IBM Gives SCO the Works 532
akahige writes "It took more than 400 employees 4,700 hours of work to comb through IBM's source code repository and versioning system to assemble every possible scrap of AIX and Dynix source code (which SCO claims they improperly socked into Linux). That's 80 GB of source code, and almost a million pages of correspondence, which IBM scanned and provided on CD. They delivered the goods on a server along with a detailed (snide?) set of instructions on exactly how to search for that stolen code."
2041 (Score:5, Informative)
Now we can expect another request for an extension from SCO so that they can pick through the stuff IBM just dumped on them.
I don't expect to see a decision in this case until Social Security runs out of funds.
Re:2041 (Score:5, Funny)
Re:2041 (Score:3, Funny)
Something should be funny in this pitiful saga.
IBM gives them the what? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:IBM gives them the what? (Score:3, Insightful)
Yep. Afterwhich they poked them in the eye with it.
Re:IBM gives them the what? (Score:5, Funny)
Not surprising. (Score:5, Interesting)
She told me once that in one case IBM sent 70+ entire five-drawer filing cabinets to the opposing law firm.
Delivered by 18-wheeler or two, of course.
The opposing law firm had to go through all that information - at $400/hr for the opposing company....
Re:2041 (Score:5, Insightful)
MS sure is getting their money's worth on this case.
Re:2041 (Score:5, Insightful)
According to the folks at groklaw the judge believes SCO has no case, but wants to ensure that they have no grounds for appeal at a later date.
This way SCO can't use lack of discovery as such a grounds.
Re:2041 (Score:5, Funny)
C'mon, SCO can't go through so much stuff that fast!
Re:2041 (Score:5, Insightful)
I used to laugh about this whole thing. I don't anymore.
Then it became irritating. Now it is just blatantly stupid, long since entered into wonderland along with Lisa.
The old saying that the US legal system is slow but grinds infinitely small is also
just as lame. That something that has been shown time and time again to be utterly without merit, while YEARS go by, millions are spent, hundreds of man-hours gone. It's pitiful.
So many recources wasted without ANY conclusion reached. Without any shore in sight as far as the eye can see.
Re:2041 (Score:3, Interesting)
It's like when you notice some strange sound coming from the engine in your car for the first time. It doesn't sound good, you know it's bad. But you just keep driving it day after day... You hope the sound will just go away - and you almost forget about it, when, it get's a little worse. And worse.
The question is, how long can we go until this bitch seizes up?
Re:Social Security (Score:3, Funny)
All $5.63USD.
I could probably buy a breath mint when I reach retirement in 23 years.
Re:sounds impressive, but.. (Score:4, Insightful)
Server? (Score:5, Funny)
Is the server running Linux? Now that would be funny.
Re:Server? (Score:4, Funny)
Or ironic.
Re:Server? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Server? (Score:5, Funny)
Yes. Big Ironic.
Re:Server? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Server? (Score:3, Informative)
Reality, it turns out, is even funnier. The machine they gave them runs AIX [internetnews.com].
Re:Server? (Score:4, Funny)
that hacking went the following way
username : anonymous
password : billsmith@ibm.com
And that was when SCO still had an IT dept.
Neat (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Neat (Score:5, Insightful)
Do you actually think SCO will have any money left by the time this case is over? I bet this case only ends when SCO go bankrupt.
Re:Neat (Score:5, Insightful)
No, not really, I'm expecting SCO to spend all their money on the court case and then go bankrupt to brush away the countersuits, fraud allegations, shareholders and debtors that come after that. But, in a best case scenario maybe the corporate veil can be pierced or whatever the hell you call it and the board members and the Canopy Group that owns SCO can be held accountable for the debts and actions of SCO. There is good reason to believe the Canopy Group purposefully directed SCO to act as it did knowing exactly how valid the claims were, and both the Canopy Group and the board members have profited generously from the stock manipulations of SCOX.
