The Web site debuted quietly last week. It enables companies that use Linux to purchase a licence that covers SCO's Unix System V, portions of which SCO claims were illegally incorporated into the source code of Linux.
Full licences cost $699 (£375) per server central processing unit (CPU) or $199 for a desktop PC that runs Linux. An annual licence costs $149 per server CPU or $49 per desktop PC.
SCO rattled the technology world last year when it sued IBM, claiming that the computing giant illegally incorporated source code from the Unix operating system, which SCO controls, into Linux software. The case has since ballooned into a far-ranging attack on Linux, attracting legal attention from Linux leader Red Hat and the ire of Linux supporters worldwide.
SCO began selling Unix licences last year for companies that wish to continue using Linux with SCO's consent. The company backed off a plan to bill Linux users but recently expanded the licensing terms to include overseas Linux users.
SCO spokesman Blake Stowell said the online ordering site was launched to make compliance easier for companies SCO hasn't contacted individually. "We want to make the licences more accessible to any business that's interested," he said.
SCO has declined to reveal how many businesses have purchased Linux licences, but the activity is believed to be minimal, as businesses wait for the IBM case to be resolved and rely on legal indemnification offers from major Linux sellers.
Meanwhile, SCO was still using its alternate Web address on Monday as it waited for denial-of-service attacks that the MyDoom virus instigated to stop. MyDoom attacks crippled SCO's regular site on 1 February. The virus is programmed to stop the attacks on 12 February, but infected PCs with incorrectly set dates were still causing trouble last week.
MyDoom hits had waned by 90 percent as of the weekend, Stowell said, "but that 10 percent is still more than our server could handle."
Talkback
Novell says it has the copyright. SCO itself says that there is no IP infringement case to answer. So why buy any "Linux Licences" from SCO?
Let's just wait and see who buys SCO when they are worth a pound!
Everyone already has a license from SCO which covers all code to which SCO might hold copyright, and it's called the GPL.
And don't forget that SCO's ownership of the System V copyrights is being disputed by Novell anyway.
Finally, the court-case against IBM is no longer about System V code at all. Further details (as always) can be found on www.groklaw.net.
The SCO Group is effectively scamming Linux Users with a variation of the "Data Protection Scam"
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22data+protection+scam%22
Check with your local "Better Business Bureau" if this is in violation of local Fair Trade Acts and Unfair Practices Acts.
1) The SCO Greop has already effectively granted all downstream users of the right to use the Linux kernel under the terms of the Gnu General Public License (GPL).
Since 1994, both Caldera ( which only changed its name to The SCO Group in 2003 ) and the Santa Cruz Operation ( The original SCO which changed its name to Tarentella ) have accepted, profited from and redistributed copyrighted source code from hundreds of developers under the terms of the GPL license.
http://www.fsf.org/licenses/gpl.html
The SCO Group has failed to put forward ANY substantial legal theory why the SCO Group should not be obligated to abide by the terms of the GPL.
http://www.fsf.org/philosophy/sco/sco-without-fear.html
Linux Users already have a license -- the GPL.
The SCO Group is pulling a scam selling unnecessary licenses under terms that directly violate the SCO Group's obligations under the General Public License (GPL).
2) It is a criminal offense to claim, with fraudulent intent, that you have a copyright if you do not. The SCO Group does *NOT* hold the copyrights to the UNIX source code. Novell has *NOT* transfered the title for the works that the SCO Group fraudulently filed for copyright in 2003 when the title has not been transfered. Novell claims it has the right to hold the copyright. The SCO Group do not have the right to sue anybody for violation of copyright works without the assent of the title holder.
3) The SCO Group's claims the right to sue for work in standard UNIX and POSIX interfaces that AT&T and Novell granted full rights to use royalty free in perpetuity for the ISO, ANSI and FIPS federal standards.
4) The SCO Group's contract claims against IBM and others based upon the AT&T license in respect to rights of so called derivative works is in direct contradiction to evidence presented to the SCO Group by Novell.
5) The SCO Group though the press and SEC filings, has bolstered the share price of the SCO Group based upon demonstrably false claims to the contrary of above points 1,2 and 3. The SCO Group CEOs and legal agents were notified by Novell and IBM to the fact *before* the SCO Group made these false claims and presented them as fact. The actions of the SCO Group must be in violation of several US SEC regulations.
The SCO Group is effectively scamming Linux Users with a variation of the "Data Protection Scam"
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22data+protection+scam%22
Check with your local "Better Business Bureau" if this is in violation of local Fair Trade Acts and Unfair practices Acts.
Why does ZDNet keep giving such prominence to SCO's press releases?
Companies would have to be really dum to order a liscense.
Whats the point? The chances of SCO winning their court case is probably less than the change of the said companies offices all being destroyed by an asteroid.
I'm setting up my own Linux and for that matter Windows license shop, anyone who uses either of these Operating Systems must pay me money simply because I say so.
All I need now is some big company (SCO have Micrsoft, so I'll ask IBM) to give me money so I can take out lawsuits against big name companies which have no-hope of winning but will drag on for years and scare the smaller companies into buying a license in the meantime.
Buy LindowsOS and get cheap exemption it makes better sense than paying SCOrn money and at least it goes toward Linux development and Say No To SCO.