[NTLUG:Discuss] Microsoft Machinations

[Steve Baker]

G S wrote:
> I searched the IBM website and found no mention of the lawsuit.
> What does that say?

It's the SCO thing - SCO bought the rights to the original UNIX from AT&T.

SCO claim that IBM had signed all sorts of legal stuff to get parts of
UNIX into IBM's AIX operating system...but that IBM had gone on to graft
those parts of AIX into Linux - which would presumably be illegal in light
of IBM's agreement with SCO.

Then SCO went on to say that IBM would only be the first company they'd
sue and that RedHat, SuSE and others would follow - and that commercial
USERS of Linux would also be on the receiving end of legal action eventually.

Annoyingly, SCO won't say precisely which parts of Linux are at issue - so
the OpenSource community can't take prompt action to remove the disputed
code (presuming we'd want to of course).

The fly in the ointment for SCO is that they have sold Linux licenses
in the past.  That means that they distributed their code along with
the remainder of Linux under GPL - so it seems to many people that SCO
accidentally GPL'ed their own code - giving them no right to sue anyone
for using it.

Now we hear that Microsoft are paying SCO royalties - ostensibly to ensure
that the odd Linux box that MS might have will be 'legal'.  Of course we
know that they are just doing this to make Linux users feel that perhaps
there is something in this SCO thing after all - and also, it'll give SCO
some badly needed money to keep fighting IBM.

SCO have burned their boats on this one though - if they think that
they'll ever sell another piece of software ever again - they have another
think coming.  They have to win enough law suit money to keep themselves
afloat or they are a dead company.

Ah well - it could have been worse.  Microsoft could have *bought* SCO
for very little outlay...an M$ vs IBM fight over the rights to bits of
Linux would be a very scarey thing indeed.

---------------------------- Steve Baker -------------------------
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