Darl's extortion letter online!

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Date: Thu, 27 Nov 2003 23:25:15 +0000

Not sure if this has been posted here before. I'm simply staggered by
the inaccuracies, falsehoods and downright lies contained here. There
is surely a case for defamation of character by Torvalds and co; well,
there might be if anyone could actually take this seriously. Really
though, how could this not be a blatant example of extortion? No
proof, no evidence, just threats and lies from a bunch of criminals. I
have to wonder just what loony-boy Darl has to do before he's finally
hauled away, slobbering and drooling, to a nice padded room.

What's especially interesting to note is that although Darl seems to
believe Linux is cobbled together by an unruly criminal gang, slapping
together the odd bit of code, and their stolen source, the result:
Linux, he himself admits is "enterprise level". Why, it even has PAM
authentication modules! Those dastardly Linux scoundrels stole it
before SCO had writtenH^H^H^H^H^H^H^bought the rights to it
themselves!

Doesn't say much for what's left of SCO's in-house developers (do they
still employ ANY technical staff?) when these professional full-time
programmers have been left in the dust by coders working for free, for
the love of their work, and applause of their peers, does it? ;-)

Also interesting that SCO claim they are "prepared to take all actions
necessary to stop the ongoing violation of our intellectual property
or other rights"?! All actions except of course, showing anyone where
the supposed violations have occurred, so they can be removed.

I loved the quote I read on /. the other day about Darl's mob: "God
invented SCO so that people could have a company to hate even more
than Microsoft". Harsh, but fair...

Anyway, bring on the comedy:

From: http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20031127100124265

May 12. 2003

Mr. Lucio A. Noto
Audit Committee Chair
International Business Machines Corporation
New Orchard Road
Armonk, NY 10504

Dear Lucio:

SCO holds the rights to the UNIX operating system software originally
licensed by AT&T to approximately 6,000 companies and institutions
worldwide (the "UNIX Licenses"). The vast majority of UNIX software
used in enterprise applications today is a derivative work of the
software originally distributed under our UNIX Licenses. Like you, we
have an obligation to our shareholders to protect our intellectual
property and other valuable rights.

In recent years, a UNIX-like operating system has emerged and has been
distributed in the enterprise marketplace by various software vendors.
This system is called Linux. We believe that Linux is, in material
part, an unauthorized derivative of UNIX.

As you may know, the development process for Linux has differed
substantially from the development process for other enterprise
operating systems. Commercial software is built by carefully selected
and screened teams of programmers working to build proprietary, secure
software. This process is designed to monitor the security and
ownership of intellectual property rights associated with the code.

By contrast, much of Linux has been built from contributions by
numerous unrelated and unknown software developers, each contributing
a small section of code. There is no mechanism inherent in the Linux
development process to assure that intellectual property rights,
confidentiality or security are protected. The Linux process does not
prevent inclusion of code that has been stolen outright; or developed
by improper use of proprietary methods and concepts.

Many Linux contributors were originally UNIX developers who had access
to UNIX source code distributed by AT&T and were subject to
confidentiality agreements, including confidentiality of the methods
and concepts involved in software design. We have evidence that
portions of UNIX System V software code have been copied into Linux
and that additional other portions of UNIX System V software code have
been modified and copied into Linux, seemingly for the purposes of
obfuscating their original source.

As a consequence of Linux's unrestricted authoring process, it is not
surprising that Linux distributors do not warrant the legal integrity
of the Linux code provided to customers. Therefore legal liability
that may arise from the Linux developments process may also rest with
the end user.

We believe that Linux infringes on our UNIX intellectual property and
other rights. We intend to aggressively protect and enforce these
rights. Consistent with this effort, on March 7, we initiated legal
action against IBM for alleged unfair competition and breach of
contract with respect to our UNIX rights. This case is pending in Utah
Federal District Court. As you are aware, this case has been widely
reported and commented upon in the press. If you would like additional
information, a copy of the complaint and response may be viewed at our
web site at www.sco.com/scocource.

For the reasons explained above, we have also announced the suspension
of our own Linux-related activities until the issues surrounding Linux
intellectual property and the attendant risks are better understood
and properly resolved.

Similar to analogous efforts underway in the music industry, we are
prepared to take all actions necessary to stop the ongoing violation
of our intellectual property or other rights.

SCO's actions may prove unpopular with those who wish to advance or
otherwise benefit from Linux as a free software system for use in
enterprise applications. However, our property and contract rights are
important and valuable: not only to us, but to every individual and
every company whose livelihood depends on the continued viability of
intellectual and intangible property rights in a digital age.

Yours truly,

THE SCO GROUP

By: Darl McBride
President and CEO

-- 
FyRE < "War: The way Americans learn geography" >

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