GearBits

The Bell Tolls for SCO

SCO is still finding it hard to be completely open regarding the portions of Linux code that it says infringe on its Unix copyrights. Some limited parties have been permitted to review what SCO calls the "offending code," but have been required to sign highly restrictive NDAs. However, it seems that the only folks who are swayed by this "evidence" are ardent SCO supporters -- hardly the group that SCO needs to convince at this point in time.

What is perhaps the most troubling is the lame legal tactics that SCO is trying to use to support its claims. By attacking the GPL (GNU General Public License) directly, SCO seems to be both waging a bigger war than it can readily take on (in poker, that's called "bluffing") and making a potentially bigger mess of everything than if it just stuck to claims that it might actually be able to defend. If SCO's counsel is as misguided as it seems, then we may not have to wait much longer for this to all go away.

Also, given IBM's countersuit, and the billions (of both dollars and lawyers) it and other affected entities have to fight SCO, I can't seem to help thinking that this battle isn't going to last much longer. The facades have come down and we now are able to see that SCO's posturing is little more than just that. Hopefully, SCO stockholders will sell while the getting is still good, for once the tide has obviously turned, SCO's stock price will plummet to near zero.

Update: Good discussion at Slashdot.