SCO vs. Linux

[DaleDoe]

Have you guys been watching the news of SCO's lawsuits?  

SCO anounced it's suing the linux end-users AutoZone and DaimlerChrysler for using Linux (slashdot).  SCO claims IBM stole intellectual property (IP) from SCO's Unix system V, which it bought from Novell nine years ago.

For those not following the story thus far, SCO is suing IBM for ellegedly stealing code and IP from SCO's Unix and encorporating it into recent versions of the Linux kernel.  For a slightly biased account of what has transpired up to January, see theSalt Lake City Weekly.

Recently, SCO demanded that it be paid $699 per server, and $199 per desktop using Linux.  After being largely ignored, today SCO announced they are suing Autozone and DaimlerChrysler.

Interestingly, SCO has not released evidence of copyright infringement.  They may not even have the copyright to System V Unix, as Novell claims as it the copyright and has recently filed suit against SCO  (Novell.com).  Novell is partially owned by IBM, and and avid supporter of Linux, as well as the owner of SUSE Linux.

Now I'll give my opinion in hopes of sparking debate or at least some commentary.  This lawsuit could dramatically impact the future of Linux, and with it, the open source community as a whole.

1. I find it strange that SCO is demanding money from and suing end-users even though it hasn't shown proof of its claims of ownership.  It would surprise me if the end-users being sued don't countersue.

2. You can buy Windows for less money that SCO is charging for their illeged piece (SCO claims about 20%) of Linux.  I'm not paying that!  They can sue me.  As if I have any money! :lol:

[Michael Kennedy]

Sprinkle in the fact that Microsoft bought some licenses from them (to help with SCO's legal muggings) and that you couldn't actually buy one of the $699 licenses that they were telling people to buy and this gets more interesting/more stupid.

[William Grim]

The thing about SCO suing AutoZone is not that it harms AutoZone (in fact, from what I've read, it would have minimal financial impact on them since they are only an end-user that recently ported code to Linux).  Instead, the interesting thing about SCO suing AutoZone (a Fortune 500 company) is that if they make AutoZone pay up or switch to another OS (which might be likely since, like I said, reports indicate that switching from Linux would have minimal financial impact on them) would be a large win for SCO in the eyes of the consumer.

While this may not help with their case against IBM, it could hamper future investors' outlooks on Linux as they seek a way to improve efficiency and lessen computing costs.

[DaleDoe]

Here's an interesting article related to SCO, but it brings up a controvercial software-related issue that I was unaware of:  "invisible ink" in Microsoft Office documents.

zdnet