[Talk] SCO vs. IBM - the gloves come off...

[Con Zymaris]

On Wed, Jun 18, 2003 at 12:05:04PM +0930, Greg 'groggy' Lehey wrote:
> On Tuesday, 17 June 2003 at  9:54:35 +1000, Con Zymaris wrote:
> > On Tue, Jun 17, 2003 at 09:20:32AM +1000, David Purdue wrote:
> >> In its latest press release, SCO announces:
> >>
> >> "SCO Announces Immediate Termination of IBM's Right to Use and Distribute
> >> AIX Software and Files for Permanent Injunction"
> >>
> >> (http://ir.sco.com/ReleaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=111534)
> >>
> >> SCO wants IBM to immediately stop shipping AIX and return all copies of
> >> System V source code to SCO.
> >
> > I wonder if this will ultimately lead to the more rapid diminution of (non
> > Solaris) traditional vendor UNIX(tm).
> 
> Why should it?  There's no reason to assume that IBM will even stop
> shipping AIX, let alone other vendors.  An interesting point, though

my reasoning...

If I was IBM, I would consider the fact that another firm (SCO) had some
level of control over such a critical component (AIX) of my product
(POWER-based servers) that it could derail my business strategy in that
market, a _major_ negative. I would much prefer to move to a platform
(Linux) that no other company can make legitimate claims over, and for 
which we do not need to sign licencing contracts for, but which will run 
on our expensively R&D'd hardware.

If I was a user, I would consider the fact that my vendor (IBM) could be
potentially stopped from shipping product (POWER-based servers) that I
have strategically chosen to rely upon, due to some distant-cousin IP
claim by a party (SCO) that I have no dealings with. I like the hardware
from the vendor, and want to continue with it, but want an OS that can be
guaranteed not to have a 'licence revoked' situation arise, ever. The only
OS that begins to offer the features that AIX has on that hardware
platform and offers this new imperative, is Linux.


-- 
_____________________________________________________________________________
Con Zymaris <conz at cyber.com.au> Level 4, 10 Queen St, Melbourne 03 9621 2377 
Cybersource: Unix/Linux, TCP/IP and Web App. Development  www.cyber.com.au