All men are frauds. The only difference between them is that some admit it. I myself deny it. - H.L. Mencken
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Novell triumphs over SCO
DING DONG, the witch is dead! US District Court Judge Ted Stewart has ruled entirely in favour of Novell ending SCO's attempt to claim Linux infringed Unix copyrights.
In an 11 page decision supported by a 61 page findings of fact and conclusions of law, Judge Stewart denied SCO's request for a declaratory judgment, denied its claims for specific performance and breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and denied its motion for judgment as a matter of law or alternatively a new trial. He also ruled that Novell is entitled to waive SCO's claims against IBM, Sequent and other licencees of SVRX Unix. In other words, Novell won resoundingly, SCO lost with the finality of the crack of doom, and the case is closed.
The ruling marks the crucial decision point that will end SCO's seven years long legal attack on Linux by trying to claim ownership of the copyrights to Unix and that Linux somehow infringed those. SCO's lawyers will undoubtedly appeal because they've already been paid and are on the hook to appeal until the bitter end, but further appeals will be in vain.
SCO still faces the trial of its lawsuit against IBM, but this ruling in SCO v. Novell means that will be all about IBM's counterclaims, because all of SCO's claims against IBM are now waived by Novell. Now SCO faces the fury of IBM for having accused it of copyright infringement and unethical behaviour.
If SCO lasts that long, that is, because it is rapidly running out of time and can only look forward to imminent conversion of its bankruptcy from Chapter 11 to Chapter 7, for its final dissolution. SCO's principals, Ralph Yarro, Darl McBride and their cronies will be lucky if they escape scrutiny by the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
To find out the full history of this long legal battle and Microsoft's involvement see Pamela Jones' articles and the judge's rulings and memorandum at Groklaw. µ
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Finally this farce of a trial is over and the corpse of SCO's vanity has taken the last blow.
So let's dissolve SCO permanently, sell all of McBride's possessions as punishment for having taken the entire industry for fools, and finally turn to just making fun of the whole episode.
The one thing that really saddens me is that McBride is most probably still liable to get a cushy job as a CEO somewhere where being a lying asshole is viewed as a quality.
Novell already publicly declared that "We are not interested in suing people over Linux, and we don't believe there is any Unix in Linux".
So, having said that, they can't just turn around and start suing people. Even if they are sold.
Also, IBM won't let this happen...
So this means that next week SCO's suit that they own breathable air and DNA will start I assume, that will be another 7 years of 'fun'.
I do hope that some open-source-friendly company buys Novell (which is now looking for buyers). It would be the mother of all anticompetitive actions for Microsoft to now try and buy Novell after having funded SCO to attack Novell and Linux for 7 years (along with their continued FUD campaign and "scare tactics" used to extort money from Linux-using companies). Perhaps RedHat, IBM, or Google will pick them up and safeguard the UNIX copyrights?
The EU's new Digital Agenda will make Linux companies a pretty penny throughout Europe (and hopefully throughout the world) as governments and businesses follow Google's example and trash their insecure, expensive Windows (and Mac) systems and transition to Linux for desktop, server, and thin-client use.
I know the fight isn't over yet, because companies that fear Linux have deep pockets and are looking for ways to hurt them financially or bankrupt them. But it's some welcome good news. I wonder if this will push for more developments and support in Linux. As well as stop Microsoft from blackmailing companies into paying a license to us Linux legally.
I might write about this next week, but here's the short version. Yes, SCO lost, not only in the sense that it essentially committed corporate suicide by attacking Linux as it did, but also because its FUD didn't work with the majority of IT shops and end users.
Linux is a much stronger brand now than it was in 2002 when SCO first started its doomed jihad against it. Linux is running on the largest complex of data centres on the planet, Google, and most of the second tier (think Facebook and others), plus all the serious financial data centres, evil though they might be.
SCO's attack on Linux, ironically, only served to legitmise it. It's mainstream now, from Wall Street to Main Street, no doubt about it. Thank you Microsoft!
After all, they prolonged the battle for seven years. During this time many of us in the US Federal Government have been prevented from using RHEL as an alternative to Windows because of the FUD from this lawsuit.