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View Full Version : Linux SCO debacle: Holding Up Hollywood

RobertoOrtiz
11-09-2003, 05:59 AM
Quote from article:
"These days the big star at Sony Pictures' special-effects shop, Imageworks, isn't Spider-Man or Stuart Little--it's a piece of software called Linux (news - web sites). Twelve years ago a Finnish college student named Linus Torvalds (news - web sites) hacked it together and gave it away on the Internet. Since then thousands of programmers around the world have developed it collaboratively, crafting an operating system that is fast, stable and--best of all--free. "

"But this love affair with freeware may prove costly. SCO Group, a $64 million (sales) software shop in Lindon, Utah that owns copyrights to the Unix (news - web sites) system that inspired Linux, aims to collect fees from companies that use the free code. It may target Hollywood next. "They're using a ton of Linux in Hollywood, so they've become a lightning rod for us," says Darl McBride, SCO's chief executive. "


"McBride points out that Hollywood studios, keen to protect their movies from being pirated on the Internet, have preached the need to respect copyrights. "It's hypocritical for them to be going around saying that they don't want their stuff to be given away for free, but at the same time saying, Boy, this free stuff sure is cool,'"he says. "

"And Hollywood is just the start. SCO, which has retained hired gun and Microsoft nemesis David Boies, plans to target titans of financial services, transportation companies, government agencies and big retail chains, says Christopher Sontag, an SCO senior vice president. SCO aims to collect a one-time fee of $699 for every server processor that runs Linux. That would offer a nice windfall:Worldwide, nearly 2.6 million machines run a server version of Linux, says IDC, a market researcher. SCO has a list of 300,000 Linux servers and their owners. Earlier this year it sent warning letters to 1,500 big companies and claims some have signed up, though it won't name any. "We're ahead of plan," Sontag says. "

>>Link<< (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/fo/20031106/bs_fo/5797da4499d3f424b70cac76d4ffa384&e=3&ncid=1817)

-R
Mazer
11-09-2003, 07:17 AM
Bhaa... Does anyone still gives attention to those guys? It's clear from many diferent sources, that they don't have a real case(even if there is sco code on Linux they ave released - it themselves with theyr hown distro, therefore making it fall under the open source licence), it's all about stock market speculation. backed up strongly by Microsoft...
Linux isn't going anywere, it's here to stay. And don't wory about Holiwood, I'm sure they have good layers...
RormanKnockwell
11-09-2003, 01:27 PM
Even though I loathe SCO for what they are doing, they make a pretty powerful point with respect to the movie studios.

Movie studios make their money by purchasing the rights to movies from various creative people. SCO, having purchased the rights to the Unix code, it is attempting to make money by licensing that code. Since Hollywood has been so vigorous about protecting it's own intellectual property, it seems like pure hypocrisy to deny SCO that same right.

There are differences between SCO and the movie studios: movie studios take a financial risk that a film may fail, they help co-ordinate the talent, and provide facilities for the production. SCO simply exists to leech off the works of others. From a legal standpoint, though, there is no difference. It highlights the problems of Intellectual Property law in the US.
ChrisK
11-09-2003, 04:04 PM
Repeat after me:

SCO hasn't proved a d*mn thing so far. The only code they were showing publicly as an example was identified as some decade old public domain code.

Newest thing in court is, that IBM wants to force them to reveal some information as to what the supposedly infringing code might be...

How anyone can still take them serious, is beyond me.
Srek
11-09-2003, 04:56 PM
Originally posted by ChrisK
Repeat after me:

SCO hasn't proved a d*mn thing so far. The only code they were showing publicly as an example was identified as some decade old public domain code.

Newest thing in court is, that IBM wants to force them to reveal some information as to what the supposedly infringing code might be...

How anyone can still take them serious, is beyond me.

The whole SCO scam seems like a plot to bring IBM (or another big company affected by SCO claims) to the point of simply buying that company thereby making a hugh profit for the stockholders of SCO (to which afaik there lawyers count).
The main threat i see is the discussion they broke loose over the rightfullness of Public Licenses.
Cheers
Srek
talos72
11-09-2003, 05:32 PM
I do wonder is SCO is another case of someone trying to get a piece of this growing pie called Linux!
Spankspeople
11-09-2003, 05:44 PM
owns copyrights to the Unix (news - web sites) system that inspired Linux

That part just made me laugh.

So did the fact that SCO's lawers get 20% of whatever SCO gets if they're bought out. I hope that IBM or someone else DOESN'T buy them out... just to teach 'em a lesson.
UrbanFuturistic
11-09-2003, 10:05 PM
...amd just to put that quote in context: If If SCO sells out, lawyers will get $50 million (http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=12529). However, I think IBM's strategy is to bleed them dry through legal fees, destroy them financially then buy them for fiddy pee anna cig. Can't say I blame them.

regards, Paul
Mazer
11-10-2003, 12:48 AM
Yep, they are going down, but in the meantime they are filling they'r pockets on the expence of open source comunity...
It's clear they whont hurt Linux or Holywood... But I can see some Mac addicts, especialy after the Pixar/ Osx rummor comming here and say "all holliwood is dropping Linux because it's ilegal! they are buyng Macs!... "Hehe..:)
malducin
11-10-2003, 01:52 AM
Even though I loathe SCO for what they are doing, they make a pretty powerful point with respect to the movie studios.

Just make sure you notice the diffrerence. The article is a bit confusing on this but they are talking 2 different things. Most VFX studios work as contractors for movie studios and are independently owned and not part of the media conglomerates or content owners/purchasers. Just a few like Imageworks (Sony), Blue Sky (Fox), PDI (Dreamworks) are part of the studio system.

it seems like pure hypocrisy to deny SCO that same right.

There are some differences. In some claims SCO is saying they own anything done in Unix, even if it was totally written by someone else (XFS, etc.). Ity would be the equivalent of a movie studio demanding payment from the movies of other studios just because they bought the rights to the Edison or Lumiere movie camera. Just insane.
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