I'm pretty sure the corporation system is not designed to let you create or purchase a shell corporation, commit illegal acts and rack up debts, and then just toss the shell corporation into bankruptcy and say "whoops all forgiven". But this looks to me exactly like what Canopy's trying to do. Is there not anything in the legal system to prevent this?
Even if not though and the people who orchestrated all this get away scot free, though, it just makes things look that much better for Linux in the press afterward if the amount of money SCO goes out of business not having paid is that much higher...
Canopy Group (Score:5, Informative)
The Canopy Group does not own SCOX. In the ugly little affair to oust Ralph Yarro, Canopy gave him all of its interest in SCOX. Since he's the chairman anyway, that might let Canopy off the hook ("beneficial control" becomes the standard.)
I don't know how much Ralph has besides his (worthless) share in SCOX but I suspect that IBM would be content to suck him dry along with Darl.
Re:Canopy Group (Score:3, Interesting)
American capitalism, you gotta love it.
Re:Neat (Score:5, Interesting)
Oh you naive fool...
Look at things like the Johns-Manville asbestos bankruptcy or the Dow-Corning breast implant bankruptcy for our "oh so responsible" corporate citizens walking away from their bills. And illegality? Do we start at Enron's subsidiaries? How about Arthur Andersen? How about the amazing set of ITT companies back in the early '70's. The American corporation has always been an amazing refuge for behavior that would get most of us run out of town on a rail. And it pays well, too - at least for the CEOs.
Re:Neat (Score:5, Informative)
And many of Enron's subsidiaries are actually very legit and continued functioning pretty much as they were when Enron was riding high.
Re:Neat (Score:5, Interesting)
I detested Arthur Andersen and felt that there were not too many companies more deserving of obliteration.
About twenty five years ago, I worked for a company that had Arthur Andersen as their auditors. They also used Arthur Andersen consultants as well.
I expect consultants to try to do what is best for their customers. If they don't, they are nothing more than salesmen being paid directly by the customer under false pretenses.
A year or so before I went to work there, that company wanted to buy their own computer and build their own computer department to handle their accounting and other corporate needs. Prior to that, they were purchasing time on someone else's computer to do their accounting.
So they hired someone to accomplish that. He ended up recommending a PDP 11/70 for the job.
The Arthur Andersen consultants were really upset with that recommendation. After all, if the company bought an IBM mainframe, they were set to have thousands more billable hours every year in consulting. With a PDP 11/70, most or all of those consulting hours would disappear.
So they told the senior vice president that a PDP was an engineering machine and could not be used for accounting. They convinced the senior vice president to fire the computer department manager he had hired.
The senior vp interviewed several people with a strong IBM mainframe background and hired one for the job. He then called the computer manager to a meeting in his office where he was to be fired.
Just that day, the latest issue of Datamation arrived and had a story about one of the really big banks buying something like a hundred or more PDP-11's for their financial operations. The soon to be fired computer department manager took the issue with him to the meeting.
When he pointed out that the big bank was buying a hundred or more PDP-11's (suitable only for engineering purposes according to the Arthur Andersen consultants) for their banking operations and showed the issue to the senior vice president, the senior vp adjourned the meeting without firing him and read the article. He then called up the new department manager and told him that he wouldn't be hired after all. And he called up Arthur Andersen's senior management and chewed them out royally.
The point is that Arthur Andersen, as part of their consulting, was giving advice that was nothing but lies. Their sole purpose was to increase their consulting hours at all costs and had been billing the company for the time it took to produce their lies.
So it didn't bother me at all to see Arthur Andersen disappear.
Re:Neat (Score:3, Informative)
And then there's Price Waterhouse Cooper (PwC) -- once they get in somewhere, you can't get 'em out. And watch out if you hired a company like that to advise you on matters like Sarbanes/Oxley compliance. "you nee
Re:Neat (Score:3, Interesting)
This is a little different in that Johns-Manville and Dow-Corning were found guilty of producing a completely legal and safe product. Basically, these companies are like IBM. Completely innocent being hit up for cash by an establishment with no other business model than to sue people based on shaky evidence.
