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Re: [News] 'SCO Nuisance' Nearing its End?

On 2006-06-13, Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> SCO Group's Legal Expenses Double Losses
>| SCO, also embroiled in Linux-related, federal suits involving Novell
>| Latest News about Novell, Red Hat Latest News about Red Hat and AutoZone,
>| further endured a precipitous slide in receipts. The company recorded
>| $7.12 million in revenue for the quarter, down 23 percent from the
>| $9.25 million reported this time last year. 

 I don't want them to fold yet! Wait until the beginning of August or
so, when IBM can file for summary judgement and dismiss most/all of
SCO's claims. (And then SCO needs to make it to October when the final
replies on the dispositive motions are due.)

 Most of the SCO effort against Linux has failed. It didn't do more than
slow Linux adoption slightly (if at all), and the suit itself is widely
regarded as - at most - limited in impact to IBM, and at worst baseless.

 The main thing it's shown is that lawsuits against Linux in general
will tend to be expensive and unprofitable. My personal estimation is
that SCO really hoped (perhaps even expected) IBM would buy them out.
But IBM saw that would just invite all kinds of parasitic nuisance
lawsuits. Best to spend money on lawyers and visibly and thoroughly
crush the whole notion of the tactic.

 Then there's things like Groklaw which have extended open-source-like
techniques to the area of law. Discovering prior art, brainstorming
legal strategies, providing clearinghouses for information and research,
and publicizing discoveries. The OSS world is legally a much harder
target now.

 So overall the SCO lawsuit has been good for Linux and open-source/free
software in general. But there are still a few more achievements that
could be made. A major face-slap to SCO would go a long way toward
blunting what legal FUD remains.

 Ideally, SCO digs in their heels and takes it all the way to trial
after getting much of their case gutted by summary judgement. I think
there's a decent chance of that; even if SCO backs off, I still think
IBM would maintain their counterclaims and go for some SCOrched earth.
(One of those counterclaims is for GPL violations; *that* would be fun
to see in court. I have no doubt IBM would win, but it would help shut
certain trolls and FUDsters up.) So SCO has the choice of sticking it
out on the off-chance of a win, or closing the business completely.

 Frankly, I think they'd be wisest to just close up shop. But they
haven't shown much wisdom ere now; I can hope they won't gain any for a
while longer.

-- 
 Sincerely,

 Ray Ingles                                              (313) 227-2317

 I remember when people said Linux would never be more than a toy. Then
 they said it was capable of some neat things, but would never be used
  in a business. Then they said it could be used for small things in a
  business, but it'd never scale to the high end. Now, it's fine in a
      server role, but will never be any good as a desktop...

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