[TriLUG] SCO puts disputed code in the spotlight

[al johnson]

On Tuesday 19 August 2003 12:33 am, you wrote:
> > XFS wasn't standard on SGI systems when I started working with them
> > at the end of 1994.  It wasn't until later in 1995 that SGI started
> > shipping it as the default filesystem.  I don't know how much
> > earlier it was created, but it sounds like it was about the same
> > time as JFS.
>
> I may be wrong in stating XFS has been around for seems like forever,
> but I do know that XFS shipped before JFS. We lost a few installations
> (What the sales rats called "deals") because IRIX had journaling and
> AIX did  not.
>
> I suppose my point is not which journaled file system shipped first, but
> that SCO is lying (What's new...) and someone or some organization
> needs to publically wash SCO's mouth out with soap (Perferably, lye
> soap...).
>
> Best
>
> M. Peck Dickens
=========================================
Along these lines, there is a very interesting article in the first issue of 
"Linux World Magazine" on the newstands at Barnes and Noble now.
In an article written by Eric S. Randolph entitled "Who owns Unix?" (pp. 
79ff.) This article is naturally too long to quote in entirety, because the 
subject is very complicated, and esp. because it is in the form of an 
interview. I thought our group might be interested in the URL's that are 
referred to by Eric in defense of his premise that essentially "No one owns 
Unix". So here they are: www.opensource.org/sco-vs-ibm.html  is the first. 
In discussion of who owns the Unix patents and copyrights we do know one 
thing for certain: "the transfer of the copyrights (if any) was never 
recorded with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office". According to Eric, 
"That has interesting legal implications, and may be the reason SCO hasn't 
come out and made an explicit copyright infringement claim in the lawsuit."
The next URL is http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews?030528/law059 1.html---which says 
that SCO has "basically admitted they've got no grounds to sue anybody but 
IBM".  They have of course "changed their minds", but Eric thinks this is 
just "bluster". Eric says he's discussed this with several other lawyers in 
this field who say the same thing, because "When you think you have a strong 
case in court, you don't fight it in the media."  In other words, Eric says, 
"SCO would scare me worse if they weren't huffing and puffing". There are a 
few other interesting URL's also cited in this article, and here they are: 
www.catb.org/~esr  and www.opensource.org/sco-vs-ibm.html and  
www.opensource.org/sco-vsibm.html#seismic -----
I hope I haven't made too many typos in these URL's, I haven't figured out 
how to make my fonts larger in KDE Mail.:-)  ---73, Al Johnson