Thanks Groklaw
Thanks Pamela Jones.
I think fairly few, even among those who has followed this mad story from the beginning, can remember every detail all that well. As I remember there was a report by some consultant who claimed IBM would gladly pay SCO (I will call it SCO here) one billion dollar for the "wrong doings" they had done towards SCO. That report was on the internet then. As for the "wrong doings" they where based on what Earl McBride wanted to believe. No wonder he and David Boies too, smelt cheap money around the corner. And of course Microsoft smelt something too.
At it's wildest SCO claimed there was one million copied instructions in Linux. (The evidence then happened to disappear in a briefcase in Iceland.)
To some extent I can understand this as there was a lot of people who found it hard to understand how a bunch of kids could come up with something as advanced a linux so quickly. Just a PAC-MAN system according to Gates, if I remember right. In comments around the globe then you would find stuff like - "I knew it, I knew it, it's all copied".
One thing I think is obvious in a case like this is that a jury system is not good at all. A "lotto" system that easily gives you a 50/50 chance even if you are wrong. How can one demand that a jury could understand any of this. No wonder McBride wanted to take the case in front of a jury all the time.
Pamela Jones ability to dig into it was fenomenal.
As for SCO Unix, I had tens of customers running our software and it was quite OK. Cheaper than HP-UX, Aix and Solaris but also slower as it ran on standard PC hardware. The only problem I can remember now is that it run out of semaphores every now and then, not a big problem as such. In fact, I found more bugs in HP-UX.
I mention this as I still feel sorry for the honest and good guys working with SCO Unix and who probably lost their jobs due to a greedy dumb guy like Darl McBride who managed to destroy the company, for ever, as I hope to day.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
