SCO Wants to License Europe 540
MacEnvy writes "It looks like SCO isn't letting up - they've decided to expand their war on Linux to other countries. According to Internet Week, the company will be offering its Intellectual Property License in the UK and other European countries starting February 1. Whether Europeans will buy the licenses has yet to be seen." Motley Fool has chipped in on SCO's chances.
Ahem... (Score:5, Funny)
It died!
It died!
McBride said they owned Unix...
He lied!
He lied!
Why oh why is my company dead?
Couldn't IBM lawyers sue me instead?
Re:Ahem... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Ahem... (Score:5, Funny)
A: Because there's no end to that prick.
Re:Ahem... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Ahem... (Score:3, Funny)
How 'bout not measuring it at all, just slice it off at the base and count the rings to find out how old he is.
Protect Your Loved Ones! (Score:5, Funny)
(Disclaimer: Not my auction, not related.)
Re:Protect Your Loved Ones! (Score:2)
Re:Protect Your Loved Ones! (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Ahem... (Score:2, Funny)
Karma to burn so... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Ahem... (Score:5, Funny)
He calls it S.C.O
and in that company he has some lawyers
and into court they'll go
With a FUD FUD here and a FUD FUD there
Here a line, there a line, i'm telling you, this code is mine!
Old McBride he had a company
Farewell S.C.O
Thank you, Thank you... Im here all week... try the veal!
Germany (Score:3, Funny)
SB
Re:France (Score:5, Funny)
Scene at french castle as sco's lawyers arrive looking for their money
Frenchman 1: Uh c'est sco.
Frenchman 2: Quoi?
FM1: Les litigious bastards [sco.com]
FM2: Ohhhh...oui! sco.
FM1: Fetchez le vache!
FM2: Uhhh?
FM1: Fetchez le vache
Mooing noise. Cow is seen flying over wall of french castle. Sco's lawyers run away screaming "run away. run away".
This is good! (Score:5, Funny)
Oh no! (Score:2, Funny)
France Surrenders (Score:3, Funny)
BBC News
Within two hours of receiving the SCO demand letter, President Chirac hastily convened the French Parlimant. By a virtual unanimous vote, 1 member (a Linux user) from the Assembly abstaining, France has agreed to surrender.
The SCO lawyers are expected on Monday to parade down the Champs Elysees prior to accepting France's surrendertrain.
Ugh stop this cliche (Score:5, Insightful)
This cliche is false, and its been beaten to death. Let's put it to rest.
Re:Ugh stop this cliche (Score:3, Insightful)
2) totally inaccurate.
One thing us Americans have to remember is that though rance did have somewhat of an implosion in WW-II (not as much as most people think) they had in recent memory slogged through a very bloody war in which their land was one of the main battle fronts. They were kinda drained.
Their last major conflict was Algeria. If anything they kicked too much ass. They became too brutal, killing and repressing civilians to clamp down on the independence movement. Their br
Re:Ugh stop this cliche (Score:3, Insightful)
Today:
The USAs last major conflict is Iraq. If anything they kicked too much ass. They became too brutal, killing and repressing civilians to clamp down on the independence movement. Their brutality had won, but...
What is the cos
Re:Ugh stop this cliche (Score:3, Informative)
I don't necessarily think the meme of the French sucking in combat is true - at various points in time, they have had a formidable fighting force, and all joking aside, they have won many other historical engagements. But the
Re:Ugh stop this cliche (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes many people in France (and in Britain, and in the US and ...) were sympathetical to the Nazis.
They French and British units fighting in France were quickly defeated by the Germans, that is true also. However that happened to the armies of many other countries in Europe - Poland, Greece, Norway etc etc etc. The German army was vastly superior at the time.
It's time to face reality here: accusing the French of being cowards is not something based on valid historical assessments but pure chauvinism. And anybody who thinks a joke is still funny after being constantly retold for more than 50 years is only excused if he has a brain tumor.
Re:Ugh stop this cliche (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Ugh stop this cliche (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Ugh stop this cliche (Score:3, Informative)
THAT is cowardice. WWII, perhaps not, but WWI, they were cowards who were less dedicated to protecting their own capital city than a few thousand Americans were.
