[TriLUG] SCO has modified their legal argument

[al johson]

The following is another article about SCO vs. IBM (and LINUX) from
Lockergnome's Tech Specialist newsletter 6/17 entitled "Magneto
Overhaul"--Al Johnson
=====================

As The Gavel Turns

The legal headlines continue, with SCO amending its lawsuit against IBM. Now
seeking $3 billion from IBM, SCO is making all sorts of claims about its
code being included in Linux software, which IBM has been selling. The suit
even goes so far as to name Linux creator Linus Torvalds as a party
responsible for letting the code into Linux. Quite the mess, and I have to
question the motives of the suit, given the following quote from CNET's
article:

Gone is the statement, "Prior to IBM's involvement, Linux was the software
equivalent of a bicycle. Unix was the software equivalent of a luxury car."
Also missing is the statement, "It is not possible for Linux to rapidly
reach Unix performance standards for complete enterprise functionality
without the misappropriation of Unix code, methods or concepts to achieve
such performance, and coordination by a larger developer, such as IBM."

But the original idea is still intact: Redesigning Linux for use by
demanding business customers "is not technologically feasible or even
possible at the enterprise level without (a) a high degree of design
coordination, (b) access to expensive and sophisticated design and testing
equipment; (c) access to Unix code and development methods; (d) Unix
architectural experience; and (e) a very significant financial investment,"
the amended suit says.

As I weaved through CNET headlines, Linus Torvalds came up again. It may
interest you to know that Linus has moved into a more formal position with
regard to the development of the 2.6 kernel, having joined the Open Source
Development Lab as a full-time code crafter. Linus quips: "It feels a bit
strange to finally officially work on what I've been doing for the last
twelve years, but with the upcoming 2.6.x release it makes sense to be able
to concentrate fully on Linux..."