On the enron comment? I think you may have missed the point again. Canopy = Enron, SCO = S
Re:Neat (Score:4, Interesting)
When a company breaks the law, on purpose, it deserves to be punished, as does the management who made the decision. The liability lawsuit goldmine for lawyers started in the 70s, was tempered somewhat in the 90s, but is still a huge business, and something that many other jurisdictions (China?) don't have to worry about. Yet another reason why so many jobs have been lost from Europe and America to the rest of the world.
Re:Neat (Score:5, Insightful)
Look at things like...the Dow-Corning breast implant bankruptcy for our "oh so responsible" corporate citizens walking away from their bills
The Dow Corning silicone breast implant lawsuits were based on junk science. Contrary to your assertion, the bankruptcy did not allow Dow Corning to walk "away from their bills." The Dow Corning Trust is doling out $4.4 billion dollars to women who settled, women who went to court and won *and* to Dow Corning creditors.
But, I suppose it is possible that you consider it irresponsible for a corporation who lost court cases based on flawed studies, bad statistics (as if there are good), and, in some cases, outright lies to actually pay up on the settlements they've negotiated.
(no, I don't work for Dow Corning)
Re:Neat (Score:5, Informative)
When the Hunt Brothers tried and failed to corner the silver market, they tried to tell the banks "No, the corporation owes you the billions borrowed, not us, and it is bankrupt!" Didn't work, banks sued Hunt Brothers personally and drove them into bankrupty ($2.5 billion in liability against $1.5 billion in assets). So apparently the corporate veil only worked if you can prove you used due diligence to protect investor's assets.
When the IBM case is finalize, I fully suspect there will be a shareholder lawsuit against the SCO directors, and an attempt to hold them personally liable for losses. Not being a lawyer, I can't predict how this would turn out.
Re:Neat (Score:5, Interesting)
Never, ever, threaten IBMs customers' desire to do business with IBM. They've got billions to spend to destroy you, and their lawyers walk six inches off the ground.
Re:Neat? (Score:3, Interesting)
designed? no. but when has a design ever prevented anyone from doing anything. I would provide examples, but there are too many, and it's too depressing. Why exactly do you think they call it a "shell"?
One thing that you must remember, (and is all too often forgotten,) the
Re:Neat (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, that's a pessimistic way to put it, but the whole point of corporations going back to their invention in the renaissance was to allow individual profit while shielding the individuals from the risk associated with that profit.
But corporations were not intended to have the rights of individuals. That legal fiction in the US is a perversion.
Re:Neat (Score:3, Insightful)
The intent was to allow those not in control of the actions of a company to be able to invest money in it without danger of losing more than they willingly invested. It was never intended to shield those who *DO* have control over the actions of the corporation. When it is us
This is actually perfect for Darl. (Score:3, Interesting)
For Darl this is the perfect present
Re:Neat (Score:3, Interesting)
Now THAT would surely be ironic, since all indications are that SCO's original hopes in filing this lawsuit were that IBM would simply buy them out.
So if this actually happened, the investors would not only lose every dime they put into this mess, they also lose the company AND they will likely be remembered in the business world for making very poor decisions.
I like it!!!
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
I was most amused by some of the directions (Score:5, Funny)
To power up the system, press the power button on the front panel.
To reboot the system, run the 'reboot' command as root.
To shutdown the system run the 'shutdown -F' command as root.
To power up after shutdown, press the power button on the front panel.
and fwiw the search script is korn shell
Re:Hah! (Score:3, Funny)
cat
More likely... (Score:3, Funny)
80 gig recompile (Score:5, Insightful)
Would be cool if the data becomes pirated. We can recompile the thing for x86 or x64 machines. Imagine how long a build world will take.
