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rhinoceros
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SCO says GPL is invalid
« on: 2003-08-15 13:02:11 » |
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SCO to argue General Public Licence invalid
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=11031
SCO WILL attempt to win its $3 billion case against IBM by arguing that the General Public Licence (GPL) is invalid.
That's what a pleader at legal practice Boies Schiller and Flexner is telling the Wall Street Journal today.
The GPL licence allows software and work derived from it to be copied by anyone at no charge.
But according to today's WSJ, quoting lawyer Mark Heise, the GPL is pre-empted by US federal copyright law.
How does that work then? According to Heise, federal law only lets people make a single backup copy of software, and that makes the GPL void under US law.
<snip>
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rhinoceros
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Re:SCO says GPL is invalid
« Reply #1 on: 2003-08-15 13:07:37 » |
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And while we are at it, here is the latest SCO-related Nigerian scam thing going around the net. A good one, although not as good as the "GPL is invalid" argument.
DEAR SIR/MADAM:
I AM MR. DARL MCBRIDE CURRENTLY SERVING AS THE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF THE SCO GROUP, FORMERLY KNOWN AS CALDERA SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL, IN LINDON, UTAH, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. I KNOW THIS LETTER MIGHT SURPRISE YOUR BECAUSE WE HAVE HAD NO PREVIOUS COMMUNICATIONS OR BUSINESS DEALINGS BEFORE NOW.
MY ASSOCIATES HAVE RECENTLY MADE CLAIM TO COMPUTER SOFTWARES WORTH AN ESTIMATED $1 BILLION U.S. DOLLARS. I AM WRITING TO YOU IN CONFIDENCE BECAUSE WE URGENTLY REQUIRE YOUR ASSISTANCE TO OBTAIN THESE FUNDS.
IN THE EARLY 1970S THE AMERICAN TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH CORPORATION DEVELOPED AT GREAT EXPENSE THE COMPUTER OPERATING SYSTEM SOFTWARE KNOWN AS UNIX. UNFORTUNATELY THE LAWS OF MY COUNTRY PROHIBITED THEM FROM SELLING THESE SOFTWARES AND SO THEIR VALUABLE SOURCE CODES REMAINED PRIVATELY HELD. UNDER A SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT SOME PROGRAMMERS FROM THE CALIFORNIA UNIVERSITY OF BERKELEY DID ADD MORE CODES TO THIS OPERATING SYSTEM, INCREASING ITS VALUE, BUT NOT IN ANY WAY TO DILUTE OR DISPARAGE OUR FULL AND RIGHTFUL OWNERSHIP OF THESE CODES, DESPITE ANY AGREEMENT BETWEEN AMERICAN TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH AND THE CALIFORNIA UNIVERSITY OF BERKELEY, WHICH AGREEMENT WE DENY AND DISAVOW.
IN THE YEAR 1984 A CHANGE OF REGIME IN MY COUNTRY ALLOWED THE AMERICAN TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH CORPORATION TO MAKE PROFITS FROM THESE SOFTWARES. IN THE YEAR 1990 OWNERSHIP OF THESE SOFTWARES WAS TRANSFERRED TO THE CORPORATION UNIX SYSTEM LABORATORIES. IN THE YEAR 1993 THIS CORPORATION WAS SOLD TO THE CORPORATION NOVELL. IN THE YEAR 1994 SOME EMPLOYEES OF NOVELL FORMED THE CORPORATION CALDERA SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL, WHICH BEGAN TO DISTRIBUTE AN UPSTART OPERATING SYSTEM KNOWN AS LINUX. IN THE YEAR 1995 NOVELL SOLD THE UNIX SOFTWARE CODES TO SCO. IN THE YEAR 2001 OCCURRED A SEPARATION OF SCO, AND THE SCO BRAND NAME AND UNIX CODES WERE ACQUIRED BY THE CALDERA SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL, AND IN THE FOLLOWING YEAR THE CALDERA SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL WAS RENAMED SCO GROUP, OF WHICH I CURRENTLY SERVE AS CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER.
