|
SCO takes the fight to Linux users |
|
|
|
Thursday, 04 March 2004 |
There has been plenty of FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) spread by SCO lately about Linux. I haven't blogged about the whole mess in some time because while plenty of news stories popped up the situation wasn't fundamentaly changing. SCO continued to make claims about their intellectual property illegally being used in Linux but refused to provide evidience to prove those claims, while IBM, RedHat, and the rest of the OpenSource community fought back with countersuits and demands to see proof.
SCO took the liberty of wiriting a letter to congress about the "plague" of OpenSource (more discussion here). Minor court rulings were made one way or another and SCO did finally release some code. Also along the way a few angry anarchists unleashed the MyDoom virus to DoS the SCO website.
Today SCO "kicked it up a notch" by suing two users of Linux - DaimlerChrysler and AutoZone (/. and news.com coverage). This is disturbing. More than any other previous action by SCO this has a chance of discouraging people from using Linux. Now when companies or individuals consider Linux they also have to consider the likelyhood and cost of being sued.
I hope the courts act quickly to send these cases where the belong - the bit bucket!
News.com just published this article covering industry reaction to this move. They interviewed Linus himself via email who calls the whole mess a "charade". Well put, Linus. ;)
There is one light hearted bit to come out of all this: Netcraft reports the web server of the district court where SCO filed suit runs Linux.
Speaking of servers running Linux... This server runs Linux, so come sue me, SCO.
Powered by AkoComment 2.0! and SecurityImage 3.0.4 |
