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Open Source thieves stealing my American code - SCO boss (The Register)
SCO's CEO Darl McBride
takes his rampage against Linux into the realm of
US Homeland Security.
"SCO Group chief executive Darl McBride has attempted to nudge the Homeland Security Advisory alert back up towards Red, by accusing foreign interests of undermining US national security in a draft letter to Congressmen.
How are they doing this?
"Instead of UNIX from any number of US companies or Windows from Microsoft, governments throughout Europe and Asia are using Linux… I find this particularly galling because that Linux software contains thousands of lines of my company's proprietary UNIX code - for which we receive no revenue.""
Thanks to Dr. DJ Clark.
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Open Source thieves stealing my American code - SCO boss (The Register) Posted Jan 22, 2004 22:52 UTC (Thu) by NerdlyMcGeek (guest, #8453) [Link] " "Another" commie under every bed"McBride is clearly suffering from some form of mental distress or illness due to the impending implosion of SCO etc, etc,
Open Source thieves stealing my American code - SCO boss (The Register) Posted Jan 23, 2004 10:20 UTC (Fri) by janpla (guest, #11093) [Link] You wrote: " McBride is clearly suffering from some form of mental distress or illness due to the impending implosion of SCO etc, etc,"Of course - it's called 'desperation'. They are all but dead now, and looming ahead is the prospect of criminal charges. /jan
Open Source thieves stealing my American code - SCO boss (The Register) Posted Jan 22, 2004 23:28 UTC (Thu) by hans (subscriber, #148) [Link] Did he say "thousands of lines"? Didn't it used to be "millions of lines"?I guess they've finally decided that lines containing only white space or an opening or closing brace don't count.
"Millions" -> "Thousands" Posted Jan 23, 2004 2:23 UTC (Fri) by Duncan (guest, #6647) [Link] I was just going to make the same point, but you beat me to it.Either they're just picking whatever number out of the air suits their mood, or they figured out that the "millions of lines" claim, when there aren't /that/ /many/ "millions of lines" of code in the kernel in the /first/ place, just wasn't credible, and was now more damaging to their claims than supportive, as reporters began to actually do their job and investigate a bit, rather than just publishing the claims at face value. Or.. perhaps they figured congress would figure that out, but the popular press wouldn't, thus placing congress somewhere in the middle, between the courts, where their claims have been significantly less inflated, and the press, where they've obviously been more inflated. Duncan
"Millions" -> "Thousands" Posted Jan 23, 2004 3:06 UTC (Fri) by ccchips (guest, #3222) [Link] If you were at all involved in the marijuana reform movement in the 1960's and 1970's, you'd know that the anti-marijuana forces, their politicians, and their press suckups, changed numbers whenever it suited them....which should remind you, not to throw cold water or anything, that this SCO thing could still go any way, depending on how the rich folks duke it out. It's easy to forget that wealthy people don't give a rat's ass what poor people contribute to each other, or to them. Not when push comes to shove. We may be seeing this in the way Sun rich folks are attacking IBM rich folks right now. The astrologers say it's going to take about 500 years before this shit ends. Meanwhile, we all have to keep pushing for equality and freedom and individual (vs. corporate) rights, which, after all, have only been half-seriously codified for 200 years now.
Open Source thieves stealing my American code - SCO boss (The Register) Posted Jan 23, 2004 2:14 UTC (Fri) by stumbles (guest, #8796) [Link] Oh I get it, Darl is dyslexic. What he meant to say is, SCO are thieves stealingAmerica's Open Source code.
Only SCO can use GPL code Posted Jan 23, 2004 10:22 UTC (Fri) by dtrinh (guest, #7256) [Link] In my opinion, what McBride means is no one can use Open Source code, but SCO. SCO can deliver Samba, Apache in their products, because they are good and free of loyalty. The end users must pay for SCO - and no one else - to use open source software. I think SCO make a very good decision.Go for it, SCO.
Open Source thieves stealing my American code - SCO boss (The Register) Posted Jan 23, 2004 10:41 UTC (Fri) by j-harris (subscriber, #18472) [Link] Surely it must be possible to hit McBride with some kind of 'bloody idiot tax' - he'd owe millions! Having said that I almost look forward to his claims, they certainly have an entertainment value.cheers all Jamie...
Open Source thieves stealing my American code - SCO boss (The Register) Posted Jan 23, 2004 20:06 UTC (Fri) by mmarq (guest, #2332) [Link] "...they certainly have an entertainment value. "hmmm,... this SCO's McBride barking, looks more and more with one of those *Very Annoying* little dogs, found in any modern city,..., that bark a lot when people passes by, giving intentions of attacking and pursuing, specilally when held by the leach of their Ma$ters, but really never biting and retreating instead if someone faces them... I've camed across a few of those in my city walks, and though a never kicked any of them, the will to do so was almost irresistible... Can someone kick me that dog into the middle of the atlantic, please... , better yet into the middle of the pacific...