MY ASSOCIATES AND I OF THE SCO GROUP ARE THEREFORE THE FULL AND RIGHTFUL OWNERS OF THE OPERATING SYSTEM SOFTWARES KNOWN AS UNIX. OUR ENGINEERS HAVE DISCOVERED THAT NO FEWER THAN SEVENTY (70) LINES OF OUR VALUABLE AND PROPRIETARY SOURCE CODES HAVE APPEARED IN THE UPSTART OPERATING SYSTEM LINUX. AS YOU CAN PLAINLY SEE, THIS GIVES US A CLAIM ON THE MILLIONS OF LINES OF VALUABLE SOFTWARE CODES WHICH COMPRISE THIS LINUX AND WHICH HAS BEEN SOLD AT GREAT PROFIT TO VERY MANY BUSINESS ENTERPRISES. OUR LEGAL EXPERTS HAVE ADVISED US THAT OUR CONTRIBUTION TO THESE CODES IS WORTH AN ESTIMATED ONE (1) BILLION U.S. DOLLARS.
UNFORTUNATELY WE ARE HAVING DIFFICULTY EXTRACTING OUR FUNDS FROM THESE COMPUTER SOFTWARES. TO THIS EFFECT I HAVE BEEN GIVEN THE MANDATE BY MY COLLEAGUES TO CONTACT YOU AND ASK FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE. WE ARE PREPARED TO SELL YOU A SHARE IN THIS ENTERPRISE, WHICH WILL SOON BE VERY PROFITABLE, THAT WILL GRANT YOU THE RIGHTS TO USE THESE VALUABLE SOFTWARES IN YOUR BUSINESS ENTERPRISE. UNFORTUNATELY WE ARE NOT ABLE AT THIS TIME TO SET A PRICE ON THESE RIGHTS. THEREFORE IT IS OUR RESPECTFUL SUGGESTION, THAT YOU MAY BE IMMEDIATELY A PARTY TO THIS ENTERPRISE, BEFORE OTHERS ACCEPT THESE LUCRATIVE TERMS, THAT YOU SEND US THE NUMBER OF A BANKING ACCOUNT WHERE WE CAN WITHDRAW FUNDS OF A SUITABLE AMOUNT TO GUARANTEE YOUR PARTICIPATION IN THIS ENTERPRISE. AS AN ALTERNATIVE YOU MAY SEND US THE NUMBER AND EXPIRATION DATE OF YOUR MAJOR CREDIT CARD, OR YOU MAY SEND TO US A SIGNED CHECK FROM YOUR BANKING ACCOUNT PAYABLE TO "SCO GROUP" AND WITH THE AMOUNT LEFT BLANK FOR US TO CONVENIENTLY SUPPLY.
KINDLY TREAT THIS REQUEST AS VERY IMPORTANT AND STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL. I HONESTLY ASSURE YOU THAT THIS TRANSACTION IS 100% LEGAL AND RISK-FREE.
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Hermit
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Re:SCO says GPL is invalid
« Reply #2 on: 2003-08-15 15:01:31 » |
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[Hermit] Thanks Rhino. Quite delightful. Except that the Nigerians seem to be more experienced in establishing their hooks than SCO.
[Hermit] I really think that SCO is reaching and that the dollar signs in front of their eyes, complete lack of knowledge of the market or indeed of their own company history, are sufficing to blinker them to the chasm looming at their feet. The final appended article should make it fairly apparent that IBM feels that it has a fairly overwhelming case.
