[NTLUG:Discuss] One analyst thinks SCO claim is valid

[Darin W. Smith]

On Fri, 06 Jun 2003 08:25:44 -0700, Kipton Moravec <kip at kdream.com> wrote:

> Here is an article where one analyst compared the code from Linux and
> Unix System V.
>
> "She was shown several instances where the source code and developer's 
> comments in one operating system were the same as in the other operating 
> system. "
>
> http://informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=10300314
>
> Kip
>

Pointing out the obvious:

This does not prove that the code in Linux is lifted from SCO's System V-- 
or even who did it if it was.

The code, if plagerized, could have come from something more ancient and 
been put in both systems independently.

SCO, for all I can see, could've lifted code from Linux and placed it in 
their own product.  SCO's refusal to open this up for the entire world to 
see...but only folks that they put some really stiff restrictions on, and 
IMO now "own"...makes me lean very much towards suspecting there is really 
nothing there.

The fact is, SCO, and not IBM or anyone else, was in the best position to 
transplant code from one OS to another.

Even if code from a Sys V Unix made its way into Linux, and even if that 
happened at IBM, it is very unlikely that such code constitutes a "trade 
secret" (what this case is about, legally) as much ancestral Unix code has 
been available for quite a long time.

One problem I have with the analysts likely to be looking at this under 
SCO's NDA is that many of them may have no clue what they are looking at.  
Anyone in their right mind who is often involved in developing device- 
drivers or kernel code on any Unix or Unix-like OS would never sign that 
NDA.  It basically says they'd have to change careers to avoid being sued 
by a company that has already proven to bite the hand that feeds it.

I am reminded of what Mark Twain said:
"If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite 
you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man."

I think that will now go in my sig file.

-- 
D!
Darin W. Smith
AIM: JediGrover