Bonum Certa Men Certa

Updates on Microsoft-funded SCO Attack on Novell, Novell's EU Case and Settlement

"[Microsoft's] Mr. Emerson and I discussed a variety of investment structures wherein Microsoft would 'backstop,' or guarantee in some way, BayStar's investment.... Microsoft assured me that it would in some way guarantee BayStar's investment in SCO."

--Larry Goldfarb, Baystar, key investor in SCO



Summary: How Novell is being legally screwed by Microsoft, as suggested by this week's news

THE following articles are hopefully detailed enough to shed light without further commentary.

[SCO's] Ch. 11 Trustee Cahn Opposes SUSE's Motion to Lift Stay

Edward Cahn, SCO's appointed Chapter 11 Trustee, now making decisions for SCO, has filed an opposition to SUSE's request to lift the bankruptcy stay so the arbitration can go forward. And Al Petrofsky has filed a motion pro se demanding that SCO file its missing MORs.

The Cahn objection to SUSE's request can be summed up simply. SCO has limited funds, and Cahn doesn't want to spend them on the arbitration. The trial in Utah is set for March, and if SCO loses and the jury decides it doesn't own the copyrights, then there will be no need for the arbitration to go forward. If, on the other hand, it wins, then it can proceed with the arbitration issues because, as footnote 5 puts it, "resources may become available to the Debtors if they prevail at trial". SCO has to pay the lawyers for the Swiss arbitration. That is not covered by the agreement with Boies Schiller, and the lawyers in Europe are on top of that. Then they'd have to hire experts. Cahn tells the court that it should defer to his judgment on how to proceed in the various litigations.


Answering SCO [Lies] Bit by Bit - The Robert Swartz Memo, Take 2

So, where is the big payday going to come from? No. Really. What SCO's new management needs to ask is this: are we being given good legal advice in this instance?


Answering SCO [Lies] Bit by Bit: a.out.h, errno.h and the GPL

I find include/linux/a.out.h and include/asm-i386/errno.h as well as the name of a Caldera employee, Torsten Duwe, and the GPL referenced, as well as the credit to Caldera Systems and a mention of calderalabs.com. The CD is copyrighted 2000, and printed on the CD it says that source code for OpenLinux eServer 2.3 was available at www.calderasystems.com/eServer. It's available on the CD as well, happily, since SCO has removed the page listed on the CD, as they have so much that Groklaw published that shows they have been serving up an order of baloney.

So I opened it up from the CD in emacs, linux-kernel-include-2.2.14-1S.i386.rpm, and there's the very a.out.h and errno.h files listed as verboten, as big as life, in Caldera's very own product...


Blank Rome Adds a Lawyer, Regina Stango Kelbon

The Microsoft Saga Comes to an End (Novell's role also mentioned here)

Among others, the objections came from companies like Sun Microsystems (Nasdaq: JAVA) and Novell (Nasdaq: NOVL). The major grievance was the companies' bundling of software packages alongside Microsoft Windows.


Is it not ironic that Novell and Microsoft are now allies? Microsoft led its opposition to virtually deserting a key case over systematic abuses.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Professor Eben Moglen on How Social Control Media Metabolises Humans and Constrains Freedom of Thought
Nothing of value would be lost if all these data-harvesting giants (profiling people) vanished overnight
Debian Left Twitter (MElon "X"), We Think the Free Software Foundation (FSF) Should Do the Same
What would the FSF really lose if it stopped posting there?
Tons of Anti-Linux 'Articles' Published by Bots (LLMs), Maybe Microsoft's
Upon closer inspection, all this FUD turned out to be LLM garbage
Ubuntu Desktop Director of Engineering Has Only One Blog Post. It Promotes Microsoft Windows.
Remember that even 15 years ago (more or less, maybe 16 years ago) Canonical appointed a a 'former' Microsoft manager (Spencer) to lead Ubuntu on the desktop
 
Gemini Links 07/02/2025: Mid-level Details and Simple Code
Links for the day
Links 07/02/2025: US 'Demolition Crew', e-ID Loopholes, and Sanctions
Links for the day
Social Control Media is Narcissism
Nowadays there's a lot more literature and even press coverage explaining the harms of Social Control Media
statCounter Sees GNU/Linux Share Doubling in China Over the Past Year
It'll be interesting to see what data in the coming months shows
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, February 06, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, February 06, 2025
Richard Stallman (RMS) Confirms Next Week's Talk in Europe
He gave at least 2 talks in Europe last month
Nationalism As A Service (NaaS) by Microsoft Azure, Gutting the US Government for Profit
Will Microsoft be receiving bailouts as a reward for all this?
Rumours of IBM Layoffs Apparently Confirmed Yesterday, IBM Canada Consulting Impacted (as Rumoured)
when IBM has layoffs we must also read it as Red Hat layoffs
Gemini Links 06/02/2025: Voicemail Sucks and Night of Lights
Links for the day
Links 06/02/2025: YouTube Takedowns Out of Control, 'DOGE' Breaking Laws
Links for the day
IBM Red Hat on "era of cloud computing", pushing "hey hi" (AI) hype in Microsoft Azure
LLM slop might actually be more benign than Microsoft promotion
Corruption and Rule-Breaking Prevail at the European Patent Office (EPO), Europe's Second-Largest Institution
The law does not really exist at the EPO; it can be perceived as merely a "recommendation"
statCounter: More Countries Where Windows is Around 1% "Market Share" (People Have Moved to Android/Linux)
in some nations Windows is already 1% or less
404 Media Says "Workers at NASA Told to Drop Everything to Scrub Mentions of Indigenous People, Women from Its Websites" But There's Also Accessibility in the Firing Line
In the case of abandoning accessibility, everyone stands to be hurt and proprietary software can be brought in to replace standards
When BetaNews Writes Real Articles About "Linux" They Promote Windows
The Web is in a bad state. We need to at least try to correct this.
Gemini Links 06/02/2025: Cynicism and "Real Magic on the C64"
Links for the day
Links 06/02/2025: New Sanctions, Layoffs, and Executive Orders
Links for the day
Distros and Desktop Environments, Devices
GNU/Linux focused
New Rumours of IBM Layoffs in 2025, IBM Consulting Still Struggles, Based on Management
"Hey hi" (AI) has been a common excuse for business failure
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, February 05, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, February 05, 2025
Links 05/02/2025: Kessler Syndrome and News Online
Links for the day
statCounter: Monaco Now 7% GNU/Linux ("Proper")
GNU/Linux, not counting Chromebooks, is on the rise
Many Parts of Google Lose Money
It's quite apparent that many parts of Google - even some that rely on ad revenue or push ads - aren't profiting
European Internet Forum (EIF) is Dominated by American Corporations and Microsoft Lobbyists, Staff Take the Lead
Should the officials over here or the European Parliament pay attention to these people?
Links 05/02/2025: Connection without Connectivity and Unionised Grocery Workers
Links for the day
Just Because People on Top of the Microsoft Pyramid Made a Lot of Money Doesn't Mean Microsoft is Wealthy
The bigger they are the harder they fall
Gemini Links 05/02/2025: Learning, Madman Ruling a Mad Country, Back in Geminispace
Links for the day
statCounter Shows "WIntel" Chasing a Dying Market
Microsoft acts as if it's running out of money
Free Software Foundation, Inc. (FSF) Still Raising Money, Richard Stallman Contributes
total exceeding $430k
A Lot of Stuff About "Linux" in Google News is LLM Slop, Fake 'Articles'
It seems to be getting worse
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, February 04, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, February 04, 2025