Much has been written about the MyDoom Trojan which, over the course of the past couple of months, has managed to shut down entire computer networks, destroy tens of thousands of personal computers, and just generally wreak unprecedented digital age havoc.
The SCO Group, a multi-national software developer, was the first putative target of the hackers who created and released the MyDoom Trojan in early January of this year. SCO currently has a suit before the courts seeking royalties from users of the Linux operating system. To date, Linux has been considered an open source (which is to say, freely available) operating system, and as such has been designated by many in the IT field as the operating system of the (near) future, the OS which will replace Microsoft’s Windows, and the OS which we will all come to use.
If SCO’s suit is successful and the company prevails in the courts, the availability of ALL open source software will, to say the least, be very much compromised. Hackers, programmers and anyone with an interest in allowing more ready access to the new digital democracy, are livid over SCOs efforts. Maintaining a capitalist model for the new digital democracy, limiting access only to users who can afford expensive computers loaded with an expensive operating system, not only effectively destroys the open source (operating system, browser, productive software) movement, it proclaims that control of the Internet will remain in the hands of profit-oriented multi-national corporations long into the future.
In a report on ZDNet, editor-in-chief Dan Farber publishes information confirming that Microsoft is the key player behind the SCO suit.
“Over the last several years, Microsoft has made known its fear and loathing of Linux and other open source initiatives. Why wouldn’t Microsoft find ways directly and indirectly to deter the open source movement? It’s in Microsoft’s nature to use whatever means necessary to maintain its market position.”
Update, March 24: At the Open Source Business Conference held on March 16th in San Francisco, Novell Vice-Chairman Chris Stone scoffs at the SCO Group’s legal battle against Novell and other Linux users over Unix copyright claims. He also discusses why companies are embracing open source and moving away from a business model with strictly proprietary software.
And the struggle continues.

Raymond Tomlin

Raymond Tomlin is a veteran journalist and educator who has written frequently on the political realm — municipal, provincial and federal — as well as on cinema, mainstream popular culture, the arts, and technology.

See author's posts