[Talk] Pay now, or risk the wrath of SCO!

[Greg 'groggy' Lehey]

On Tuesday, 22 July 2003 at 14:34:25 +1000, David Purdue wrote:
> SCO wants all Linux enterprise users to buy UnixWare licences to cover
> their use of Linux.
>
> The story is in The Age:
>
> http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/07/22/1058639769264.html
>
> SCO's press release is at:
>
> http://ir.sco.com/ReleaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=114170
>
> "SCO will hold harmless commercial Linux customers that purchase a
> UnixWare license against any past copyright violations, and for any future
> use of Linux in a run-only, binary format."

I said a while back that nothing would surprise me any more.
Admittedly, it's been looking like they were going to do something
like this for some time now.

> How to turn FUD into cash!

So far it's just FUD.  Well, maybe it's extreme stupidity as well.
I'd be very suspicious of any company which is really prepared to pay
license fees for the use of unspecified functionality: it's more
likely that they're doing it to help sustain the FUD.

> What's the bet that a whole raft of companies will go and buy
> UnixWare licences just as an insurance against the SCO litigation
> going against Linux?

I bet against, modulo the paragraph above.

I really have difficulty taking a company seriously that makes
unsubstantiated claims and then wants to have money on their basis.
Even if there is UnixWare code in Linux (and not the other way round,
as many suspect), there must be the option of removing it.

Greg
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