HP offers indemnification [LWN.net]

On September 23, HP held a press conference in which it extended an indemnification offer to its Linux customers. If you buy a Linux system from HP, the company will take on any liability that may eventually be incurred toward SCO for the use of Linux. HP will also take on defense against lawsuits filed by SCO. All a customer has to do (beyond buying the system from HP) is to have a support contract and refrain from making changes to the code.

To some, this move appears to have vindicated SCO's claims. Certainly SCO didn't miss the opportunity rush out an even stranger than usual press release on the subject:

HP's actions this morning reaffirm the fact that enterprise end users running Linux are exposed to legal risks. Rather than deny the existence of substantial structural problems with Linux as many Open Source leaders have done, HP is acknowledging that issues exist and is attempting to be responsive to its customers' request for relief. HP's actions are driving the Linux industry towards a licensing program. In other words, Linux is not free.

It is classic SCO to claim that indemnification supports its claims, after arguing for months that the lack of indemnification supports it claims. The market, in any case, read things slightly differently; SCO's stock fell almost 10% after HP's announcement and SCO's PR.

In fact, a different interpretation makes a great deal of sense. HP, as a company, has certainly made its share of mistakes. But HP is smart enough not to wander into the path of a company prone to billion-dollar lawsuits without being sure of its ground. HP is a Unix licensee; it has everything it needs to verify for itself whether Unix code has truly been copied into Linux or not. The obvious conclusion is that HP has decided that it has little to fear. It would appear that SCO's bluff has been called.

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HP [Sales Department] offers indemnification

Posted Sep 25, 2003 14:33 UTC (Thu) by havoc (guest, #2261) [Link]

Another reading of the HP indemnification license looks like a profitable move for HP.

- Don't change anything
- Don't include any software not from your distributions core
- Don't recompile your kernel

If you don't do any of these things, the cost for HP to support your installation goes down.

There's also the fact that many companies considering Linux, who are already HP customers have incintive to purchase their Linux from HP.