No FOSS in there

Story: Open Source Firm Black Duck Expands Reseller Network In Australia ...Total Replies: 15
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Sander_Marechal

Aug 03, 2006
1:51 PM EDT
There's no FLOSS in there. The title is plain wrong. The only thing vaguely reeking of FLOSS is that blackduck's tool can scan for known FLOSS code in a company's code. Ofcourse we know how well that works from SCO's millions of lines of code.

But what do you expect from SYS-CON
tuxchick2

Aug 03, 2006
2:26 PM EDT
Maybe this will find the literal millions of lines of literally line-by-line stolen copied code.
Sander_Marechal

Aug 03, 2006
2:35 PM EDT
I find it perfectly acceptible that a direct code comparison between SysV and Linux 2.4 will show heaps of identical code. SCO's problem is that it's all in there legally. I'm almost convinced that SCO thought that at least *some* of those lines would be infringing. I.e. Throw a whole lot of mud and hope *something* sticks (or get bought out). Guess they were out of luck :-)

Maybe one of the people behind this blackduck software are on SCO's MIT deep diver list?
dcparris

Aug 03, 2006
3:59 PM EDT
I really wish I had the money to buy them out. I would turn the whole bloomin' boat around. Anyone got a few mil?
tuxchick2

Aug 03, 2006
4:23 PM EDT
Check the current share price. Your pocket change might be enough.
NoDough

Aug 03, 2006
5:36 PM EDT
>I really wish I had the money to buy them out. I would turn the whole bloomin' boat around. Anyone got a few mil?

No you don't.

When you buy a company, you are buying not only their assets, but their liabilities as well.

Still want to buy them?
dcparris

Aug 03, 2006
7:10 PM EDT
Good points, Tuxchick and NoDough. Hmmmm... Perhaps winning the goodwill of the community will help some. But I still need a good business plan. I could only derive that from studying their books, history, and software a bit closer. I may need the few mil in case I find myself needing to dump some of the current staff.

(1) Assess the situation in buying process/Develop business plan (1) Stop the stupid law suit/Fire the attorneys (2) Repair relationships with IBM & Novell - that will likely end much of the liabilities - at least the known ones. (3) Liberate whatever code I can

Well, that's as far as I'll go for now.
Sander_Marechal

Aug 03, 2006
9:54 PM EDT
Quoting:I really wish I had the money to buy them out. I would turn the whole bloomin' boat around. Anyone got a few mil?


No, the litegation train has to be ridden out for the good of Linux and the GPL. Two things that worry me about the case:

1) SCO going broke before the litegation ends. I really want a ruling in this case 2) MS or some other anti-floss company buying up what's left of SCO

A third thing that worries me is that Darl et. al. are going to spin off whatever profitable business there still is (e.g. Me Inc) so it won't be affected by the litegation, leaving only an empty shell to take the damage that IBM does them.
grouch

Aug 03, 2006
10:56 PM EDT
Your 2nd fear should not be a fear, at all. It would be a time for dancing in the streets and taking showers in beer and champagne.

If MS were to buy up the dead, twitching corpse that is SCOG, I think even IBM's Nazgul would crack a grin. Not even MS is that dumb. All their monopoly tricks, traps and billions would not prevent the feast that the counter-claims sharks would have.
Sander_Marechal

Aug 03, 2006
11:44 PM EDT
I'm not so sure about that. Consider this scenario:

SCO goes tits up before IBM dealt it's blows. No-one wants to buy the company (because of the liabilities) so the companies assets are broken up and sold piece by piece to the highest bidder. Whatever money is made from that goes to IBM to which SCO has the largest debt at that point. The liabilities stay with SCO. It's like an executionary sale.

Queue MS to step in and buy whatever SCO Unix IP there is left. They could spin it that they want to buy what they licensed from SCO for $10m a few years back so they can continue to use that IP. Afterall, if someone else were to buy it then MS could have to license it from the new owner in a few years.
grouch

Aug 04, 2006
12:30 AM EDT
sander:

Sorry, but it just doesn't work that way. IBM's counter-claims, alone, are enough to make the SCOG remains untouchable by anyone not in one of the lawsuits. Each of the lawsuits pending against SCOG has to be dealt with. They do not just disappear.

Besides that, what SCOG "IP" is worth licensing? Their trademark? They made that worthless with their attacks. The old UNIX manuals? No information in those worth having, now. Everything of value is available freely, and has been for years. They let their UNIX system fall so far behind and out-of-date that it only has value to those who haven't migrated off of it yet.
Sander_Marechal

Aug 04, 2006
3:02 AM EDT
Quoting:IBM's counter-claims, alone, are enough to make the SCOG remains untouchable by anyone not in one of the lawsuits. Each of the lawsuits pending against SCOG has to be dealt with. They do not just disappear.


They don't disappears when SCO disappears? I'm not familliar with US corporate law. Could you elaborate how that works? I thought that the company would cease to exist and some financials official would sell whatever there was left (from computer hardware to pencils, furniture, etcetera, including any remaining IP), dividing the money between their the companies that are owed money. The coutersuits dropped because the target has ceased to be.

That's at least how it usually works here in Europe. After the sale the debtors could try to go after the former management and their private funds, but that would be a separate suit (a claim of mis-management, to hold them personally responsible - at which point the counterclaims could be brought back)

I agree that there will be little, if any, IP left.
grouch

Aug 04, 2006
3:26 AM EDT
sander:

If SCOG goes bankrupt before their case is over, SCOG's suits will vaporize. The lawsuits brought by IBM and Novell will not. (I think AutoZone still has counterclaims, too, but I'm not sure. Groklaw would have that info on one of the static pages). SCOG would be placed under court control and the executor would have to deal with the lawsuits, first. Even the shareholders take a back seat to the pending lawsuits. If there are not even crumbs left on the floor to be divided amongst shareholders after that, well, that's why people should be careful about investments.
Sander_Marechal

Aug 04, 2006
4:07 AM EDT
Thanks. I get it now :-)
grouch

Aug 04, 2006
4:09 AM EDT
You learn legal stuff on Groklaw. :) I think it's fulfilling its goal of bringing "techs" and lawyers to better understand each other's point of view.
Sander_Marechal

Aug 04, 2006
4:48 AM EDT
I know, I often go there myself (it's how I came here - through some news picks). I hadn't seen a discussion on what would happen after SCO was gone.

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