Monday, July 21, 2003

More Proof That The Scumbags Are Winning SCO takes aim at Linux users. The software maker says it has begun receiving Unix copyrights and that it will start a program to let companies that run Linux avoid litigation by paying licensing fees. [CNET News.com] Nothing like good old capitalism to kill off the open source movement. Of course, I would be remiss if I didn't mention my cohorts in the legal profession: "We have a solution that gets you clean, gets you square with the use of Linux without having to go to the courtroom," Chief Executive Darl McBride said in a conference call Monday... The move bypasses companies such as Red Hat that develop, distribute and advocate Linux and goes straight to the users, who might be inclined just to pay up rather than to get ensnared in an ideological and legal battle. "It's a very smart strategy, if it works," said Mark Radcliffe, an intellectual property attorney with Gray Cary. "If the price is low enough, better to buy a certainty than get tangled in a murky war." If there's one thing I've learned it's that it's very important for you [translation: someone other than the greedy scumbags ripping us off] to Get Clean. I guess I should expect my pay-up or get sued blackmail letter for running RedHat Linux on my old Pentium Pro any day now. When do we stick Linus Torvald in the cell next to Martha Stewart?   In a related piece of news:   DHS had little choice but to sign Microsoft deal. The fact that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) awarded Microsoft Corp. a US$90 million enterprise software deal two days after Bill Gates met with DHS Secretary Tom Ridge in Washington is more than sheer coincidence. It's now a major security headache for a mammoth new agency that security experts say lacks the wherewithal to have considered alternative sources for its software.   I really believe that the only thing that we make anymore in this country are deals. 9:27:40 PM