Close
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Latest News
    • Servers

    SCO Keeps Going… and Going… and Going

    By
    Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols
    -
    September 16, 2003
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      If you didnt know anything about The SCO Groups recent history, youd swear that SCO CEO Darl McBride was the voice of kindness and pure reason in his recent open letter to the open-source community .

      But some of us dont have a taste for SCOs Kool-Aid. I wont go as far as open-source leaders Eric Raymond and Bruce Perens, who called the statement “a farrago of falsehoods, half-truths, evasions, slanders, and misrepresentations”; Id just call it the best example of “spin” since Clinton declared that he had not had a sexual relationship with a White House intern.

      So why did McBride do it? I think SCO and its chief executive continue their very public war on all things Linux for two reasons. The first is plain and simple: On the stock market, SCOs continued war dance plays well and drives the stock to ever higher numbers. So when SCO doesnt have any real news, the company pulls what is essentially a PR stunt to keep its name in the headlines.

      The other reason: By baiting open-source advocates, SCO continues to try to make people think that the open-source community is a collection of ranting hackers with no more respect for intellectual property than 13-year-olds downloading pirated Good Charlotte tracks. In short, SCO is conducting a smear campaign.

      As for McBrides request that SCO and the open source community work together at his letters end… come on! Thats just silly. You dont accuse people of covering up Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks and intellectual-property theft, lecture them on copyright and Linux business models, and really expect them to respond with anything but anger.

      Linus Torvalds, in his own open letter, to SCO opened up with the subject: “Open letter to Darl McBride—please grow up.” And that kind of says it all.

      But, why should McBride want to grow up? So long as he can keep the waters of public opinion boiling, SCO can achieve its real goals.

      I dont think though that in the long run this constant stirring up of trouble will prove in SCOs best interests.

      Lets go back to Clinton. The man was a liar, but in the end he got away with it. Why? Well, mostly because of Politics 101: There were more Democrats than Republican in the Senate. But, there was another factor.

      Kenneth Starr, the independent counsel, was seen as an attack dog who was always trying to pick a fight with Clinton. Something, come to think of it, like SCO is now doing with the open-source community. With Clinton, people eventually got sick and tired of the constant uproar. So it was when the impeachment trial finally came to its head, there was no public outcry against Clinton that might have shifted Senate votes.

      I think SCO, knowing in its heart of hearts it cant win in the courts for any number of reasons—first and foremost, it did release its own “copyrighted” Unix code for years as Linux under the GPL—has been trying to win in the court of public opinion. It makes for exciting headlines; but in the end, Starr lost the hearts and minds of the public, and I suspect SCO will, too.

      Linux & Open Source Center Editor Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols has been using and writing about Unix and Linux since the late 80s and thinks he may just have learned something about them along the way.

      Discuss this in the eWEEK forum.

      Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols
      I'm editor-at-large for Ziff Davis Enterprise. That's a fancy title that means I write about whatever topic strikes my fancy or needs written about across the Ziff Davis Enterprise family of publications. You'll find most of my stories in Linux-Watch, DesktopLinux and eWEEK. Prior to becoming a technology journalist, I worked at NASA and the Department of Defense on numerous major technological projects.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Big Data and Analytics

      Alteryx’s Suresh Vittal on the Democratization of...

      James Maguire - May 31, 2022 0
      I spoke with Suresh Vittal, Chief Product Officer at Alteryx, about the industry mega-shift toward making data analytics tools accessible to a company’s complete...
      Read more
      Cybersecurity

      Visa’s Michael Jabbara on Cybersecurity and Digital...

      James Maguire - May 17, 2022 0
      I spoke with Michael Jabbara, VP and Global Head of Fraud Services at Visa, about the cybersecurity technology used to ensure the safe transfer...
      Read more
      Applications

      Cisco’s Thimaya Subaiya on Customer Experience in...

      James Maguire - May 10, 2022 0
      I spoke with Thimaya Subaiya, SVP and GM of Global Customer Experience at Cisco, about the factors that create good customer experience – and...
      Read more
      Cloud

      IGEL CEO Jed Ayres on Edge and...

      James Maguire - June 14, 2022 0
      I spoke with Jed Ayres, CEO of IGEL, about the endpoint sector, and an open source OS for the cloud; we also spoke about...
      Read more
      Big Data and Analytics

      GoodData CEO Roman Stanek on Business Intelligence...

      James Maguire - May 4, 2022 0
      I spoke with Roman Stanek, CEO of GoodData, about business intelligence, data as a service, and the frustration that many executives have with data...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2022 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×