<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
<TITLE>Message</TITLE>
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1561" name=GENERATOR></HEAD>
<BODY>
<DIV><SPAN class=586015116-17112006><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>A
normal tactic for this sort of thing would be to attack a few "undefended
companies" - particularly those that are only *using* linux. Once they
have won those cases (by simply overwhelming the companies) they have the legal
momentum to go after ever larger targets. Of course some smaller companies
will cave and pay a license or fold under the suit or threat of a
suit.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=586015116-17112006><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=586015116-17112006><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>It's
really lousy, but fairly common. </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=586015116-17112006><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=586015116-17112006><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2>-Nate</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader lang=en-us dir=ltr align=left><FONT
face=Tahoma size=2>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B>
Daniel.Juliano@wellsfargo.com [mailto:Daniel.Juliano@wellsfargo.com]
<BR><B>Sent:</B> Friday, November 17, 2006 10:25 AM<BR><B>To:</B>
cialug@cialug.org; amesfug@amesfug.org; dlc@mailman.depaul.edu;
QCLUG@qclug.org<BR><B>Subject:</B> RE: [Cialug] So who didn't see this one
coming?<BR><BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=922151616-17112006><FONT face=Verdana
size=2>What I don't get is everyone's assumption that such a lawsuit would
naturally involve IBM, Sun, Red Hat, etc.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=922151616-17112006><FONT face=Verdana
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=922151616-17112006><FONT face=Verdana
size=2>SCO sued IBM directly, and IIRC it started as a contract
dispute.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=922151616-17112006><FONT face=Verdana
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=922151616-17112006><FONT face=Verdana
size=2>If Microsoft doled a cease and desist out to the Samba project and sued
the Samba team for infringement, this matter of "IBM could easily long
term lawyer them out of a courtroom" might not hold water. We cannot be
entirely certain that IBM (or Sun or Red Hat, etc) would / can step up to the
plate in a suit that is not directed against them.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=922151616-17112006><FONT face=Verdana
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=922151616-17112006><FONT face=Verdana
size=2>My concern is Microsoft might never attack property in The Kernel (tm),
as wayyy too many companies are involved in it's development, but it would be
relatively easy to attack some of the key applications that make running linux
worthwhile.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=922151616-17112006><FONT face=Verdana
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=922151616-17112006></SPAN><FONT
face=Verdana><FONT size=2>=<SPAN
class=922151616-17112006>Dan</SPAN></FONT></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader lang=en-us dir=ltr align=left>
<HR tabIndex=-1>
<FONT face=Tahoma size=2><B>From:</B> cialug-bounces@cialug.org
[mailto:cialug-bounces@cialug.org] <B>On Behalf Of </B>Brandon
Griffis<BR><B>Sent:</B> Friday, November 17, 2006 10:06 AM<BR><B>To:</B>
amesfug@amesfug.org; Central Iowa Linux Users Group; DePaul Linux Community;
QCLUG@qclug.org<BR><B>Subject:</B> [Cialug] So who didn't see this one
coming?<BR></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"></DIV>
<DIV style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><A
href="http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9005171&source=NLT_AM&nlid=1">Balmer:
Linux users owe Microsoft</A><BR><BR>I'm not really sure how SuSE could be so
stupid when everyone else knew this was coming. The big question is if
they'll actually follow up on it. My guess is no. Microsoft is
more concerned about spreading doubt as a marketing tactic. By tossing
this out there but not actually acting on it they hope to worry company
management enough to avoid converting to Linux. That's why the response
of most big names in the Linux community is for Microsoft to put their money
where their mouth is. They know it hurts more to have the doubt out
there with no action than to actually go through the process of proving it as
a false statement. If Microsoft were to actually try and make patent
claims against Linux they'd have to contend with all the patient portfolios of
IBM, Red Hat, JBoss, possibly even Oracle, and many others. Plus the
additional legal teams of the EFF, FSF, GNU, and probably every state in the
union. IBM alone could wipe Microsoft out of existence in a patient
dispute.<BR><BR>Not to mention how underhanded the deal looks. Microsoft
pays SuSE 440 million for "something", and SuSE in turn pays 40 million to
Microsoft to "please not sue us for our patient infringements" (which is what
Microsoft said it was for. SuSE said it was for "something else").
Ignoring the "he said/she said" any 1st grader with basic understanding of
arithmetic can tell you that 440 - 40 = 400. I doubt that 40 million
ever actually changed hands. It was all probably just documented in
paper, and Microsoft basically just paid SuSE 400 million to be able to use
their name in FUD attacks on Linux.<BR><BR>What burns me up is while this
might be good in short term for SuSE. It will obviously end up hurting
them within a year or two. By accepting this deal they've basically said
"yes we're guilty" what happens in a year or two when Microsoft comes back and
wants more money from them? Why would they make such a moronic mistake?
<BR><BR>-G<BR></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>