There was also the absolute incompetence(though they were not cowards there) at Dien Bien Ph
Re:Ugh stop this cliche (Score:3, Interesting)
The Western Front [richthofen.com] Let's see: In 1914 the German 1st Army went straight for Paris, chasing the British Expedition Force in front of them. The newly formed French 6th Army countered and send them back. It wasn't until much later in the war that the Americans came in, and the Germans were nowhere near Paris at that time.
Re:Ugh stop this cliche (Score:3, Funny)
This is simply untrue, you fucking son of a bitch !
Re:France Surrenders (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Oh no! (Score:2, Funny)
It wasn't always that way though and the French have learned from their mistake and gotten back to basics.
In WWI the French were able to stem the German onslaught, transfering an entire army overnight in taxi cabs rounded up from the streets of Paris and deliver them where needed with pinpoint accuracy.
Only this time those cabs are all going to be filled with lawyers armed with the Code Napleon.
Think about that (but not too lo
The real news here... (Score:5, Interesting)
Well, we'll see, of course. Past performance does not guarantee future results, et cetera...
Re:The real news here... (Score:5, Funny)
Seth Jayson is currently struggling through a new Linux install on a computer he built from an old wood crate. SCO may serve his papers at FoolishSeth@sethj.com.
Hahaha! If _that_ is not snubbing SCO, I do not know what is.
Re:The real news here... (Score:5, Interesting)
So, if Wall Street people read that, they might decide that their SCOX holdings that have lost 10% over the last 5 days [yahoo.com] no longer look so good, and start dumping.
Perhaps _now_ would be a good time to take stock advice from Slashdot??
Re:The real news here... (Score:5, Interesting)
If that happened, then the nasdaq would be responsible for imforming people when a company started to look shady... they'd also be on the hook for false positives.... It's pretty unlikely that something like that will happen. On the other hand, I doubt that there are many people who don't get the story now that SCO is in a pretty sketchy position.
I'm guessing that this is why they're goint to Europe... They're hoping that their name isn't completely trashed there (yet).
Re:The real news here... (Score:3, Informative)
It is. Everybody knows all about it, it's been in the computer and business related media all over, no less than it was in the US. As a point of reference, try one of the recent articles [heise.de] at the Heise Newsticker [heise.de], which a lot of Germans read. The link section at the end of the article refers to previous news articles on SCO by Heise, and should give a good impression on the extent of
Re:The real news here... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:The real news here... (Score:5, Informative)
The only way Nasdaq will begin delisting procedures is if a stock has traded for under $1 a share for 30 days. This post [xent.com] explains more about how this process works. There are things a company can do to prevent delisting, but for the most part it is inevitable for stocks that trade at $1 a share long term.
Re:The real news here... (Score:5, Interesting)
Problem is, a SEC filing, by SCO, today, reveals that the Bay Star / Royal Bank of Canada PIPE investment in SCO is treated as a derivative in SCO's books, such that if the stock goes down by a dollar, SCO books it as a million dollar *profit*. If the stock goes up by a dollar, it gets booked as a million dollar loss.
The numbers are approximate, but they come from SCO's SEC filing; in other words, they're not just bullshit numbers I made up -- they're bullshit numbers SCO made up. But likely to be how SCO will book their stock variations on their SEC filings going forward.
Anyway, this means that Darl has an interest in the stock price closing down at the end of the quarter, as he'll be able to book the loss in value as profit. It also means that he'll be interested in seeing the stock go up, damn the impact on GAAP numbers, once he gets his stock option bonus for four consecutive profitable (Pro Forma) quarters.
By the way, it's still not clear whether Darl's bonus is based on Pro Forma or GAAP profits, but given the extent of book-cooking that took place to show a Pro Forma profit for the last quarter.... Well, I can't see why Darl would do it unless he was getting *something* for showing the Pro Forma profit, so I'm guessing that's what his future bonus is based upon.
Re:The real news here... (Score:5, Informative)
I guess.
Re:The real news here... (Score:4, Interesting)
Actually, SCO describes it in the SEC filing as being broken into "two components", one of which is the derivative. The upshot is that they only book a million if the stock loses a dollar.
