Close
  • Latest News
  • Cybersecurity
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Mobile
  • Networking
  • Storage
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • 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
Menu
Search
  • Latest News
  • Cybersecurity
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Mobile
  • Networking
  • Storage
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Latest News
    • Servers

    SCO Run-Time License Ready

    By
    Peter Galli
    -
    September 8, 2003
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      The SCO Group has been threatening corporate Linux users with legal action unless they obtain a license for its intellectual property, but until now, businesses have been unable to buy that license.

      The Lindon, Utah, company last week began selling its SCO Intellectual Property License for Linux, a run-time license that lets buyers use the companys intellectual property that is contained in Linux distributions, company officials told eWEEK. SCO, which is suing IBM for more than $3 billion and says Linux is an illegal derivative of Unix, announced the license last month. The license protects customers using Linux 2.4 and Linux 2.5 kernels from infringing on SCO intellectual property rights, officials said.

      Despite the availability of the new license, some Linux users have been unable to obtain one—or, in some cases, even inquire about it. Linux reseller Gary Sandine, chief technology officer at Los Alamos Computers, in Los Alamos, N.M., which owns and ships many GNU Linux computers, said that despite numerous calls to SCO, he has been unable to talk directly to a salesperson.

      “I have called SCO three times, and each time, an operator took my contact info and said I would get a call back. But I have heard nothing. The operator said there were legal concerns that have held up the release of the licenses,” Sandine said. “I was told that as soon as the concerns are resolved and the licenses are released for purchase, the sales staff will begin returning calls.”

      SCO Director Blake Stowell said the company is willing to negotiate pricing, especially for site- and volume-licensing users. Stowell said there has been a delay in issuing the licenses. “Since we announced that the license was available, we have been taking orders from various companies and customers interested in purchasing them,” he said. “As of Tuesday [Sept. 2], we actually began making the license available. Selling it and mailing it to someone is not something weve actually done as yet, but as of today we are able to do that.”

      Stowell said SCO was careful in crafting the license to avoid giving users the impression that “we were giving them a Unix license with carte-blanche availability to do whatever they wanted to with the code.” SCO also wants customers to be aware that the license is a binary, run-time-only license to the Unix code found in Linux. It does not give them the right to change that code or contribute it to other programs, Stowell said.

      SCO got more than 900 calls the first week after announcing the licensing program, Stowell said. Of those, 300 were serious inquiries that could immediately be followed up on, he said, adding that he did not have the figure for all the calls received to date. Some calls were from large companies, but none were Fortune 500-size companies, he said. And while Stowell said its too early to discuss legal action against companies running Linux without a license, he said SCO wont be shy about it, either. “[While] we are not hellbent on suing someone, we are willing to take that step against any company that is not willing to comply with our copyrights by taking out a license,” he said.

      Los Alamos Computers Sandine said that given the lack of information available, it would be “irresponsible of any business owner to send $699 per CPU to SCO.”

      “SCO must understand how theres no way anyone will send them anything until it comes to court,” Sandine said. “Thats why I want to speak to a sales rep and ask questions.” Major Linux vendors such as Red Hat Inc. and SuSE Linux, as well as the Free Software Foundation and the Open Source Development Lab, back Sandines view. They say Linux users have no reason to buy a license and should refrain from doing so.

      Discuss this in the eWeek forum.

      Avatar
      Peter Galli
      Peter Galli has been a financial/technology reporter for 12 years at leading publications in South Africa, the UK and the US. He has been Investment Editor of South Africa's Business Day Newspaper, the sister publication of the Financial Times of London.He was also Group Financial Communications Manager for First National Bank, the second largest banking group in South Africa before moving on to become Executive News Editor of Business Report, the largest daily financial newspaper in South Africa, owned by the global Independent Newspapers group.He was responsible for a national reporting team of 20 based in four bureaus. He also edited and contributed to its weekly technology page, and launched a financial and technology radio service supplying daily news bulletins to the national broadcaster, the South African Broadcasting Corporation, which were then distributed to some 50 radio stations across the country.He was then transferred to San Francisco as Business Report's U.S. Correspondent to cover Silicon Valley, trade and finance between the US, Europe and emerging markets like South Africa. After serving that role for more than two years, he joined eWeek as a Senior Editor, covering software platforms in August 2000.He has comprehensively covered Microsoft and its Windows and .Net platforms, as well as the many legal challenges it has faced. He has also focused on Sun Microsystems and its Solaris operating environment, Java and Unix offerings. He covers developments in the open source community, particularly around the Linux kernel and the effects it will have on the enterprise.He has written extensively about new products for the Linux and Unix platforms, the development of open standards and critically looked at the potential Linux has to offer an alternative operating system and platform to Windows, .Net and Unix-based solutions like Solaris.His interviews with senior industry executives include Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, Linus Torvalds, the original developer of the Linux operating system, Sun CEO Scot McNealy, and Bill Zeitler, a senior vice president at IBM.For numerous examples of his writing you can search under his name at the eWEEK Website at www.eweek.com.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Android

      Samsung Galaxy XCover Pro: Durability for Tough...

      Chris Preimesberger - December 5, 2020 0
      Have you ever dropped your phone, winced and felt the pain as it hit the sidewalk? Either the screen splintered like a windshield being...
      Read more
      Cloud

      Why Data Security Will Face Even Harsher...

      Chris Preimesberger - December 1, 2020 0
      Who would know more about details of the hacking process than an actual former career hacker? And who wants to understand all they can...
      Read more
      Cybersecurity

      How Veritas Is Shining a Light Into...

      eWEEK EDITORS - September 25, 2020 0
      Protecting data has always been one of the most important tasks in all of IT, yet as more companies become data companies at the...
      Read more
      Big Data and Analytics

      How NVIDIA A100 Station Brings Data Center...

      Zeus Kerravala - November 18, 2020 0
      There’s little debate that graphics processor unit manufacturer NVIDIA is the de facto standard when it comes to providing silicon to power machine learning...
      Read more
      Apple

      Why iPhone 12 Pro Makes Sense for...

      Wayne Rash - November 26, 2020 0
      If you’ve been watching the Apple commercials for the past three weeks, you already know what the company thinks will happen if you buy...
      Read more
      eWeek


      Contact Us | About | Sitemap

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      Terms of Service | Privacy Notice | Advertise | California - Do Not Sell My Information

      © 2021 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.

      ×