From: "Joe Barr" 

On Wed, 28 May 2003 11:01:30 +0100, Adam Flinton wrote:

> Who would know the source other than sco...hummmlet me see.....hummm
> Novell?
>
>
http://rss.com.com/2100-1016_3-1010569.html?type=pt&part=rss&tag=feed&subj=ne
ws
>
> " Novell, the second of in the chain of four companies to own rights to
> the Unix operating system, is expected to challenge rights infringement
> claims that the current owner of those rights, SCO Group, is making
> against Linux.
>
> Novell is expected to assert that it retains Unix patents and copyrights
> and doesn't plan to assert those claims against Linux, the Wall Street
> Journal reported on its Web site Tuesday night. "
>
> Utah vs Utah...no home advantage.
>
> Adam

http://perens.com/Articles/SCO/BigLie.html

SCO's Big Lie

We knew that SCO's attack on Linux was a lie. But we never dreamed of the
big lie behind it.

    By Bruce Perens

This morning, Novell announced some of the terms of the company's 1995
agreement to sell its Unix business to SCO. The shocking news is that
Novell did not sell the Unix intellectual property to SCO. Instead, they
sold SCO a license to develop, sell, and sub-license Unix. The title to
Unix copyrights and patents remains with Novell. To back up this assertion,
Novell refers to public records at the Library of Congress Copyright Office
and the U.S. Patent Office.

In their announcement, Novell refers to recent letters from SCO asking
Novell to assign the Unix copyrights to SCO. So, apparently SCO's
management team knew that they did not own Unix while pursuing their sham
campaign against Linux.

Along with this revelation, Novell is reiterating its support of the Linux
and Open Source developer community, and its status as a partner in that
community. Novell rejects SCO's accusations of plagarism. Novell management
says they do not intend to stand in the way of the development of the Linux
kernel, its companion GNU system, and other Free Software.

It would be an understatement to say that this leaves SCO in a bad
position. The company has loudly and repeatedly asserted that they were the
owner of the Unix intellectual property, all of the way back to AT&T's
original development of the system 30 years ago. They've lied to their
stockholders, their customers and partners, the 1500 companies that they
threatened, the press, and the public. Their untruthful campaign caused the
loss of sales and jobs, and damaged Linux companies and developers in a
myriad of ways. And now, SCO will be the lawsuit target. SCO's first
quarterly earnings conference call is this morning, at 9 AM MST (11 AM EST,
8 AM PST). Call 800-406-5356, toll-free, to participate. You might even get
to ask a question. It should be fun to watch them try to weasel out of this
one.

Microsoft executives also have egg on their faces. The company
self-servingly rushed to buy an SCO license one business day after the
threat letter, bringing a senior attorney to the office on a Sunday to tell
the press how much Microsoft "values intellectual property."
Microsoft's management could have taken the time to analyze SCO's claims,
if the company had wanted this license for practical and technical reasons.
Their decision to buy when they did must have been motivated by a desire to
add to SCO's fear campaign. Of course they'll grab any opportunity to
spread fear about Linux, but this time Microsoft bought a pig in a poke.

SCO management, if they insist on standing in the way of a train, could
still claim that software they developed in the years since 1995 is being
infringed by the Open Source developers. That claim, always a dubious one,
will be difficult to take seriously now that their prevarication throughout
this campaign has come to light. SCO would be well advised to drop their
suit against IBM in exchange for IBM's agreement not to counter-sue. But
IBM might not feel that charitable toward SCO.

In contrast to SCO, Novell's made a friend among the Free Software
developers. We're always happy to see people using our software. But a real
partnership between an IT vendor and our community is an equal partnership,
with the company donating services and new software in exchange for the
value it receives. Novell has already placed important software under Open
Source licenses. Today, the company has done us a tremendous service, by
stomping upon an obnoxious parasite.

Bio: Bruce Perens is a director of Software in the Public Interest, Inc.,
an Open Source development organization. He operates an independent
consultancy and is a senior research scientist for Open Source at George
Washington University's Cyber Security Policy Research Institute.

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