On Wed, 2003-08-20 at 15:33, Sam MacDonald wrote:
> Tom Penney wrote:
> 
> >Just a question... If you are just starting out why are you running such
> >an old distribution? 

> Yes it was released last millennium and it works with the hardware I 
> have.  I have RH 8.0 it does not work with the hardware I have. 

'nuf said.

> 
> I'm going to get flamed for this but that is life.
> SCO is about to nail IBM to the cross and I'm glad they are doing it (my 
> opinion).  When that happens, if you are running kernel versions above 
> 2.2 you will need to pay SCO large sums of money. Kernel code above 2.2 
> has code that SCO owns the patent to. 
> I use to work for IBM and let me tell you their motives on many fronts 
> are less then ethical. They talk a good line but when it comes to making 
> money don't stand in their way.  Don't tell management what they are 
> doing is wrong, because they don't give a dam about right and wrong 
> internally.

> So why do I run RedHat 6.2?  It uses a Kernel that does not have SCO 
> patented code in it.

No flames, there's enough yelling going on around here lately. I have to
respectfully disagree with your opinion on this. 

The "extortion based on fraud" tactics that SCO is practicing is an
assault on linux period, not just IBM. IANAL but I can not see how 80
lines of code (out of how many in the kernel source) can give them sole
licensing rights to the linux kernel. If they don't want their code used
then they need to tell us what they think belongs to them, and we wont
use it. 

IBM has deep pockets and has made some enemy's (as it has with you
apparently) but if SCO wins this we are all screwed. How many millions
of hours of development has gone into the linux kernel? If they win
without fessing up about what they own then all those hours put in by
thousands of people and companies gets tossed into the garbage. No one
is going to pay SCO for rights to use a kernel they didn't write. At
least not enough people to have a user base big enough to continue
supporting it.

We are all paying the price for what SCO is doing. Companies and
individuals, like you, who are falling victim to SCO's threats by
backing off from using the best linux has to offer is hurting us all.
Less dollars are being spent on linux development, those on the fence
have another reason not to make the switch linux, first time users are
evaluating 3 year old versions of linux, etc. This makes our skills with
linux less valuable. This makes companies choose options which may not
be the best for them. I'd even go as far to say this pushes more tech
jobs off shore to small foreign shops where they are less likely to care
about US law and less likely to be burdened with paying extortion fees
to some US bully.

I personally don't believe that SCO has a chance in hell of bringing
down linux entirely but damage has already been done and will continue
to be done as long as SCO can drag this out. I believe this has been
SCO's intent from the start. 

/end of rant 

PS Have you ever used SCO Products? they are cobbled together crap
purchased from other companies (like the code in question). SCO Xenix,
written by Microsoft I might add, was cool in it's day but SCO drove it
into the dirt just as they do with all of their second hand code. 

/ok, now I'm done.

I'm glad to see you have your system working for you.

-- 
Tom Penney <blots at visi.com>


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