I suspect Darl may have wanted the derivative to show an even greater profits on downward stock movement, but the new board member (Daniel Campbell?) who has accounting experience may have, umm, asked a few questions about it?
At any rate, this accounting for the PIPE as a derivative suggests that SCO may have been telling the truth when they announced last quarter that they were delaying their earnings statement to account for the PIPE deal.
I think I posted way back when, both here and on Groklaw, that they would structure this as a derivative, but I have to confess that I didn't foresee SCO using it to prop up their earnings in the event of a stock downturn. For some reason, I thought it would be the Canopy Group that benefited from the derivative instruent.
Anyway, I'm not an accountant, just someone who understands math relatively well, but I'm still kind of kicking myself for missing that one. After all, a derivative usually is structured as a hedge against losses.
Re:The real news here... (Score:5, Insightful)
The principal behind the derivative is not that unusual. What is unusual is for a company to structure such a derivative as to impact so heavily on its books depending on its *own* stock movement.
The other unusual aspect of it is that it flies in the face of the common sense aspect of rewarding a CEO for upward stock movement. Darl McBride receives about 600,000 thousand stock options upon achieving 4 consecutive profitable quarters. He's already guaranteed 150,000 of those options for the first profitable quarter he achieved.
Now, if SCO can show a profit on it's books by taking actions that lower the value of the stock, Darl could be more motivated to let the stock price slide rather than take action to prop it up. So this deal puts the CEO's best interests in potential conflict with the investors. Which is just another reason no one should be invvesting in SCO stock and why it is *way* over-valued at present.
The Motley Fool got it wrong (Score:2, Funny)
Re:The Motley Fool got it wrong (Score:5, Funny)
Well, yes, but having a tiger by the tail is a lot more painful than having a penguin by the tail, unless the penguin's friends dogpile on you. Which, I suppose, is not a bad simile for what's happening. Nevermind.
The Birds (Score:5, Funny)
Meanwhile, bystanders will be murmurming to each other:
One possible solution for SCO to get a response (Score:3, Funny)
SCO is licensing Europe? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:SCO is licensing Europe? (Score:5, Funny)
One ticket to Paris: $400
Someone from slashdot getting a date with a hot french girl? Impossible.
There are some things money cannot possibly buy... For everything else try Ebay.
Re:SCO is licensing Europe? (Score:3, Informative)
Do you have any idea how many accents are in use in the British Isles? You can make a close (within 50 miles) guess at where somebody grew up just by listening to them for a few minutes. It's like the US in microcosm. There are Northern, Southern, Eastern and Western (Wales and Cornwall, not Texas) accents, they all sound funny to each other, and are instantly distinguishable. Not even 10% of women here sound like Angelina Jolie [imdb.com] ( more's the pity)
Re:SCO is licensing Europe? (Score:3, Funny)
Unlikely that Europeans will buy into this scam (Score:5, Insightful)
I suspect that SCO will be mocked and laughed at by the Europeans just the same as we Americans do. Finally! A humor that transcends boundaries!
Re:Unlikely that Europeans will buy into this scam (Score:5, Funny)
Ah, humor... Everyone appreciates a good joke.
Perhaps SCO will try to go after the Middle East next, and we can finally achieve world peace by all having a great laugh at SCO's dying attempts to boost the value of Darl's stock options.
Re:Unlikely that Europeans will buy into this scam (Score:5, Insightful)
Like Germany, there is a lot more restriction in many parts of europe of what is allowed to be said. "Free Speech" may not exist as a constitutionally bound concept in many parts of europe, if you don't have the responsibility to back it up. SCO simply don't have that.
Along with the general anti-american attitude of much of europe I see it far more likely a country will tell SCO to piss right off until they have solid proof, putting the burden on SCO to play their hand and get the legal wrangling out of the way before they can play the media with their lies, half truths and misinformation
nude macgirls webcam [151.197.31.93]
Re:Unlikely that Europeans will buy into this scam (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Unlikely that Europeans will buy into this scam (Score:3, Insightful)
As a U.S. citizen:
You are correct, but another interpretation is that this is a U.S. corporation, and it's a federal suit, and with our laws it may be a long time before the idiocy ends, so the joke is really at our expense.
