A.P. Lawrence

SCO Winners and losers

Fri Nov 21 20:51:39 GMT 2003 SCO Winners and losers

Link: SCO: Winners and Losers

I don't entirely disagree with this article, but I do have a few slightly contrary thoughts:

• IBM: Let's not forget that IBM is only being friendly to Open Source because it suits their purposes in their competition with Microsoft. IBM can (and surely will, someday) turn on you just as viciously and as dispassionately as any other Evil Empire.
• RedHat: I think they've screwed themselves big time by dropping the free versions, so if they do get any advantage from this, it's cancelled out.
• Groklaw: Umm, what are they going to write about after this?
• RMS & FSF: The only reason that the GPL hasn't been challenged in court is that it was cheaper to settle. In no way is it "so legally sound it has never been challenged in court". That's balderdash. I don't mean that I think it's unsound: I'm not a lawyer. But some lawyers think it might be weak, and until that does go to court, the issue is open to debate.
• Open Source Community: Aside from the obvious fact that it ain't over till the big German woman sings, it remains to be seen what the fallout will be. Even with total vindication, people could be afraid of the next lawsuit.
• Microsoft: Don't kid yourself. Microsoft gains from every nasty little bit of this.

Psst - Wanna work for yourself?

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