, but they can’t possibly show up to thousands or millions of them.
I don’t know if this would work or if its legal, but if you hash out the details I’m all for it. I think it’d be better for me than joining a class action lawsuit.
they had a plan in the first place..? — It certainly didn’t refrain them from suing IBM. So no *plan* doesn’t necessarily equal not sueing anyway… *lol*
personally I would Sell ASAP
“personally I would Sell ASAP
”
I love stating the obvious so here goes:
That’s their plan.
WTF! They said amny times tehy might go after rh or suse after this is over and that end users should beware and what did they send all those letters threatening companies for?
The question is whether or not by “concrete” they are referring to it’s gooey, messy state before it has dried to full hardness or not. There are many ways to interpret the word “concrete”. It’s complicated.
simple, look at the price of the stock and at how many of the stockholders have been cashing in, they pushed the price way up with all the talk of “we own this” and “sue sue sue”, i think they realized all along that they wouldn’t collect any monies from the licensing program, but it made the cause seem all the more legit and winnable from “joe public’s” point of view, smoke and mirrors,
now the real question is what will the “magic eight ball” or darl’s bowl of rice krispies tell them to do next????
SCO is stupid
You know who is really stupid in this whole fiasco, Wall Street. It is quite apparant that they are driven more by media blitz than legal, technical or any other kind of substance. Of course we all knew this from the dot-bomb era, but this case reinforces that they still have not corrected this flaw in the stock market system.
If I worked for SCO, I would be utterly disappointed that my company is being run by such complete idiots. I have to find that picture of the guy sticking his own head up his a$$ and label it ‘SCO management’. It has become so evident that they are grasping at straws.
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=11273 has an update…
Sure, they just expected everyone to send them money because they asked for it and when that didn’t happen, they rolled out plan B.
It’s really been about stock manipulation from day one. If the SEC doesn’t nail them, then it’s open season on Wall Street.
I don’t know if you noticed that The Age is featuring five other stories beside this one (linked to the right) :
The rebirth of comics
Cut to the chase
Finals fever
Bounty hunters
Something hooky
Though they deal with different subjects, these titles summarize perfectly the behaviour of SCO top executives (McBride, Stockwell and Sonntag). Maybe it was just a coincidence, maybe not.
Somebody, please, have these guys examined by a physician ! They must suffer from illnesses like schizophrenia, Parkinson or perhaps a human form of Mad Cow Disease 🙂
>>I think ‘schizophrenic’ comes to mind<<
‘schizophrenic’ like a fox maybe? Scox share up again today. US justice system asleep at the wheel. Scox insiders laughing all the way to the bank.
1) Scox gets extension against redhat injunction.
2) Scox web-server goes down (scox blames ibm backed linux community).
3) Scox web-server is back up – but changed, lots of scox claims now missing. In particular scox’s letter to linux users. It used to be here:
http://www.sco.com/scosource/letter_to_linux_customers.html
4) Archieved claims are missing – can’t be found with serch engines.
5) Scox is now saying: “we were never going to sue anybody.”
Looks like scox want to change their story, and cover their tracks.
Wow… Just when I thought the sh1t couldn’t get any deeper, it does….
lol What a waste of time all of this is. I guess the people who were really behind this hint hint starts with M ends with T. Are figuring that the smear and scare tactic is not scaring people away from good ole Tux. Cant blame them for trying though but how silly this is. All that money and they can’t buy tux or stop it. Imagine the frustration after you thought you won and have all the money in the world, thought you had people brainwashed and there spirit broken. There is a thing called kharma after all. Go Tux! Go anyone but M$
You know who is really stupid in this whole fiasco, Wall Street. It is quite apparant that they are driven more by media blitz than legal, technical or any other kind of substance. Of course we all knew this from the dot-bomb era, but this case reinforces that they still have not corrected this flaw in the stock market system.
I could never work it out. I was watching NBR from PBS (which is re-televised on SBS in Australia) and they were saying that a company has increased their profit outlook, and then they showed their share price. The share price had increased by around 69cents or something.
I then jumped onto the net to see if they offered dividends, assuming that the share buyers want to get in to reap the rewards of an increase dividend payout. Nope, they don’t offer dividends.
So, why did the share price go up? How do the share holders reap the rewards when profits increase and no dividends are given? maybe I am from the old school, but if your whole investment portfolio is based on the greater idiot buying your shares when they go up in value, doesn’t that sound like the same so-called “investment stratergy” dot-con investors used? the same ones that have shares printed on paper worth more than the companys share price itself?
“So, why did the share price go up? How do the share holders reap the rewards when profits increase and no dividends are given? maybe I am from the old school, but if your whole investment portfolio is based on the greater idiot buying your shares when they go up in value, doesn’t that sound like the same so-called “investment stratergy” dot-con investors used? the same ones that have shares printed on paper worth more than the companys share price itself?”
Buying and selling shares is a form of gambling.
You buy shares because you think that in the near future other buyers will think they are worth more than what you are paying now. You are not gambling on the actual value of the company but on changing opinions about the value of the shares.
It doesn’t have to be shares as such. Futures markets are based on estimates of future sentiment about the values of coffee, copper, and similar commodities. So is the antiques market.
Not all share buying is gambling. It is equally possible to invest in a company for the long term. In that case, you would indeed be expecting to see dividends.
But the SCO share market is pure 100% gambling, and the management are entirely focussed on pumping up the value of the shares to gamblers, so that they can sell their own shares at the peak of the market. The company was worth nothing, and they have created a story that will make share buyers think that other share buyers might think that yet other share buyers might think that the company has a big future income.
The media play a big part in helping to build up the story.
>>Blake Stowell, director of public relations at SCO, told the INQUIRER late today: “Just because we aren’t “planning” to sue Linux companies doesn’t mean we won’t. We tried to avoid suing Red Hat, but they seemed to bring the litigation upon us, not us upon them. Also, just because we are saying that we won’t sue Linux companies doesn’t mean that we won’t sue Linux customers”. <<
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=11273
SCO hired David Boies a lawyer who represented the American government against Microsoft and Al Gore in the hanging-chads episode in Florida in 2000.
The government lost against Microsoft but thinks it won. Al Gore lost and is pretty sure he got screwed.
Will David Boies perform similarly for SCO?
Actually, it’s the Mad Cow Cult.
The Mad Cow Cull failed, so we know have the Mad Cow Cult. It’s sad, really sad.