SCOliosis

SCOliosis

Is Linux really a warez operation?

SCO thinks so, and the legal action is starting to crank up.

There’s no point in judging the merits of the case (actually SCO hasn’t even stated with any specificity the merits of the case). It is best to let the courts do that.

But it’s sure going to make anybody with money think twice about deploying Linux, won’t it?

Conspiracy, Conschmiracy

Plenty of people have pointed to Microsoft rather promptly getting a license from SCO as proof of some sort of conspiracy between the two.

So what if there is? It doesn’t matter.

What matters in this case is whether SCO’s claims are true or not. That is all that matters.

There are a lot of dopes out there who think that if they can use the word “conspiracy” in a sentence describing their opponents, they’ve won.

Wrong.

First, I have at least some doubts that there is any formal understanding between SCO and MS. There doesn’t have to be.

I don’t doubt at all MS rather likes the idea of this lawsuit, and certainly hasn’t discouraged SCO for pursuing it. But that’s like seeing someone you don’t like getting punched in the face by somebody else. You don’t need to meet with the guy beforehand to cheer him on, or help him out.

Maybe they did have discussions. Or meetings. Maybe they’re now wrapped together so tight that Bill Gates will serve refreshments to SCO’s attorneys during court recesses. So what?

There’s nothing illegal about two companies having a meeting. There’s nothing illegal about two companies having a secret meeting. There’s not even necessarily any illegal about two companies having a secret meeting to figure out how to put the screws to a competitor.

The only time the word “conspiracy” becomes more than a buzzword is when two (or more) companies (secretly or not) plan to illegally put the screws to a competitor.

In this particular case, the only way conspiracy creeps into the picture is if SCO’s claims are so lacking in merit that they border on fraud. It’s only at that point that the existence or non-existence of a conspiracy gains any relevance.

The judge(s) in this case isn’t going to care the slightest bit how involved MS may or may not have been with SCO. All he’s going to be concerned about is whether SCO is right or not. If he determines SCO is right in its claims, that’s that.

It will only be if the judge(s) in this case find SCO’s case not only wrong, but complete BS to the point of illegality that conspiracy might rear its head.

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