SCO suit is not 'frivolous'

In response to the Sept. 25 Newsmakers interview by Ina Fried, "":

You state in a question to Stuart Meyer: "Most people in the open-source community downplay the SCO suit as frivolous. Do you take it seriously?"

With all due respect, I consider this a very poorly researched and understood statement. Were you to really understand the stance of the open-source community, you would find that it takes this matter extremely seriously, because the lawsuit seriously threatens a very important part of the community.

Linus Torvalds, Eric Raymond and Bruce Perens, key figures in the open source community, have all published responses to the SCO Group's claims. They are dealing with the matter in a very respectable and honest manner, with their sole intention being to settle these disputes by ridding their software of any infringing code. They can't do this, however, without SCO disclosing the alleged code, because they can't find it. Not because they are attempting to hide it, but because it is, seemingly, not there.

While an intellectual property claim against open source software is very serious and should be dealt with immediately and effectively, the SCO claims are, at this point in time, more or less baseless. What's more, they themselves are stopping this matter from being resolved. They would much rather spread fear, uncertainty and doubt and continue to collect license fees from Linux's enemies, as well as attract media attention, than to actually see this matter come to a fair end.

Devin Henderson
Salt Lake City