[Hermit] As for SCO's latest wriggle, like the other wrigglers in the news (oops, it wasn't Uranium, it wasn't centrifuge parts, they were not mobile labs and they didn't consort with terrorists), SCO's emergent (and shapeshifting) stories seem to become more and more implausable as time goes on. I'm fairly sure that SCO is referring to 17 U.S.C. § 101 et al, and particularly 106 (suppliers cannot prohibit customers from making a "back-up copy" of software), where copyright law gives the owner of computer software the exclusive right to copy the software and distribute it to others. These rights have previously been tested in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (Beckman Instruments, Inc. vs. Cincom Systems, Inc., 2000 U.S. App. LEXIS 32522, July 25, 2000) which relied on S.O.S., Inc. vs. Payday, Inc., 886 F.2d 1081 9th Cir., 1989 (a license is assumed to prohibit any use not specifically authorized) and MAI Systems Corp. vs. Peak Computer, Inc., 991 F.2d 511, 9th Cir., 1993 (a license permiting the licensee to use the software does not allow others to copy or use the software). It does not say that a supplier and its clients cannot contractually agree to other rights, or even a ceding of rights to any parties accepting the same terms (which is very close to the actual mechanics of the GPL). My reading is that if SCO has any recourse at all, it will (in part due to their reluctance to come out and say how people are infringing in them (making them a party to the ongoing infringement and so estopping them from claiming damages for wilful infringement) be slight. Meanwhile IBM can put on - and in the screws. And I'm not sure anyone, is going to bleed for SCO while this happens.
Source: http://radio.weblogs.com/0120124/2003/08/11.html
Authors: 'GROKLAW'
Dated: 2003-08-11
Old SCO Also Donated Code to Linux
Well, knock me over with a feather. It turns out that old SCO, The Santa Cruz Operation, also donated code to Linux. There is an article dated June 12, 2000, that tells us all about their Linux distribution and their plans, which included scaling it to the enterprise, as marketroids like to call it:
"While SCO may be rolling out its Linux distribution long after Red Hat and Caldera hit the market with theirs, SCO is no open source Johnny-come-lately. The company offers support services to Caldera and TurboLinux customers. In addition, the company's Tarantella middleware supports Linux, as will Monterey, the Intel-based version of Unix that SCO is building with IBM.
"SCO is expected to announce 32- and 64-bit versions of Linux for Intel-based servers, which will be available in the fourth quarter of this year. In early 2001, SCO plans to deliver a 32-bit Internet Infrastructure Edition that will come bundled with a Web server and other IP applications. The company is also working on a 64-bit edition for service providers, including ISPs and application service providers, which will feature special billing and management tools.
"The company is also expected to explore the following areas:
"--Building the Linux clustering capacity to be in line with SCO's NonStop Clusters technology, which scales to 12 or more boxes with advanced reliability for data and applications. Current Linux clustering technology is generally limited to two or four nodes.
--Beefing up Linux's symmetric multiprocessing capabilities. Currently the number of CPUs per Linux server is usually limited to eight; UnixWare can run on servers with up to 32 CPUs.
-- Managing multiple Linux servers as well as applications from a single console as if they were a single system.
-- Improving security and the ability of Linux to handle applications such as e-mail, including instant messaging.
-- Adding online support services and documentation."
Wait a sec. Isn't that what paragraph 85 of SCO's original complaint was talking about, and didn't they say that without IBM entering the picture, Linux could never have scaled? The complaint said:
"For example, Linux is currently capable of coordinating the simultaneous performance of 4 computer processors. UNIX, on the other hand, commonly links 16 processors and can successfully link up to 32 processors for simultaneous operation."
That wasn't accurate, but it does give me an idea. Maybe New SCO needs to sue Old SCO and leave the rest of us in peace.
One year earlier, in 1999, a press release from Old SCO described itself like this:
"We have over twenty years of experience with UNIX, Intel, and Open Source technologies. In fact, we believe that SCO has the largest staff of Open Source experts of any commercial software vendor.
"As a founding sponsor of Linux International, SCO is a strong proponent of the Open Source movement, citing it as a driving force for innovation. Over the years, SCO has contributed source code to the movement, and currently offers a free Open License Software Supplement CD that includes many Open Source technologies. SCO UnixWare 7 operating system, the fastest growing UNIX server operating system for the past two years, supports Linux applications as part of its development platform."
All the Tarantella-Linux press releases from June 1999 to February 2000 are here.All Tarantella press releases from June of '99 to July of 2000 are here.And here is a snip of the copyright on code donated by an Old SCO employee.
