Linux Law And Order
The general consensus among the Linux faithful is that the legal battles have not slowed adoption of the open-source operating system. Until SCO discloses which code specifically is in violation, customers should not worry about adopting Linux, they said.
Nevertheless, one solution provider said the litigation does raise concerns. "Nobody puts credence in [the SCO suit], but everybody knows that with the legal system, weird things can happen," said Joe Lindsay, CTO of eBuilt, Costa Mesa, Calif. "I haven't heard anyone changing their [Linux] plans. But the lawsuit bugs people %85 because it bothers everybody when the legal system is being used or abused."
The Linux happenings came as several thousand people gathered last week at the LinuxWorld Conference and Expo in San Francisco. The news broke fast and furious.
Last Monday, Linux distributor Red Hat slapped SCO with a suit asking the courts to force SCO to prove which Linux source code violates its Unix license. Raleigh, N.C.-based Red Hat also set up a fund to defray possible legal costs Linux customers may face from SCO, which claims the Linux 2.4 and 2.5 kernels violate its copyrighted Unix System V source code.
On Tuesday, SCO revealed its pricing for a license the company said gives users the right to run Linux without violating SCO's Unix license. Each run-time-only license will cost a one-time fee of $699 for a single-CPU system until Oct. 15 and, after that date, will jump to $1,399.
IBM, which thus far had been defending itself against SCO's charges verbally, filed a counterclaim against SCO in a federal court in Utah late Wednesday. IBM not only denied SCO's claims but countersued SCO for patent infringement on IBM's intellectual property; for violating the General Public License, which details how the source code can be copied, distributed and modified; and for improperly claiming the right to revoke IBM's Unix license.
"It's getting uglier. %85 There is no doubt that SCO is using something that IBM patented. I don't normally agree with patent abuse [litigation] but if this makes SCO die faster, pound away, IBM," said Anthony Awtrey, vice president of I.D.E.A.L. Technology, a solution provider in Orlando, Fla. He said rather than using indemnification, vendors will fight SCO with lawsuits.
SuSE Linux CEO Richard Seibt said SuSE's customers to date are unaffected. "Our customers are still buying," he said. Because of the lack of evidence supporting SCO's claims, Seibt said there is no "need at this time" for vendors to indemnify users.
Also making tongues wag last week was Novell's surprise purchase of Ximian and Sun's demo of its Mad Hatter open-source Linux desktop OS during a keynote address by Sun Software Executive Vice President Jonathan Schwartz. Both events underscored the possibilities for Linux to compete successfully with Microsoft on the desktop.