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My legal assessment (Im not a lawyer TM) :- IMHO SCO's law suit is riddled with inaccuracies and contradictory holes. If any of the historical evidence that has lead to this situation is to believed then SCO wont have a leg to stand on in any fair and rationale court of law. Of course we dont live in a fair or rationale world but putting that aside, any case brought against IBM (who are SCO Groups main target) will lead to heightened media attention, and anything that brings GPL into the public domain will get people thinking. I think that GPL is ready (although it is not being directly challenged here), and the Open Source community may just witness their own coming of age with "IBM" as their "older" brother there to assist them. If Microsoft have bought licences from SCO as rumoured in the press, and even if Microsoft want to buy SCO its their affair, however if the arguments are put forward correctly in court two key facts will emerge. 1. Both UNIX and Linux have both been developed in a "community" so proof of ownership is difficult. 2. Linux is a "from scratch" implementation of UNIX and has nothing to do with what IP SCO owns (or claims to own) now. I hope it will prove how impractical IP law has become in a free Internet based society where ideas are prone to (rapid) cross fertilisation. But thats more of a hope than a certainty. Bottom line .... This will keep the lawyers pockets lined for a while. My commercial assessment of what SCO are doing Its interesting to note that share prices of SCO went up considerably when the suit was first announced (dont know / care what they are now). Now it would be interesting to see if certain key figures in SCO have cashed in yet or not (esp. when share prices fall). If there is anyone with technical competence within SCO they will know that the outcome of this suit is at the least doubtful and risky. Of course, on the other hand if they have seen the writing on the wall one could be very cynical and suggest that SCO manufactured this in order to make on last quick buck for the shareholders. Other commercial interests If linux has gained enough momentum ( and I am not sure on this one ) many companies and institutions will be thinking "how much will I loose if IBM loose ?". Bill Gates got one thing right (hate to admit this) Linux is "parasitic" in that it finds its ways into corporations and institutions in the most obscure places, it may not be officially recognised but its there and its doing a job, in most cases cheaply and reliably. Who would want to remove it ? For example look at the open source projects being funded by the likes of the German Government (to name but one). There are a lot of commercial vested interest that would like to see linux continue, if the MD's cant see it the techies in the organisations will show them just how much their companies will bleed without it. Many people say Linux isn't commercial, maybe it isn't, but commercial value it has plenty of. If your in business and you cant see that then your in trouble or soon will be. Conclusions Linux / Open source is a survivour. It is everybodies "brother", but nobodies "slave". If you want to make sure of the correct result put out a distress call across the internet, mobolise the techies to lobby their companies MD's / CEO's and show them what they will loose without Open Source Linux. Tom. Information in this message is confidential and may be legally privileged. It is the intended solely for the person ( or persons) to whom it is addressed. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender, and please delete the message from your system immediately. The views in this message are personal, they are not necessarily those of Torbay Council. -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG Mail majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxx with "unsubscribe list" in the message body to unsubscribe.