SCO License Fees Would Hurt Linux Market (ZDNet) [LWN.net]

SCO License Fees Would Hurt Linux Market (ZDNet)

Posted Jul 24, 2003 19:27 UTC (Thu) by davidl (guest, #12156)
Parent article: SCO License Fees Would Hurt Linux Market (ZDNet)

Guys and Gals,

There are many commercial companies, Microsoft included, that are funding and hiding behind Gartner's so called studies because they are absolutely desperate to stop the growth of Linux based systems.

The use of Linux only needs to reach a critical mass, which it has already done, for it to become a serious problem for Microsoft's plans for the use of hardware - namely Palladium. If the world isn't totally Microsoft-only and Microsoft-dependant by then (believe it or not it isn't now - we actually have a choice), then Palladium will simply be a closed VPN of Microsoft machines that won't be in the positions and markets that matter.

Let the kicking and squealing commence with abandon!

(Log in to post comments)

SCO License Fees Would Hurt Linux Market (ZDNet)

Posted Jul 24, 2003 20:26 UTC (Thu) by iabervon (subscriber, #722) [Link]

The precise tactics used by SCO to suggest that users might be liable for IP issues involving Linux not only apply equally well to Microsoft, but a court case is already in progress, in which Microsoft has already failed with 33 claims, which alledges that most of Microsoft's products violate the IP of another company. The ironic part is that the IP in question is DRM, which is what Microsoft would use to lock everyone in.

I can imagine a day where almost every US company wakes up to find that a large foreign company has a reasonable claim that all use of their computers violates their patents. Of course, Microsoft is now claiming to handle this for you, but that only protects you against damages, not an injunction.