Analysis of SCO vs. IBM

icantblvitsnotbutter writes "An excellent -- and clear! -- article over at LinuxWorld.com has a multipoint analysis of SCO's 40-page complaint (this is a brief?!). For all those IANAL's out there, here's something to sink your teeth into. On the balance, the outlook seems positive for IBM. Still, the parallel invocation of a contractural clause potentially nixing AIX lends some credence to claims that this is a just way for SCO to coerce IBM into buying them out..." Some old documents from a similar lawsuit have surfaced, and naturally ESR has his own take on the case.

ESR chimes in as well???

[Anonymous Coward]

Will wonders never cease? LOL

In other news...

[presroi]

IBM has released a notification that they finally understood the argument in the SCO paper.

for linus

[Anonymous Coward]

#include

if(sco.suing(ibm)) {
panic();
}

Aww...

[Joe the Lesser]

This alleged action strengthens Linux, and, because Linux is no-cost or almost-no-cost, it cuts the legs out from under SCO's market.

[intense cynical sarcasm]

Damn free stuff always screwing us over.

[/intense cynical sarcasm]

ESR's Take on the Case

[Anonymous Coward]

"Freep wibble hatstand! If IBM all had guns, they'd have shot SCO dead by now and it would have been their civic duty and we'd all be free of this insanity. Pass my AK homie. Fish custard ruhbarb and out."

Patent Application

[vogon jeltz]

Patent application for a device, made of fabrics like, but not limited to cotton, silk or wool, sewed to, or into garments like, but not limited to, pants, coats, underwear, shirts, etc, which permits to store objects like, but not limited to cellphones, sandwiches, glasses etc, in order to not having them to carry around by hand ("manually").

A pocket? You mean there IS prior art?
~

Wait...I've seen this movie before.

[YetAnotherName]

IBM: Here's one.
Judge: Ninepence.
SCO: I'm not dead!
Judge: What?
IBM: Nothing. Here's your ninepence.
SCO: I'm not dead!
Judge: 'Ere. He says he's not dead!
IBM:Yes, he is.
SCO: I'm not!
Judge: He isn't?
IBM: Well, he will be soon. He just filed a 9000 word legal brief.

In ESR's take...

[DJPenguin]

Amicus Curiae - what the hell does that mean? Is it latin for Anonymous Coward?

You bet this is a Brief

[ebuck]

I would think that after all of the legal (and pseduo-legal) stuff that gets posted and referenced here at ./, nearly everyone would realize that in legal circles, "Brief" is a technical term neither describing the length of the document, nor the time it takes to read one.

Or should I just make an analogy to a brief COBOL program?

Re:Random Programming

[garignak]

Hmm, that could explain why SCO is nearly dead. :)

I thought the kernel was written in Perl

[Anonymous Coward]

And they were going to rename it the Pernel to make it clearer.

obligatory GNU joke

[leomekenkamp]

Averment 77: Related to the development of the open source software development movement in the computing world, an organization was founded by former MIT professor Richard Stallman entitled "GNU."

RMS may be surprised to learn he is a former MIT professor.

He is not; he is a former GNU/MIT professor.

he's just resting

[greenalbatros]

they do that your Norweigan Blue. Beautiful plumage!

Re:Patent Application

[klocwerk]

I try not to keep sandwiches in my underwear.
But hey, whatever floats your boat.

Re:Can they not proofread?

[Anonymous Coward]

Hoe could they release a document with so many factual and grammatical errors? I would have thought the lawyers would at least do a little proofreading and fact checking.

I don't know.. Hoe could they not proofread?

Re:Can they not proofread?

[bert33]

Luckily I don't plan on basing a lawsuit on the contents of that post.

SCO Threatens To Revoke IBM's Unix License

[rpiquepa]

As some of you said, there were many stories published about the SCO vs IBM lawsuit. But I don't think I saw any comments about this Forbes [forbes.com] story. Here is a short quote: "Not only has SCO Group filed a $1 billion lawsuit against IBM for misappropriation of trade secrets, but the tiny company says it will yank IBM's Unix license in 100 days if it does not cease what SCO deems are anti-competitive practices."

Why UNIX kernel must not be GPLed!

[Bull999999]

Remember the movie Dogma by Kevin Smith? Here's the rundown of it.

"A female decendant of Christ and two unlikely prophets are called upon by Rufus, an unknown 13th apostle, to stop two angels, that were cast out of heaven, from unknowingly erasing all of God's work by restoring their souls by entering a new church. Restoring ones soul by entering a new church is a part of the Catholic Dogma, and by restoring their souls the angels could reenter heaven thus revealing there is a loophole to return to heaven. This would prove God was not perfect and upon proving this all of God's work would immediately be erased."

If IBM buys SCO outright or from the smothering runins, IBM will gian the rights to UNIX and may also chose to release it under GPL. If someone decides to use the UNIX kernel using GNU O/S, it will become GNU/UNIX.

GNU's Not UNIX/UNIX???

This contridiction will bring calmady to the IT world and bring end the free software movement (including GPL).

nixing?

[Spudley]

Somehow, "nixing" seems to be an oddly appropriate word usage here.... :-D

Re:SCO/IBM....what's this all about?

[AxelTorvalds]

Well, to distill it down to the basics, SCO is masochistic. It would appear that they like it rough and hard and through the, how do you put this?, they like it hard through the "back oriface" So how do you satisfy such a desire? You pick on the biggest, toughest, guy you can see.

Ironic that they are trying to stop AIX sales, IBM makes more money on AIX sales each year than SCO has grossed since their beginning. AIX sales simply won't be stopped. And then to accuse IBM, of all companies, of misappropriating SCO source and technology? There are some very talented lawyers in IBM's employ, SCO might be trying to get bought it's a real possibility but that stuff doesn't happen like that to IBM. They can play really dirty when you try to bully them and they don't lose very often. The question could become "is it cheaper to pay to convert SCOs customers to Linux and let them die or buy them"

Re:Slashdot interview...

[technomom]

Damn it! I hate it when non-IBMers attack IBM without getting the facts right.

It's not a committee. It's a TASK FORCE!

JoAnn