And didn't SCO charge that the code from Project Monterey was added to Linux after IBM shut down Project Monterey? Yet this press release says that Old SCO's Tarantella software was being made available to both Project Monterey and 64-bit Linux in February 2000 simultaneously, and SCO not only wasn't suing anybody to stop it, it was participating to make it happen:
"SCO (NASDAQ:SCOC) today announced that it is readying its award-winning Tarantella web-enabling software for the Monterey/64 and 64-bit Linux platforms utilizing an Intel Itanium processor-based server prototype. Users of these forthcoming operating system platforms will benefit from the remote administration capabilities provided by Tarantella, and provide users with secure, web-based access to Windows, mainframe, Linux and UNIX applications.
"'SCO is pleased to offer a product like Tarantella for significant 64-bit platforms like Monterey/64 and 64-bit Linux,' said Peter Bondar, vice president of Tarantella marketing at SCO.
"SCO will ship the Tarantella product line concurrent with system availability of the Itanium processor-based servers and workstations.
"Tarantella represents another exciting business-critical solution committed to be available during the second half of this year, when Itanium processor-based systems begin to ship," said Michael Pope, director of Intel's Enterprise Software Programs. "This combination will offer an additional choice for e-Business solutions." "
Naturally, none of this is still available on SCO's site, or Old SCO-now Tarantella's. But the internet doesn't forget. Old SCO's Linux page stressed the company's long involvement with and code contributions to Linux, in a page that was online from 1999 to February 2002, according to Wayback:
"A corporate sponsor of Linux International, SCO has always supported open standards, UNIX Systems and server-based technologies and solutions that benefit business computing. Our engineers have continuously participated in the Open Source movement, providing source code such as lxrun, and the OpenSAR kernel monitoring utility. We offer a free Open Source software supplement that includes many Open Source technologies as well as making our commercial UNIX products available free for non-commercial use.
"And, more recently, our investments in Caldera, TurboLinux and LinuxMall.com enable us to engage a wider Open Source community and reflects our continuing support of Open Source and UNIX on Intel."
In May of 2000, Slashdot published an interview with Old SCO's then President of its Server Division, David McCrabb, entitled "SCO Answers Questions About Linux". Here is a sample of the questions and his answers:
"Q: Will SCO be contributing/open-sourcing any technology and/or patents that it holds as part of its Linux adoption effort? Also, did your market research pan out - is Linux really being used in large businesses or is it still primarily used by small startup companies strapped for cash?
"McCrabb: SCO is accelerating its participation in, and contributions to, the Open Source Community. In some cases, we will be taking current technology that we think is needed in the Linux market and driving it forward as the project maintainers. Right now, we are focusing on bringing some of our high-performance Intel development tools to Linux. In other cases, we will make some sources available as reference documents, without a specific intention of driving them forward as projects.
"Q:What does your future roadmap for SCO Unix look like? - Are you going the SGI path and gradually phasing out your own Unix in favor of Linux, or are you pursuing a parallel development path of both OSs? What features currently in SCO that are not in Linux do you feel are necessary for wider corporate acceptance of Linux?
"McCrabb: Our formal product roadmap is undergoing a complete overhaul. When we begin to outline our OS deliverables for the next 18 months, you will see that UnixWare 7 and SCO OpenServer 5 will continue moving ahead. Look forward to new developments as well.
"Enterprises building their businesses on a server platform are interested in reliability and availability. Although we believe in a high degree of reliability that comes from the level of code inspection provided by the Open Source Community, we feel it needs to be quantified with benchmarking statistics like MTBSS. This opens a number of possible further improvements -- journalizing file systems, support for hot-plug PCI, multi-path I/O -- things that make is easier to never bring the system down, or to recover the system more quickly.
"Q: As most people know, SCO is working with IBM and Sequent (which IIRC IBM bought a while back) to develop a new 64 bit Unix. How will these two OSes work together on your systems? Are you planning on using Linux only on low-end machines, while Monterey runs on IA-64, or will Linux be a 'stopgap OS' to run on your systems until Monterey is finished?
