SCO Sues To Block Novell-SuSE Deal, Threatens BSD, Likens Linux Users To Drug Users

by , 8:00 AM EST, November 19th, 2003

SCO is planning to take legal action against Novell Inc. over its purchase of SuSE Linux AG. According to an article at eWeek, SCO is citing an alleged non-compete agreement between Novell and the Santa Cruz Operation, an ancestor of the current SCO Group.

In addition, SCO is broadening its attack on anything remotely Unix-related, this time threatening to take on BSD distributors, such as FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD. Apple's OS X is based on BSD, and this means it is conceivable that this could include an attack on Apple at some point. From eWeek:

In addition, Lindon, Utah-based SCO announced that it will broaden its code copyright fight beyond IBM. In a press release, SCO stated that it is now including "copyrighted code included in the 1994 settlement between Unix Systems Laboratories, Inc. and Berkeley Software Design, Inc. in the expanded scope protection of and defense against unauthorized use and exploitation of SCO's intellectual property. SCO acquired this code and associated copyrights in 1995 from Novell."

This means that SCO is opening the gates to possibly take action against the open-source organizations behind such BSD-based operating systems as FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD. In addition, since Apple Computer Inc.'s Mac OS X is based on BSD Unix, Apple too could be targeted.

Novell denies SCO's claims. According to Kevan Barney, Novell's Linux senior manager of public relations, "There is no non-compete provision in those contracts, and the pending acquisition of SUSE Linux does not violate any agreement between Novell and SCO." In any case, he said, "Novell has received no formal communication from SCO and ... Novell will respond in due course should SCO choose to formally pursue this issue."

You can read the full story at eWeek's Web site.

In related news, CRN has published an interesting interview with SCO CEO Darl McBride. In that interview, Mr. McBride lays out more of his company's plans for using litigation to increase SCO's revenues in more detail than he has previously. Included in that interview was an exchange where Mr. McBride likened Linux users to drug users. From CRN:

CRN: Can suing customers, as you've said you will, be good for any vendor?

McBride: First it's not our customers. I would say we're suing end users. There are only two industries who use the term 'users,' computers and drugs. Not sure if there's a connection there. But the point is, we're not suing our customers. We are going after end users of Linux and I think there's a slight but significant difference there.

You can read the rest of the interview at CRN's Web site. We recommend it as a very interesting read for those following this story.

The Mac Observer Spin:

We almost don't know where to start, so we'll just dive into the drug analogy. Wow. Mature, insightful, appropriate...Oh wait, it was none of those things. Also, SCO's suit against those end users seeks licensing money for the alleged IP infringement. Now doesn't that mean that if SCO gets that licensing money through its lawsuits that those people will be its customers? Mr. McBride says he is concerned about shareholder value (he discusses it at length in the interview), but is shows an amazing lack of acumen to not be able to think through the implications of what you say. That can't be good for shareholder value.

What a pinhead. We usually try to steer clear of ad hominem attacks at TMO (OK, that's not necessarily always the case), but after reading that interview, we are seriously sickened by Mr. McBride. His ethics and values are questionable, and his rationalizations and arguments are devoid of reason.

Next, let's get to the more important aspect of this story, how this might affect Apple. Our understanding heretofore is that the distributions based on BSD were covered by licenses that were devoid of any connection to SCO. If SCO can somehow drag BSD, and therefore Apple, into its web of insanity, it could be a threat to the Mac platform. How much of one, we don't know yet, but we are working on finding out more on this very important topic.

We find it fascinating (in that train wreck kind of way) that SCO could even consider taking on yet more legal opponents when there are already so much else in the works, which is a perfect segue to our own really inappropriate (and silly) analogy: Two front wars didn't go so well for Napolean or Hitler, and attacking BSD could well be McBride's Moscow.

eWeek