Bonum Certa Men Certa

Why SCO is Like ASCAP

Army drill versus Groklaw



Summary: How the attacks on Larry Lessig/Creative Commons resemble some attacks on Pamela Jones/Groklaw community

WHEN companies fail to make a legal case, then they often resort to attacking people. Professor Larry Lessig is often the target of abuse from the RIAA|MPAA|sibling front groups (here are some examples assembled last year). More recently, Lessig needed to defend his baby (Creative Commons) from an attack that had been initiated by ASCAP.



Travis Kepley, a Solutions Architect at Red Hat, compares SCO to a dinosaur in this new post which also shows a parallel from the recording industry (ASCAP).

Again, don't worry, this is much easier than it sounds. The dinosaur takes care of all the hard work. The easiest clue is to look for frivolous lawsuits or public FUD attacks. For example, the fight that SCO gave Linux or the recent attack on Creative Commons and their bretheren by ASCAP. If the dinosaurs are attacking something, then likely those giants have a reason to be scared that their old model is becoming obsolete. And if there's one thing we know about dinosaurs, it's that they're slow and carry a ton of momentum. Much like changing course with an ocean liner, it's not an easy or quick process. So rather than adapt to change and learn from the swifter and more agile models, they fight. The very consumers they are hurting are likely turning to a new, better model. This model is probably the very same one that caused the dinosaurs to attack in the first place. Like rats on a sinking ship (second boat analogy in almost as many sentences, sorry about that), no matter how many of their peers they step on and claw at to try to remain above water, they are only delaying the inevitable. It's a scary cycle that is only getting worse. Something needs to be done, which leads to the final step.


We are hoping to find out if SCO/Microsoft have adopted an "infiltrator" strategy. We don't know yet. In the next post we'll explore the subject a little further.

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