Open Source thieves stealing my American code - SCO boss (The Register) Posted Jan 23, 2004 11:34 UTC (Fri) by bbrelin (guest, #18915) [Link] They're thieves! they're filthy little thieves! They stole my prescioussss!!!!Oh, wait, wrong fantasy. Still, the fate of the character uttering those lines should give Darl "Gollum" McBride some pause.
Just when you think... Posted Jan 23, 2004 13:15 UTC (Fri) by 87C751 (guest, #11362) [Link] that the SCO mess can't get any more ridiculous, Darl takes his witch hunt to the world. I am so looking forward to seeing him convicted of fraud, et al.
Open Source thieves stealing my American code - SCO boss (The Register) Posted Jan 23, 2004 14:50 UTC (Fri) by jdthood (guest, #4157) [Link] Darl should get someone to edit his letters for him. As they arethey make him appear to be a semi-literate right wing yahoo. I doubt that he wants to appear semi-literate.
Open Source thieves stealing my American code - SCO boss (The Register) Posted Jan 23, 2004 14:55 UTC (Fri) by applekid (guest, #18920) [Link] lolI am reminded of a terrific artle I read in e-week, regarding this SCO bullshit. Linus Torvalds was quoted as saying (about SCO), "They are smoking crack." Haha. They're definitely smoking something over there in Utah.
Open Source thieves stealing my American code - SCO boss (The Register) Posted Jan 23, 2004 15:27 UTC (Fri) by pblanco (guest, #16087) [Link] For me there's a point where this kind of pathetic and desperate ranting becomes funny and entertaining. McBride just landed on that side of the fence. He really needs to drill a hole in his head to let the sap run out...
Open Source thieves stealing my American code - SCO boss (The Register) Posted Jan 23, 2004 17:40 UTC (Fri) by jdthood (guest, #4157) [Link] Taking the letter more seriously than it deserves to be for a moment ...McBride is combining two issues that one might think were entirely separate. It is interesting to see how he combines them. First there is the allegation that SCO's rights have been violated by parties incorporating SCO code into Linux. I'll call this 'the SCO vs. Linux case'. Second is the ideological attack on free software. Darl says that the authors of the GPL aim at the destruction of proprietary software and he seems to think that they are succeeding at this. He says that the GPL: "frees" the software that is proprietary, licensable, and a source of income from the companies that developed itDarl happens to think that the GPL "scheme" is illegal under U.S. law. Whether it is or not, its effect is deleterious for U.S. corporations and therefore for the U.S. economy. In addition, he thinks that open source software is a threat to national security because it puts software in the hands of enemies and "potential enemies". Darl promises to defend SCO copyrights in court. He also vows to fight against international GPLism. In his mind these are conflated. The GPL, he seems to think, is a "scheme" for committing copyright violations of the kind he alleges to have been committed in the SCO vs. Linux case. Or at least he thinks it is a system for undermining the health of U.S. corporations, just as the health of SCO corporation has been undermined. Of course, there is a big non sequitur in this association of the two issues. If SCO's code was stolen then there is no need to declare the GPL invalid. If someone lacks the right to license a program then a fortiori he lacks the right to license it using the GPL. On the other hand if he has the right to license the program then the SCO vs. Linux case is irrelevant. The support that the SCO vs. Linux example lends to the anti-GPL campaign is thus very weak. It goes something like: Some people who happen to use the GPL have stolen our code and thereby hurt us. This is an example of how the GPL can destroy America if it isn't stopped!It is easy to make fun of this. However, I did find two things in McBride's letter interesting. First, he claims that SCO is subject to restrictions in dealing with hostile countries that free software programmers are not subject to. I find this hard to believe. Surely the law applies equally to all? I think that McBride must mean that computer technology is better controlled if corporations are watching over it. Or something. I would be interested to hear him spell out this line of argument. Second, he characterizes the GPL scheme as "dumping". This is interesting; I had never thought of it that way before. Insofar as free software is intended to drive proprietary software publishers out of business, publishing it can fairly be characterized as dumping. On the other hand, insofar as free software is intended to help mankind it is no different from any other product of volunteer or government work. I'm not sure whether McBride would want to extend his campaign to the combating of municipal parks and Meals on Wheels.
Open Source thieves stealing my American code - SCO boss (The Register) Posted Jan 24, 2004 14:09 UTC (Sat) by foutou (guest, #18936) [Link] So it's high time Bush declared war on European governments for using and promoting a most dangerous Weapon of Ma$$ Destruction against the US economy and interests.The good guys give US their raw material (source code, oil etc) for free and buy the REAL THING (like coca cola, proprietary software, etc.) from America. Any other attitude is a subversive terrorist attack and must be confronted with preemtive strikes.
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