FAQ: SCO and Linux

In recent months, the SCO Group (formerly Caldera) has sought to undermine the viability of Linux, and of open source software generally, through legal action and the threat of legal action.

The result has been outrage in the open source community, as reflected in angry news group postings and open letters. Other companies, notably IBM and Red Hat, have taken legal actions of their own. Leading figures on both sides have traded salvos of interviews and press releases.

This FAQ is an attempt to sort out the some of the claims and counterclaims of fact and law, without resorting to name-calling or inflammatory rhetoric. It focuses on the legal status of Linux, and on the likelihood that SCO will be successful in its efforts.

I have deliberately avoided a number of related topics, such as:

The tangled history of Unix

The behavior of SCO's stock price

The dumping of stock by SCO executives

The possible roles of Microsoft and Sun

I welcome feedback from others who may be able to correct whatever errors of fact or of law may have crept in.

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MS Word version

See also mirror at http://www.1779.net/scofaq/, with thanks to Gregg Sperling.

Scott McKellar