"McCrabb:Monterey and Linux-64 will be an important platform for the Itanium market. Both are expected to be available in the same time frame. Customers demand that Monterey have the ability to run Linux applications. This will be an important area of interoperability that we will stress with the Monterey product line."
Once again, we find yet another way any identical code could have come to be in both SCO's code and Linux. We just reported yesterday that Compaq worked with China's Red Flag Linux with the goal of scaling to 64-bit. Now we find Old SCO was working hard to do the same thing. You think it's possible to write a kernel monitoring utility for Linux without touching or looking at the Linux kernel? They were donating code by the buckets, apparently, judging from their own statements, and they were proud of it.
How in the world they can prove it was IBM that did it, or even IBM that facililtated it, when Old SCO itself was working to make Linux scale in precisely some of the high-end ways they now list in their complaint as an offense, is truly a mystery to me, what with all the possible suspects. And something appears to be off in SCO's historic timeline in its legal papers. Could that be why they took these pages down? Well, let's not get paranoid or anything. But, you think?
If We Send You an Invoice, Then Will You Pay Us?
Now SCO says it will send out invoices to the 1500 companies that got the earlier warning from them, and maybe you too, in the next weeks or months. What? You mean you aren't in a hurry to stand before a judge? Expected response from one and all: yawn. Here's the article:
"SCO Group Inc is preparing to invoice customers running or developing with Linux, while broadening its copyright net to include manufacturers of embedded systems. . . .
"Invoices will be dispatched in the 'next weeks or months' a company spokesperson confirmed.
"Those being billed will include 1,500 end-users who were earlier this year informed by SCO in writing they should seek legal advice as running Linux violated the company's copyright. Customers running Linux who were not on SCO's original mailing list will also be targeted."
Chris Sontag says you end user pirates better not wait for the legal case to be over, or you'll have to "face the consequences":
"'SCO has the right to defend its copyright all the way down to the end user,' said Sontag. 'If necessary we will start picking end users to enforce our rights.' Sontag warned that SCO had no qualms about enforcing its claimed rights anywhere in the world - including the UK."
And if that doesn't work, then they'll huff and they'll puff and they'll blow your house down.
With FUD galore.
[Hermit]Finally, enjoy the following story, particularly the end. It seems SCO is almost as inarticulate with their case as Dubya explaining why the US needs colonies. But that is another story. The links below the story on the host page are also rather interesting.
IBM has Novell support in SCO countersuit
War of words continues as SCO hits back at Big Blue's claims
Source: VuNet
Authors: Peter Williams
Dated: 2003-08-15
IBM has provided more information about the countersuit it has filed against the SCO Group, and has revealed backing from Novell.
In a statement Big Blue said: "IBM is seeking compensatory and punitive damages and an injunction requiring SCO to refrain from misrepresenting its rights, and to cease further infringement of IBM's patents."
It added in a statement to vnunet.com: "SCO has improperly claimed the right to revoke IBM's Unix licence, despite the fact that IBM's contract expressly provides that IBM's rights are irrevocable and that Novell, which is a party to the agreement under which IBM obtained an irrevocable and perpetual Unix licence, agrees that SCO cannot terminate IBM's licence and has exercised its right to waive this claim."
Ovum principal consultant, Gary Barnett, said Novell's support paved the way for arguments to be presented in court, and that IBM's relatively small number of countercharges was probably just the start.
"I expect to see an iterative raising of more issues in a very well-defined and pre-planned strategy," he said.
"We can expect IBM to significantly raise the pace now. It is sending a clear signal that it is not going to cave in quietly and pay off SCO."
IBM also claims SCO has infringed four IBM patents and violated the GNU General Public Licence (GPL) that covers Linux usage.
The four patents relate to SCO's commercially available UnixWare and Open Server Unix operating system products, and SCO Manager and Reliant HA clustering software.
But SCO has hit back, saying: "We view IBM's counterclaim filing today as an effort to distract attention from its flawed Linux business model. It repeats the same unsubstantiated allegations made in Red Hat's filing earlier this week.