In all obviousness AIX does not contain SCO code, heck SCO is in no position to accuse that at all... Novell owns the trademark. Either way, SCO should now provide its own code for comparison.
Good things will happen. SCO's case will be thrown out and they'll be bankrupted, most UNIX sourcecode will become available, Solaris will be opensourced, and future lawsuits of these types will be thrown out making Linux more resilient in the corporate.
Re:80 gig recompile (Score:3, Informative)
Except the ml directories won't assemble.
And the full build of everything AIX takes about 8 hours IIRC on our build machines.
Cheers,
Matt
Re:80 gig recompile (Score:5, Funny)
They should hire nothing but lawyers, and have the lawyers scream "SCORIAA" all day long for no purposes or reason.
Re:80 gig recompile (Score:4, Funny)
I went to check if it was just a pleasant coincidence that "escória" (pronunced as you would pronounce SCORIAA if it were a word) means "scum" in Portuguese. And yeah, turns out that it means the same in English [reference.com] (and probably that was the intent of your joke), but I don't see it being used metaphorically in English as much as it is in Portuguese.
Re:80 gig recompile (Score:5, Insightful)
And can you just imagine what IBM would do to the bloody, tattered remains of SCO if SCO allowed the source to be leaked?
Hell, all that needs to happen is for large chunks of the relevant code to begin appearing around the 'net. Whether an SCO screw up put them there or not, guess who's going to take the heat when IBM's lawyersharks hear about it?
Re:80 gig recompile (Score:3, Informative)
In all obviousness AIX DOES contain SCO code. The point is where AIX matches with Linux, not where AIX matches with UNIX.
Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)
Cool. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Cool. (Score:4, Insightful)
Now let's wait and (Score:5, Funny)
"you're fired" (Score:5, Funny)
In other news SCOX went up 2.79% (Score:4, Interesting)
SCO's stock price went up 2.79% [yahoo.com] today !
someone must be feeling confident or is it pump to dump ? any day traders got any insight ?
Re:In other news SCOX went up 2.79% (Score:3, Funny)
Re:In other news SCOX went up 2.79% (Score:5, Funny)
Somebody is gaming the system (Score:3, Informative)
Bid: 0.01 x 100
Ask: 9,000.00 x 100
It has been observed that very often SCOX will have a small trade (100 shares) significantly above the current price. This caused the stock to close higher than it otherwise would. When will SEC get involved?
Re:Somebody is gaming the system (Score:3, Informative)
A lot of money to be sued (Score:5, Insightful)
I wonder if they can sue SCO for costs and lawyers fees should they successfully defend the suit?
Raydude
Special Instructions for SCO (Score:5, Funny)
System operation (Please read the AIX 5.2 documentation before attempting to use this system)
To power up the system, press the power button on the front panel.
To reboot the system, run the 'reboot' command as root.
To shutdown the system run the 'shutdown -F' command as root.
To power up after shutdown, press the power button on the front panel.
Heh, not even user manuals have instructions like that anymore
Re:Special Instructions for SCO (Score:5, Funny)
In related news, SCO files for another extention on the grounds that they were unable to get the system up and running due to IBM withholding critical documentaton.
-
Extortion (Score:5, Informative)
I think this kind of stuff scares some smaller companies away from FOSS, because of a lack (perceived) of legal protection.
Why do people get away with this stuff? Because attorneys are the extortionist and they exempt themselves from the law, because they write the law.
WTF? (Score:4, Funny)
Dude! Ever hear of DVD? 100+ CDs! That's an awfully large unnecessary stack of CDs.
If IBM wins the suit, they can also countersue for the cost of the CDs.
Re:WTF? (Score:5, Funny)
delivered on an AIX server (Score:5, Funny)
In other news IBM offloads all those workers (Score:5, Insightful)
The lawyers are happy, because they got paid, the shareholders are happy because their investment paid (this quarter), the CEO and board are happy because they got paid a bonus (again).
