On Thu, 2005-03-31 at 05:08 -0500, Robert Snyder wrote:
> IBM is only replicating what already happen to them. MS screwed over
> IBM on OS/2 Warp....
Actually, IBM screwed themselves over. IBM should have sold their PC
division 10 years ago because it was IBM's PC division that signed away
every right to sue Microsoft over copyright infringement. Long story
short, even though the IBM-Microsoft cross-license agreement expired in
1993, Microsoft continued to use newer OS/2 code in
"Chicago" (DOS7/Windows4 aka Windows 95).
> IBM then screws SCO over .
The sad thing is IBM isn't stopping there. They aren't our friend.
They are our "ally," for now, but they aren't our friend.
Luckily Linus & co. have scrutinized every IBM contribution into the
Linux kernel over the years. There were many cases where IBM donations
were covered by IBM patents (remember who the world's largest patent
holder is ;-), and Linus balked.
Now IBM did surprise me when they donated 500 patents for use in GPL
software. But other than that and Eclipse, which is really just and
answer to a competitor, little has actually been donated to the
community. And even projects like Eclipse are still under licenses
little different than some of Sun's community licenses.
> Sco will try to Screw some one else over.
Actually, SCO just screwed themselves over. When IBM didn't settle,
they shouldn't have done what they did. There were other ways to garner
support, regardless of the rabid Linux community response. But they
didn't, they were stupid, and it might come back to haunt them some.
At the same time, they did use the rabid Linux community response to put
up the "smokescreen" that SCO v. IBM is SCO v. Linux. As such, if SCO
wins on some counts of Monterey, everyone will believe it means there is
SCO IP in Linux. Which is what this "smokescreen" is all about.
I used to think Microsoft wasn't part of it for the first 6 months, but
I finally realized that the facts suggested otherwise. Microsoft really
did license UNIX because "Chicago" and NT contain _far_more_ UNIX code
than Linux. Not just 4.3BSD code from before the USL-UCB settlement,
but actual SCO Xenix code from earlier DOS releases.
> and the OS screwing over clye just keeps climbing.
But the idea is to protect the little guy. SCO was the little guy that
got screwed by IBM. SCO purposely put clauses in the Project Monterey
agreement to protect them from IBM and IBM broke those clauses. And
even if IBM found a way to weasel out of them, SCO is aiming for a jury
trial for a reason.
Because it's very easy to show how unethical IBM was regardless.
> To qoute the " Black Eyed Peas" , "Where is the Love?"!
IBM has been screwing companies over since before Microsoft.
We must be cautious.
-- Bryan J. Smith b.j.smith@ieee.org ---------------------------------------------------------------- Community software is all about choice, choice of technology. Unfortunately, too many Linux advocates port over the so-called "choice" from the commercial software world, brand name marketing. The result is false assumptions, failure to focus on the real technical similarities, but loyalty to blind vendor alignments.
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