"If IBM was serious about addressing the real problems with Linux, it would offer full customer indemnification and move away from the GPL.
"IBM urges its customers to use non-warranted, unprotected software. This software violates SCO's intellectual property rights in Unix, and fails to give comfort to customers going forward in use of Linux.
"If IBM wants customers to accept the GPL risk, it should indemnify them against that risk."
Regarding IBM's claim of patent infringement, SCO said: "SCO has shipped these products for many years, in some cases for nearly two decades, and this is the first time that IBM has ever raised an issue about patent infringement in these products."
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With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion. - Steven Weinberg, 1999
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Blunderov
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"We think in generalities, we live in details"
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RE: virus: Re:SCO says GPL is invalid
« Reply #3 on: 2003-08-15 17:50:10 » |
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Quick dial 419! Why DO they use all caps? Is it a sort of open code so
that they don't scam each other? Hello Rhino!
Best regards
Blunderov
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-virus@lucifer.com [mailto:owner-virus@lucifer.com] On Behalf
Of rhinoceros
Sent: 15 August 2003 07:08 PM
To: virus@lucifer.com
Subject: virus: Re:SCO says GPL is invalid
And while we are at it, here is the latest SCO-related Nigerian scam
thing going around the net. A good one, although not as good as the "GPL
is invalid" argument.
DEAR SIR/MADAM:
I AM MR. DARL MCBRIDE CURRENTLY SERVING AS THE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF
EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF THE SCO GROUP, FORMERLY KNOWN AS CALDERA SYSTEMS
INTERNATIONAL, IN LINDON, UTAH, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. I KNOW THIS
LETTER MIGHT SURPRISE YOUR BECAUSE WE HAVE HAD NO PREVIOUS
COMMUNICATIONS OR BUSINESS DEALINGS BEFORE NOW.
MY ASSOCIATES HAVE RECENTLY MADE CLAIM TO COMPUTER SOFTWARES WORTH AN
ESTIMATED $1 BILLION U.S. DOLLARS. I AM WRITING TO YOU IN CONFIDENCE
BECAUSE WE URGENTLY REQUIRE YOUR ASSISTANCE TO OBTAIN THESE FUNDS.
IN THE EARLY 1970S THE AMERICAN TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH CORPORATION
DEVELOPED AT GREAT EXPENSE THE COMPUTER OPERATING SYSTEM SOFTWARE KNOWN
AS UNIX. UNFORTUNATELY THE LAWS OF MY COUNTRY PROHIBITED THEM FROM
SELLING THESE SOFTWARES AND SO THEIR VALUABLE SOURCE CODES REMAINED
PRIVATELY HELD. UNDER A SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT SOME PROGRAMMERS FROM THE
CALIFORNIA UNIVERSITY OF BERKELEY DID ADD MORE CODES TO THIS OPERATING
SYSTEM, INCREASING ITS VALUE, BUT NOT IN ANY WAY TO DILUTE OR DISPARAGE
OUR FULL AND RIGHTFUL OWNERSHIP OF THESE CODES, DESPITE ANY AGREEMENT
BETWEEN AMERICAN TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH AND THE CALIFORNIA UNIVERSITY
OF BERKELEY, WHICH AGREEMENT WE DENY AND DISAVOW.
IN THE YEAR 1984 A CHANGE OF REGIME IN MY COUNTRY ALLOWED THE AMERICAN
TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH CORPORATION TO MAKE PROFITS FROM THESE
SOFTWARES. IN THE YEAR 1990 OWNERSHIP OF THESE SOFTWARES WAS TRANSFERRED
TO THE CORPORATION UNIX SYSTEM LABORATORIES. IN THE YEAR 1993 THIS
CORPORATION WAS SOLD TO THE CORPORATION NOVELL. IN THE YEAR 1994 SOME
EMPLOYEES OF NOVELL FORMED THE CORPORATION CALDERA SYSTEMS
INTERNATIONAL, WHICH BEGAN TO DISTRIBUTE AN UPSTART OPERATING SYSTEM
KNOWN AS LINUX. IN THE YEAR 1995 NOVELL SOLD THE UNIX SOFTWARE CODES TO
SCO. IN THE YEAR 2001 OCCURRED A SEPARATION OF SCO, AND THE SCO BRAND
NAME AND UNIX CODES WERE ACQUIRED BY THE CALDERA SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL,
AND IN THE FOLLOWING YEAR THE CALDERA SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL WAS RENAMED
SCO GROUP, OF WHICH I CURRENTLY SERVE AS CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER.
