Reader response to my recent column on SCO confirmed something I already suspected: Companies that threaten customers with lawsuits on highly dubious grounds aren’t going to be very popular.
"This is absolutely outrageous," wrote one reader about the SCO filings against DaimlerChrysler and Autozone. "It was bad enough when they sued IBM and started making all those wild accusations about Linux being unconstitutional, but sending threatening letters to thousands of companies and trying to intimidate us into these bogus $699 licenses comes close to racketeering in my book. In fact, after these lawsuits are dismissed, the feds ought to seriously look at bringing RICO charges against SCO’s management."
Many readers were disturbed by the implications for IT operations of SCO’s lawsuits against customers. "If software that I buy is found to be infringing on the IP rights of others, does this mean that I am also liable?" mused one reader. "If I base my IT operations on such software will I have to give it up or pay a fine? You can sue anyone for anything. The question is whether or not you can win the type of suit SCO is threatening. If this is found to be the case, this industry will be in more trouble than I could have ever imagined."
"Society crossed a new line when Intellectual Property lawsuits turned into a line item in a company's profit sheet,’ wrote another reader. "What befuddles me, is that if a software company infringed in some other's code, or even someone in the Open Source community decides to do such, suddenly how does the un-suspecting user get infected with this? Imagine how far this could go. Have all these people gone mad?"
Not all the barbs were reserved for SCO, now that it’s known who was helping SCO raise financing for its legal escapades. "Isn't it as plain as the nose on your face that Microsoft is running the same jaded play from the same ol' playbook?" wrote one reader. "If you can't buy it, make it go away. Try litigation using a puppet company, figuring that if you tie this matter up in the courts for years, customers will shy away from UNIX/LINUX and stick to Microsoft. Fortunately, SCO has no leg to stand on and eventually, that effort will fail. I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft then ends up doing full-scale marketing of an alternative UNIX based OS, dirt cheap, slick and easy to use, Linux APP. compatible, packed with many goodies, just to make LINUX go away. Sorry, Billy G., it ain't gonna happen. MS will eventually have to share the spotlight."
1:00:36 PM 
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