The IBM employees? They get what they deserved. Every 13,000 of them. Welcome to capitalism - enjoy your stay!
Re:In other news IBM offloads all those workers (Score:3, Insightful)
Capitalims can not exist without greed. In fact capitalism IS greed.
Capitalism also rewards dishonesty.
Capitalism is basically a social/political system based solely on the seven deadly sins (and usury which is also a sin).
"IBM Gives SCO the Works" (Score:3, Funny)
I bet... (Score:3, Funny)
Bet they wished they had OS X Tiger and Spotlight.
SCO code IS in Linux.... (Score:4, Funny)
seach4stolencode.sh (Score:5, Funny)
echo "Searching for stolen code...."
while [ 1 ]; do {
#Make HDD LED go nuts
dd if=/dev/zero count=10000000 of=5gbfile.out
rm -f 5gbfile.out
echo "No stolen code found."
} done
Re:seach4stolencode.sh (Score:4, Funny)
find / -type f|while read code
do
strings $code | grep -i "stolen code here!"
done
Finally (Score:3, Interesting)
it's not all about source code (Score:4, Informative)
speling releif (Score:4, Funny)
1. I declare under penatly of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct.
It gives me great relief to see that spelling mistakes are just part of life, even in a document so great. It's not just me ... I can continue in life!
Same technique as govt's anti-trust suit (Score:5, Interesting)
As a result, they filled up two rather large warehouses with documents, and told the feds: Here you go, have at it.
At least with SCO, they gave them instructions on how to search.
Chip H.
I wonder if SCO saw the EULA..... (Score:5, Funny)
The use of this server constitues an agreement between SCO and International Business Machines (IBM). SCO agrees that SCO has no legal claim to any intellectual property, copywrite, or patent to any property of IBM or the free software community in general. SCO further agrees that McBride and Sontage are whinny poopbutts undeserving of any compensation, payment or consideration.
the work is done (Score:3, Funny)
Finally... (Score:3, Funny)
SCO could not read tar.gz (Score:4, Funny)
"In the past SCO complained they could not read the data IBM sent. The data was tar.gz-files."
Re:new cd format? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:new cd format? (Score:3, Informative)
The "almost a million pages of correspondence" is what went on the CD. Not 80 GB of source code.
Re:new cd format? (Score:4, Funny)
gzip and arc
Re:new cd format? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:new cd format? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:new cd format? (Score:5, Funny)
#23601 +(6799)- [X]
<mage> what should I give sister for unzipping?
<Kevyn> Um. Ten bucks?
<mage> no I mean like, WinZip?
Re:new cd format? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:new cd format? (Score:3, Funny)
--
Stupidity is the root of all evil.
How apropos.
Re:new cd format? (Score:3, Informative)
"They delivered the goods on a server..."
Re:new cd format? (Score:5, Funny)
They converted it from
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
scoid (Score:5, Funny)
I propose that all future Linux systems come with the user "scoid", password "sc0cmvc1".
It's chrooted. When you log in, it displays some fireworks, and contains some ASCII-art of when Darl McBride and his friends at Cannopy were arrested.
root password (Score:4, Informative)
ID password description
root sc0root1 system admin ID
scoid sc0cmvc1 cmvc ID
Re:Public Access to that Source Code (Score:4, Informative)
As for making it free/public - IBM doesn't own all that code. They had to notify several third parties before turning over this batch over to SCO. (I think they got permission last year, when they turned over the source to every released version of AIX and Dynix.)
Re:Microsoft - and Sun too (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Microsoft (Score:5, Informative)
FYI for the (shill/ignorant) moderators who modded parent flamebait: Microsoft really were funding SCO [google.com] for this lawsuit. This information was accidentally leaked some time back, and it was actually confirmed by Microsoft (who have since (claimed they) stopped the funding).
Re:Uhhhh (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:AIX becomes freeware??? (Score:5, Informative)