SCO CEO issues letter to Linux community
Tuesday September 9, 2:12 pm ET
biz.yahoo.com
SEATTLE, Sept 9 (Reuters) - The chief executive of SCO Group Inc., (NasdaqSC:SCOX - News) which claims its blueprint for Unix software is used illegally in versions of the free Linux operating system, issued a letter on Tuesday calling for open source developers to "respect and follow the rule of the law."
Users and developers of Linux, which is called open source because it can be copied and modified freely, unlike proprietary software such as Unix and Microsoft Corp.'s (NasdaqNM:MSFT - News) Windows, have rejected SCO's claims, saying that SCO has yet to provide proof that their intellectual property is used in Linux.
SCO, which owns the rights to Unix, the networking software program upon which Linux is based, sued International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM - News) for billions earlier this year for introducing Unix code into Linux. SCO is also going after companies to pay to use Linux or face litigation.
"In the last week of August, two developments occurred that adversely affect the long-term credibility of the Open Source community, with the general public and with customers," SCO CEO Darl McBride said in an open letter.
McBride said that his company's Web site was attacked by Linux advocates, which prevented visitors from accessing the site, and that a leading Linux advocate admitted that Unix code was in Linux.
McBride urged Open Source leaders, one of whom claimed to know the identity of the person who attacked SCO's Web site, to come forward with information about the individual.
"If they fail to do so it casts a shadow over the entire Open Source movement and raises questions about whether Open Source is ready to take a central role in business computing," McBride said in his letter.
Leading Linux experts or advocates were not immediately available for comment.
Linux, first developed by Finnish college student in 1991, was a software system eagerly adopted by a far-flung network of programmers because it could be installed on personal computers using Intel Corp.'s (NasdaqNM:INTC - News) chips and also run Microsoft's Windows. In recent years, however, Linux has become popular among businesses seeking to lower costs or move away from more expensive Unix-based servers built by Sun Microsystems Inc. (NasdaqNM:SUNW - News)
"If the Open Source community wants to develop products for enterprise corporations, it must respect and follow the rule of law," McBride said in the letter.
McBride said that an admission by Open Source leader Bruce Perens that developers used unauthorized Unix code in Linux underscored that there are "fundamental structural flaws in the Linux development process.
"In fact, this issue goes to the very heart of whether Open Source can be trusted as a development model for enterprise computing software," McBride wrote.
McBride called on the Open Source community, and Linux leaders, to pay more heed to intellectual property issues, since it will introduce liabilities for Linux business customers.
McBride also said that SCO "is open to ideas of working with the Open Source community" in order to make sure that all parties can benefit from businesses using Linux.
"I respectfully suggest to Open Source developers that this is a far better use of your collective resources and abilities than to defend and justify flawed intellectual property policies that are out of sync with the needs of enterprise computing customers," McBride wrote. |