Dubya gives us the same problem.. (Republicans: s/Dubya/Clinton/)
"I know! Let's Sell In Europe!" (Score:5, Funny)
Darl: I'm not gonna get my stock options. Who else can we sucker into buying our protection racket?
Sontag: Let's try Europe!
Ralph: Yeah, they don't know nothing about source code and licenses and stuff
Darl: Yeah!
The SCO stooges strike again. If they think the laws are harsh in the US, they would do well to remember the smack down they received in Germany.
Is it:
a. stupidity?
b. greed?
c. utter arrogance?
d. all of the above?
BBC News site has it too (Score:5, Informative)
If they were serious they would have already... (Score:5, Insightful)
SCO is f*cked in Europe (Score:5, Interesting)
SCO's Fatal Mistake... (Score:5, Funny)
EVERYBODY knows you don't invade Russia. It screwed Napoleon, it screwed Hitler, and it's going to screw McBride.
Two important things... (Score:3, Funny)
AND
Never engage in a battle of wits with a Sicilian."
Anyone know if they will go for Italy as well, because I have a feeling that Mr. McBride is not very suited for a battle of wits, and I highly doubt he has built up a tolerance for iocane(sp?) powder.
Ah ha ha ha ha. Ah ha ha ha ha. Ah ha ha--
*interactive civilian falls over and dies.*
Re:SCO's Fatal Mistake... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:SCO's Fatal Mistake... (Score:5, Funny)
Exactly. Bonaparte and Hitler would both have been victorious had they only invaded during non-winter.
That usually occurs June 28 through the 30th.
February 1? (Score:2, Insightful)
"This just in!" (Score:4, Funny)
IANAL (Score:2)
Does anyone know how they might bully the people in other countries ?
Re:IANAL (Score:5, Interesting)
What SCO is doing here, however, is reprehensible. A company with any integrity would first legally prove that they own a copyright and give the offending parties a chance to correct said mistake, not try to build a business model out of lawsuits. What is worse is that SCO is not only making a business model out of lawsuits, but they are profiting through soliciting licensing from people to whom they owe proof of infringement, but refure to give!
I suspect that the international community will laugh at SCO when they try to enforce an unproven (and unlikely) claim of copyright violation.
Its becoming even more apparent that this is just a product of sleazy business tactics.
But the short answer to your question is that, if SCO were to prove (which they have yet to do) their claims, the international community might likely try to uphold that. However, they do not have to except in good faith. If they really wanted to, they could simply look at Mr. McBride and say "Bite me." Mr. McBride is setting SCO up to be crushed. Its just unfortunate that they can make money (by bullying with threats of licensing fees and lawsuits) through pumping and dumping their stock.
SCO insider trades (Score:5, Interesting)
I think not (Score:2)
But on the other hand, having no rights haven't stopped them from trying to sell Linux licenses.
Monolith on duty (Score:5, Funny)
Oh, wait, that's Europa. Never mind.
Europe just ignores that shit (Score:4, Insightful)
As a last resort there is the totally undemocratic but ever-so power-gaining European Commision which just declared open-source The Way To Go. What they'll probably do is (1) look at SCO's web site (2) see how mean looking that CEO is and (3) revert SCO letters to the trash bin. Also remember that the EU commision is quite happy to hand out 'fines' of hundreds of millions of dollars to whatever company that makes them cross. Yes.. sometimes semi-dictatorship is advantageous.
Mystyfied (Score:5, Funny)
There isn't enough crack in the world to explain this...
Will it be enough . . . (Score:5, Funny)
The company should be broken into a billion tiny 1's and 0's and sprinkled into the fires of Mount Doom.
Our only hope... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Our only hope... (Score:2)
And, regarding Napolean, he lost more troops in Spain:)
Quack!
I am also selling licenses (Score:5, Funny)
Are you concerned? YOU SHOULD BE! Intellectual Property Theft is one of the most notorious crimes facing life on this planet. Terrorists often use Intellectual Property Theft to further their own evil goals. Stealling my intellectual propery is unAmerican.
What can you do? Well, you can either give up on life, or you can buy a license from me! Feel comfortable driving, reading, or seeing things. Have no fear of turning into an unamerican terrorist. And all it costs is $350 per person!
