[clug] Online protest against SCO

[Alex Satrapa]

On Friday, May 23, 2003, at 01:35 , Michael.James at csiro.au wrote:

> It's all in the URL. So sue me for using Linux.
> 3,200 signatories so far, closing tomorrow.

Can someone point me at some meat about this case?  I must admit that I 
am very grossly underinformed!

When I Google for "SCO IBM Unix Suit", all I get is:

1) a bunch of links to e-Week about the SCO CEO saying that the suit is 
"not about Linux" (great, but what is it about?)

2) Some stuff on Slashdot about "SCO System V For Linux" - does that 
mean that the SCO suit is about IBM not having the licence for SCO 
System V For Linux?  Is SSVFL something like WINE, that lets you run SCO 
Unix i386 binaries on an i386 Linux box?  Slashdot also had a response 
from Bruce Perens, and even he didn't know what the suit was about

3) Some mention about IBM running off with "proprietary knowledge" from 
Project Monterey of how to make Unix "work" on an i386 system - does 
this mean that SCO is claiming rights to a pre-emptive multitasking 
operating system, or just to particular designs of schedulers that 
"work" on that specific architecture?

4) Guff about SCO "investigating" Mac OS X (I presume they mean Darwin) 
because they think they might be able to get some money out of Apple's 
infringement of SCO IP rights - it seems that because Mac OS X and other 
BSD  styles OSes contain references to "Unix", they infringe on SCOs IP 
rights

But what's this case actually about?  Can anyone point me to the right 
place to look?

It'd be really nice to know what the case was about before I start 
supporting any side of the argument :)

I love this comment from George Weiss, quoted in a C|Net article:
> "There's a fear that SCO is using this as a means of either selling the 
> company or desperately attempting to find some other business model as 
> an alternative to their current software business," Weiss said. "I 
> would advise SCO (Unix) users that they should have a contingency plan 
> or migration plan to an alternate platform."

i.e: Prepare to abandon ship!