[
Lists Home |
Date Index |
Thread Index
]
On Fri, Jul 18, 2003 at 02:00:43PM -0500, Bullard, Claude L (Len) wrote:
>As for Mozilla as the browser of choice
>for businesses, I hope the tainting problems
>turning up for Linux are addressed. Like RSS/nEcho, this
>laissez faire 'we don't care who owns this because we
>like the guy running the project' approach will burn
>the people signing up for it, and help the very
No worries. There are no tainting problems for Linux. If you read the
various articles on the SCO campaign carefully, you'll discover that they
accuse IBM of breach of contract, not of patent infringement or of
unauthorized copying. IBM is accused of violating an NDA, and allowing code
to escape from its own developers into Linux.
Should it be shown that there is SCO code in Linux, Linus and company will
remove it. Since the process of public commits to the kernel *is* public,
it is difficult to imagine there being anything that can't be traced. Since
Linux was SMP before any SCO product was, an awful lot of the FUD is too
clearly that, only. While it may be possible to show that some version of
the kernel is tainted, it is unlikely that any provably tainted code would
remain in the kernel more than a release or two after proof is shown.
>competitors they think they are de-opting. The second
>word in IP is Property.
Right. Referring to certain privileges awarded by the state, amounting to
monopoly in a restricted area, in order to encourage the sharing of
information. Note that it is *not* ownership of ideas, a legal concept that
has been repeatedly rejected by the courts.
And all of this is really old news already, so why harp on it? FUDding
Mozilla on the basis of SCO FUD is enormously irritating, but not much else.
If someone thinks their code somehow got into Mozilla, they can check. cvs
co. No one's said so, yet. Mozilla's pockets just got a lot shallower the
other day, so it isn't particularly likely that a failing browser company
would make a last bid for share price and existence by feeding a swarm of
attack lawyers on the blood of the browser.
Amy!
--
Amelia A. Lewis amyzing {at} talsever.com
Tongue-tied and twisted, just an earthbound misfit, I.
-- Pink Floyd
|