Isn't that a fair price for a piece of mind?
Yippiee! (Score:3, Funny)
Europe? Not everwhere (Score:4, Interesting)
There is an article about that on heise.de: http://www.heise.de/newsticker/data/jk-15.01.04-0
"We are not even allowed to talk about it" said an SCO-spokesman over IDG NewsService. Poor SCO
Nice Title (Score:2, Funny)
I hope there's a Luxemburg exclusion clause.
I guess I better hurry up and start licensing MARS.
Please copy and distribute prosecute-sco.html (Score:2)
Please copy and distribute Let's Put SCO Behind Bars [goingware.com]. It has a Creative Commons license. From the page:
SCO to offer licenses for dictionaries! (Score:5, Funny)
SCO will expand its licensing program to all european foreign dictionaries in the near future.
A quick seach shows that the english version of /usr/share/dict/words alone already contains
1613 words, which illegally include the SCO trademark. Examples are diSCO(tm)mfort,
diSCO(tm)mmodity, MoSCO(tm)w.
SCO, in the attempt to protect its trademark, and the legitimate interests of its stock owners, will sue everyone who uses any of these words without permission.
Right now, the legal department of SCO is reviewing european word lists, and is expecting to find a huge amount of diSCO(tm)ompliance to the trademark and IP laws.
The best lines from Motley Fool (Score:3, Informative)
SCO's just the diversion, what' really going on? (Score:5, Interesting)
Could it be as simple as ego? Is Bill Gates paying Daryl to replace him as the most hated man in high tech or, is this simply a scam to scare people away from using Linux? I just have a sinking feeling that the true enemy is about to sneak up behind us. Maybe I'm just paranoid but maybe, just maybe, I'm not paranoid enough.
Re:SCO's just the diversion, what' really going on (Score:3, Insightful)
We need to put just as much pressure on IBM to take this case all the way through. I won't be surprised if it gets settled. IBM settling would do more for IBM than winning the case, which would legitimize all of IBM's competition in the Li
MOD PARENT UP (Score:3, Insightful)
Then again, they could in fact be men of vision that appreciate that all of their OS-development is done for free by various people around the world...
Re:SCO's just the diversion, what' really going on (Score:3, Interesting)
It's a scheme to make Daryl money through stock price manipulation. That's all. It makes perfect sense if understood from that perspective.
Re:SCO's just the diversion, what' really going on (Score:4, Informative)
1. It could be Microsoft. I don't think Bill G and Darl actually planned the whole thing myself, but some people have mentioned it, so let's grant the possibility. If so, MS isn't up to a lot, they tried something, it is in the process of failure, they don't have a way to turn that around, so they are either regrouping or starting something else unrelated. IF MS has an evil plan, I hope they have enough sense to pick somebody totally unconnected to SCO for the next attempt, cause anything less is unworthy.
2. There could be problems throughout SCOs parent, the Canopy Group. That could lead to another stock market scandle as big as Enron (SCO by itself is much smaller), but it's not particularly related to Linux, and most slashdotters are either unaffected, or just need to check their retirement fund account to make sure it's not vested, not just in SCO, but not heavily in SCO's sister corporations. If that actually turns out to be true, I'll give you a pat on the back for being just paranoid enough.
So, if you wanted to look up the Canopy Group's holdings, and see if others are involved in lots of lawsuits, etc. You could maybe either allay your fears or prove you were right.
Job opportunities at SCO (Score:5, Interesting)
I kid you not:
Software Engineer (05 Nov 2003)
Internal Audit (21 Nov 2003)
Director of Financial Reporting (08 Dec 2003)
Inside Sales Manager (09 Jan 2004)
Senior Software Engineer (13 Jan 2004)
Kinda tells a little story, doesn't it.
I already have a license (Score:4, Interesting)
Speaking as an admin for some 130 linux boxes in The Netherlands I can assure SCO that they will be wasting their time. Mr. McBride can go and stick his license where the sun don't shine.
