Re: [tlug] Re: is there a real possibility that Sco get what itclaims?

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <stephen@example.com>]

>>>>> "Fredric" == Fredric Fredricson <fredric@example.com> writes:

    Fredric> Personally I do not doubt that SCO got it all wrong but

I think the odds that the Linux kernel repository contains SCO
property are extremely high.  A person's whose hearsay I trust (as far
as I can imagine trusting hearsay) says he knows someone who has seen
code which is licensed from SCO in Linux.

I don't think it will help SCO much against IBM, because the code is a
device driver for a specific piece of now-obsolete hardware, not IBM's.

I expect that similar things can be found scattered throughout
GNU/Linux, and the BSDs for that matter.

I really don't think that we have to worry, though (unless you own
stock in an existing company that distributes Linux).  We all know
that the vast majority of code in GNU/Linux and the *BSDs was written
by the nominal contributor as documented in CVS and ChangeLogs.  So we
just do what the Berkeley people did to settle the USL suit: write
clean-room reimplementations for the few "dirty" modules.  Then _new
commercial distros have no obligation whatsoever_ to SCO (or whoever).

Any damages (for past lost sales/license fees of SCO) that are
assessed in a victory against IBM or Red Hat will simply be transfers
from one set of money-mongers to another.  Might bankrupt some of the
commercial Linux distributors, and I feel sorry for them.  In the
medium term, a few companies that would otherwise substitute Linux for
Solaris or AIX will chicken out.  This effect could even (perversely)
generate more revenue for the "big" Linux vendors, who would have some
credibility (unlike the FSF, which can't afford to do more than
require its contributors to legally assume all copyright risks of code
they contribute) if they warrant their code base to be "pure".

But long run impact?  None, I believe.

-- 
Institute of Policy and Planning Sciences     http://turnbull.sk.tsukuba.ac.jp
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