But analysts categorically disagreed with that viewpoint last week. "SCO is not trying to destroy Linux," said DiDio of the Yankee Group. "That's silly. This is about paying royalties."
Thats strikes an interesting question, Why should we have to pay royalties on LVM and SMP ? Shocked that I figured out what code SCO was complaining about without looking at code. You are thinking, " This guy is crazy " or " He is fishing" But if you think about it the height of SCO's complaint is that Linux surpassed UnixWare in the Enterprise Sector. For an OS to survive in the Enterprise sector what does the OS need:
Strong SMP support -- How well it handles multiple processors
Strong LVM support -- How well it handles Logical Volumes
Support for devices users are realistically expected to use -- USB, Firewire, Audio, Video, Application Support
Cost
SMP and LVM was present in UnixWare before Linux had it, Although UnixWare did not handle SMP very well at all, LVM was okay but it is nothing like what Linux had before. That is all UnixWare had. Device support, as stated before, was superior in Linux long before it was even present in UnixWare and device support in Linux is better than what UnixWare ever had. Cost is an issue and Linux will always be cheaper than Unix, and retraining IT personnel from a Unix based system to Linux based systems is nil and takes very little time. Application support is a non-issue as well, it is much easier to port a custom Application from Unix to Linux than it would be to port a custom Application from Microsoft Windows to Linux. So in the end, LVM and SMP are the only two things that Unix had over Linux.
SCO's chances in court
Im no attorney, so I do not know what exactly whats going to happen, nor can I offer any legal strategies to IBM or to SCO but I do not think SCO has much of a chance. In order for SCO to prevail, in my opinion, is that SCO will have to provide testimony from ex-employees and many developers and the history of Unix development is so muddled with failure and disorganization that it will be hard for SCO to prove its case. SCO says that it is on Linux developers to prove that they wrote the code, it is the other way around, SCO has to prove that the Linux community did actually steal it. I do not care if you show a million lines of code, without the testimony of the original developers, you are royally SOL. Ransom Love will have to testify as will all of his original team, and I think that it will be found that alot of Unix code was put into Linux by Love and his crew. In my opinion, SCO better make a reasonable settlement or pray for a buyout. If they go to court I give SCO a 20 % chance, and I give them that because we do not know how versed the judge or the jury will be in software development.
If SCO Wins
Mighty big IF. If SCO was to win, the offending code will be revealed and it will be removed and replaced. Linux and Open Source Software is too pervasive for any real damage to be done to it. Will we Professional Linux users be required to pay royalties ? It is a possibility but I doubt it. Patches will be released and some of the distributors may take a little bit of a hit because they will probably have to offer new versions of their distributions and make them available at no cost to current customers.
Conclusion
SCO will have to find a better way to reveal their "stolen" code. The way it is being done now is to flawed and raises questions of reliability. Should you switch Operating Systems or slow down Linux deployments? Once again consult your attorney because all situations are different. One of the things that has come of this case is the need for Copyright and Patent protection from the Linux community. It is an issue that will have to be addressed and Linus should form a team that Copyrights and Patents are their sole responsibility. Also, developers document everything you do and submit. I know doing documentation stinks, heck I hate doing changelogs myself but it needs to be done. Make it hard for SCO or any other company to come up and say that you are infringing their patents or copyrights. In any case, the whole SCO situation to me is both amusing and sad, amusing because what they are saying and the way they are acting is almost unbelievable. Sad because SCO thinks FUD is the only way they can be competitive.
All companies mentioned here are the registered trademarks of their respective owners. Linux is the registered trademark of Linus Torvalds and UNIX is the registered trademark of the Open Group.
- "The SCO Threat, Part 1"
- "The SCO Threat, Part 2"
