SCO warns Linux may be 'illegal'

By Steve Malone

Posted on 15 May 2003 at 11:53

SCO, the owner of the Unix operating system, has announced that it considers 'Linux ... an unauthorised derivative of UNIX' and has warned commercial users of Linux that they may be legally liable for its use. The company has also declared that it is suspending all future sales of its own version of Linux until the matter concerning copyright is resolved.

This bombshell from SCO follows its recent lawsuit against IBM which alleges that Big Blue unlawfully passed proprietary Unix code to the Linux community.

The company has sent a letter to Linux customers warning them of their actions and promising to 'take all actions necessary to stop the ongoing violation of our intellectual property or other rights'. It also goes on to admit that its actions may prove 'unpopular'. It can say that again. At the time of writing, the Linux community Web site Slashdot.org had posted some 985 messages relating to the action, many of which pour vitriol on SCO's litigious stance.

Certainly if SCO's plan is to scupper it's own SCO Linux and Caledera OpenLinux products in favour of Unix, it is going about it the right way. Many people who believe in the aims of open source software have expressed disgust at the way in which SCO is apparently bent on destroying the only serious competitor to Microsoft Windows.

SCO says it will continue to support its existing SCO Linux and Caldera OpenLinux user base and promises they won't be sued in the event of the court case going SCO's way.

Instead SCO plans to concentrate on its core Unix product and its recently announced Web services, SCOx.