MY ASSOCIATES AND I OF THE SCO GROUP ARE THEREFORE THE FULL AND RIGHTFUL
OWNERS OF THE OPERATING SYSTEM SOFTWARES KNOWN AS UNIX. OUR ENGINEERS
HAVE DISCOVERED THAT NO FEWER THAN SEVENTY (70) LINES OF OUR VALUABLE
AND PROPRIETARY SOURCE CODES HAVE APPEARED IN THE UPSTART OPERATING
SYSTEM LINUX. AS YOU CAN PLAINLY SEE, THIS GIVES US A CLAIM ON THE
MILLIONS OF LINES OF VALUABLE SOFTWARE CODES WHICH COMPRISE THIS LINUX
AND WHICH HAS BEEN SOLD AT GREAT PROFIT TO VERY MANY BUSINESS
ENTERPRISES. OUR LEGAL EXPERTS HAVE ADVISED US THAT OUR CONTRIBUTION TO
THESE CODES IS WORTH AN ESTIMATED ONE (1) BILLION U.S. DOLLARS.
UNFORTUNATELY WE ARE HAVING DIFFICULTY EXTRACTING OUR FUNDS FROM THESE
COMPUTER SOFTWARES. TO THIS EFFECT I HAVE BEEN GIVEN THE MANDATE BY MY
COLLEAGUES TO CONTACT YOU AND ASK FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE. WE ARE PREPARED
TO SELL YOU A SHARE IN THIS ENTERPRISE, WHICH WILL SOON BE VERY
PROFITABLE, THAT WILL GRANT YOU THE RIGHTS TO USE THESE VALUABLE
SOFTWARES IN YOUR BUSINESS ENTERPRISE. UNFORTUNATELY WE ARE NOT ABLE AT
THIS TIME TO SET A PRICE ON THESE RIGHTS. THEREFORE IT IS OUR RESPECTFUL
SUGGESTION, THAT YOU MAY BE IMMEDIATELY A PARTY TO THIS ENTERPRISE,
BEFORE OTHERS ACCEPT THESE LUCRATIVE TERMS, THAT YOU SEND US THE NUMBER
OF A BANKING ACCOUNT WHERE WE CAN WITHDRAW FUNDS OF A SUITABLE AMOUNT TO
GUARANTEE YOUR PARTICIPATION IN THIS ENTERPRISE. AS AN ALTERNATIVE YOU
MAY SEND US THE NUMBER AND EXPIRATION DATE OF YOUR MAJOR CREDIT CARD, OR
YOU MAY SEND TO US A SIGNED CHECK FROM YOUR BANKING ACCOUNT PAYABLE TO
"SCO GROUP" AND WITH THE AMOUNT LEFT BLANK FOR US TO CONVENIENTLY
SUPPLY.
KINDLY TREAT THIS REQUEST AS VERY IMPORTANT AND STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL. I
HONESTLY ASSURE YOU THAT THIS TRANSACTION IS 100% LEGAL AND RISK-FREE.
----
This message was posted by rhinoceros to the Virus 2003 board on Church
of Virus BBS.
<http://virus.lucifer.com/bbs/index.php?board=54;action=display;threadid
=29046>
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rhinoceros
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My point is ...
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Re:SCO says GPL is invalid
« Reply #4 on: 2003-08-15 21:04:11 » |
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[Blunderov]
Quick dial 419! Why DO they use all caps? Is it a sort of open code so that they don't scam each other? Hello Rhino!
[rhinoceros]
My belated welcome back, Blunderov!
I hope I'll be able to be fully active again soon, after taking care of some stuff.
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