[OT] SCO is Going After End Users

[Paul Boddie]

clpy.NOSPAM at russellsalsbury.com (Russ Salsbury) wrote in message news:<4868482a.0307211336.4ca9493a at posting.google.com>...
> 
> I realize that this is OT, but SCO's action strikes at the heart of
> Open Source.  Somebody with the right patents can try to tax or shut
> down the rest of us, regardless of the validity of their claims.  If
> IBM, Red Hat, and the  decide that the the cost of settling is less
> than the cost of litigation, we all loose.  Fortunally, the claim
> against IBM is so big, $3B that they may fight it instead of settling.

(Insert footage of an office in IBM's legal department: the camera
pans upward from a stack of papers representing SCO's claims;
hysterical laughter can be heard as the camera pans across to one of
the lawyers; "I love this job!" he exclaims.)

Despite the wider implications of this case, plus the implications of
other recent developments (for me, that would have to include the
increased interest by various European Union factions in the
introduction of software patents), this really isn't the right forum
for constructive discussion about such issues. However, it must be
said that far too many people are unaware of such goings-on, or are
virtually apathetic about them ("as long as the free stuff keeps
coming", "it's not my place to think about it" and "if it's made
illegal, my employer will retrain me").

But thanks for the reminder that we really are lucky to be able to use
technologies and tools like Python, that the climate in which they
have been developed has so far been favourable to such innovation, and
that we should strive to maintain such a favourable environment
through the appropriate forums and channels.

Paul