The second they start spewing their bullshit over here I will not be surprised when they get sued for slander (like in Germany), I know of several companies over here that are already preparing a combined legal strategy in case SCO starts getting uppity. There are a lot of large hosting providers and ISP's/ASP's around Amsterdam who rely heavily on Linux, there's no way they will allow SCO to intterrupt their business.
Actually, I can't wait for SCO to enter the justice system, dutch courts are very wary of corporate greed at the moment.
--
Hope your portfolio isn't awash with SCOX (Score:5, Interesting)
Capital Guardian Trust Company 1,177,800 8.51 $16,288,974 30-Sep-03
Integral Capital Management Vi, LLC 316,600 2.29 $4,378,578 30-Sep-03
Royce & Associates, Inc. 1,441,200 10.41 $19,931,796 30-Sep-03
Integral Capital Management V, LLC 246,730 1.78 $3,412,275 30-Sep-03
Empire Capital Partners LP 205,000 1.48 $1,961,849 30-Jun-03
Barclays Bank Plc 174,686 1.26 $2,415,907 30-Sep-03
Bjurman, Barry & Associates 160,000 1.16 $2,212,800 30-Sep-03
ING Investments, LLC 143,100 1.03 $1,979,073 30-Sep-03
Oberweis Asset Management Inc. 112,000 0.81 $1,548,960 30-Sep-03
Whitney Asset Management LLC 76,967 0.56 $1,064,453 30-Sep-03
More details HERE [yahoo.com].
Is this stock typical? (Score:5, Insightful)
This leaves me wondering just how many other stocks out there are rated so highly based off of a hope and prayer? Is the entire system this easily manipulated?
Re:Is this stock typical? (Score:3, Informative)
The buy/sell system has been manipulated for the last decade. Flip through some back issues of the financial rags and you'll see all sorts of articles related to the "chinese-wall" between different sides of the investment banks. Basically, analysts have been known to promote stocks that the other side of the company is either IPO'ing or would ma
Re:Is this stock typical? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Is this stock typical? (Score:3, Insightful)
Actually, there's an average risk you'll lose money if you try to short it. Maybe they weren'
t clear enough.
If I had $20,000 to bet, I'd have shorted some SCO stock a couple of days ago.
Scox doesn't want to sell licenses in Europe (Score:4, Insightful)
Selling a license to a technology that you do not own is serious fraud - prison time. Scox doesn't own linux.
Scox just wants "investors" to think that scox has some possible new sources on revenue.
A few people from the UK have already tried to buy licenses, scox wont sell them. Scox won't sell those licenses in the USA either. Call scox up and ask.
time to turn "sco" into generic noun & verb (Score:5, Funny)
It's time to turn "sco" into a generic noun and a generic verb.
Noun definition: "a loser who resorts to deceitful or coersive tactics due to a lack of imagination or principles." Synonymous with "scumbag." Also, "a fraudulent or coercive scheme." Synonymous with "scam."
For example, "That sco tried to rip me off!" and "Don't fall for that, it's just a sco."
Verb definition: "to deceive or coerce someone, or obtain something through deceit or coersion, due to a lack of imagination or principles, or a combination of laziness and greed." Synonymous with "to screw."
For example, "They tried to sco me, but I didn't fall for it."
There's a certain poetic justice in this. SCO is trying to take something that belongs to *all of us* and make it exclusively *theirs*. Turning their name into a generic noun and verb, turns the tables and makes something that is/was "theirs" into something that belongs to *everyone*. Best part is, they can't stop it!
American Business Practices (Score:3, Insightful)
Getcha motor running (Score:5, Funny)
A car battery has a positive side!
Re:Recipe for profit: (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Cost of idemnification (Score:3, Interesting)
Well, if the end user chooses not to take SCO's deal, SCO effectively loses out on $699 (or whatever). So from SCO's perspective, Novell or IBM indemnification programs are more expensive than SCO licensing.
I know, the logic is flawed. But remember who we're dealing with here.
Re:Typical week of a slashdotter (Score:2)
Damn SCO is like a drug pusher...
Re:SUSE (Score:5, Interesting)
I kinda find the SCO thing funny as the more people they pester, the more end up joining the fight against them. Novell, IBM, OSDL has a lot of big names involved with it. They're doing quite well I think.
Re:SUSE (Score:3, Informative)