08.11.07

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SCO Loses = Good. Novell Earns Anti-Linux Weapon = Good? (Updated)

Posted in Courtroom, GNU/Linux, Mono, Novell, SCO, UNIX at 8:09 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

The news about SCO is truly excellent news. Novell’s UNIX copyrights, however, leave some room for thought. When the deal with Microsoft was struck, several prominent voices in the community said that Novell was “the next SCO”. On numerous occasions, people speculated that, some time along the line, Microsoft might actually acquire Novell and use it as its Linux provider. The direction Novell is taking certainly favours .NET and makes its Linux desktop dependent on it.

We are not trolling, but we only ask. Is it safe to let Novell hold the UNIX flag? Could the flag be inherited and then used to attack Linux again? A few days ago, Microsoft’s financial filing described Linux as a system that is “derived from UNIX”. Was it an accident? Some people already cast doubt on claims that this was not deliberate.

This is all far fetched, but this mind dump might prove useful in the future.

Here is Novell’s statement about the court’s decision.

“In the spring of 2003, Novell set out to ensure that SCO’s groundless claims would not interfere with the development of Linux. Today’s court ruling vindicates the position Novell has taken since the inception of the dispute with SCO, and it settles the issue of who owns the copyrights of UNIX in Novell’s favor. The court’s ruling has cut out the core of SCO’s case and, as a result, eliminates SCO’s threat to the Linux community based upon allegations of copyright infringement of UNIX. We are extremely pleased with the outcome.”

Update (14/08/2007): a more elaborate statement from Novell has just been posted.

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2 Comments

Scott said,

August 12, 2007 at 12:54 pm

You don’t get to “let” Novell “hold the Unix flag” – they clearly own it. That’s what this ruling was about: Novell owns the UNIX and UnixWare copyrights, not SCO. SCO owes Novell a boatload of money as a result.

As for MS buying Novell, there’s this little problem of antitrust. There would be more than ample evidence to block any such acquisition.
Roy Schestowitz said,

August 12, 2007 at 7:23 pm

See the comments in http://boycottnovell.com/2007/08/12/microsoft-linux/

Microsoft could continue to just use Novell as a proxy. Also see:

http://boycottnovell.com/2007/07/25/novell-carry-flag/