Headlines:
| Today We Are Five & What Happened at the Summary Judgment Hearing April 30 |
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Friday, May 16 2008 @ 12:12 PM EDT
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Today is our anniversary, guys. Unbelievably, Groklaw is five years old
today. And we're still standing, still here, still working together. I know. Amazing. Who knew we'd still be together after five years? We have the transcript of the summary judgment motions that were argued on April 30th, in the middle of the SCO v. Novell trial. But there's an odd notice on the Docket list.
We actually have had the transcript for a couple of days, but there is this notice on the court's docket: **RESTRICTED DOCUMENT** TRANSCRIPT of Proceedings held on April 30, 2008-Motion for Summary Judgment before Judge Dale A. Kimball. Court Reporter/Transcriber Laura W. Robinson, CSR, RPR, CP, [Telephone number].
NOTICE RE REDACTION OF TRANSCRIPTS: Within 7 calendar days of this filing, each party shall inform the Court, by filing a Notice of Intent to Redact, of the parties intent to redact personal data identifiers from the electronic transcript of the court proceeding. The policy and forms are located on the court's website at www.utd.uscourts.gov. Please read this policy carefully. If no Notice of Intent to Redact is filed within the allotted time, this transcript will be made electronically available on the date set forth below.
Transcript may be viewed at the court public terminal or purchased through the Court Reporter/Transcriber before the deadline for Release of Transcript Restriction. After that date it may be obtained through PACER. Redaction Request due 6/4/2008. Redacted Transcript Deadline set for 6/16/2008. Release of Transcript Restriction set for 8/12/2008. (jmr) So that is the holdup. I'm trying to find out if we can publish the version we purchased. I think the notice is something Utah does for all transcripts now, and I see nothing in the transcript that would qualify as something secret. But out of respect, I'm waiting until I can make sure. However, while we wait, there is nothing stopping me from telling you what I read, and once the ban is lifted, I'll provide the PDF.
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| Dorsey & Whitney File 6th Monthly Bill in SCO Bankruptcy - SCO Global - Updated |
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Wednesday, May 14 2008 @ 04:15 AM EDT
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I mentioned that I have been trying to figure out why SCO's corporate law firm, Dorsey & Whitney, in their sixth monthly bill is seen working on corporate documents for SCO Global, Inc. On March 18, 2008 of the bill's Exhibit D, we see on page 5 of the PDF a notation that paralegal C. Peters organized "corporate records files SCO Global, Inc.":Organize corporate records files SCO Global, Inc. (1.25), review disclosure schedules and e-mail messages from client concerning disclosure schedules (.3); discuss schedules with D. Marx and update schedules according to conversation with same (1.3) What is SCO Global? Why now? And why does SCO Global keep cropping up?
I first noticed SCO Global's corporate documents mentioned in Dorsey & Whitney's first bill, and I asked at the time what SCO Global does, but I didn't follow through. This time, I did. After following the thread as far as I can, it seems that at a minimum, SCO Global is one of the US subsidiaries that SCO wants to sell, as you can see by the now withdrawn York deal's proposed and withdrawn ABA, where it is listed as a signatory Seller. I'll show you what I've found.
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| Hearing on May 15 about Paying York Cancelled; New Date June 17 |
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Monday, May 12 2008 @ 04:27 PM EDT
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A shout out to anyone thinking of attending the hearing that had been scheduled for May 15th: it's cancelled. More accurately, it's been postponed. Here is the filing:
472 - Filed & Entered: 05/12/2008
Hearing Cancelled. Notice of Agenda of Matters Scheduled for Hearing.
Docket Text: HEARING CANCELLED. Notice of Agenda of Matters Scheduled for Hearing. Filed by The SCO Group, Inc.. Hearing scheduled for 5/15/2008 at 10:00 AM at US Bankruptcy Court, 824 Market St., 6th Fl., Courtroom #3, Wilmington, Delaware. (Attachments: # (1) Certificate of Service and Service List) (Werkheiser, Rachel) I thought at first SCO must have given up, but no. The status line reads like this: "This matter has been continued to the hearing on June 17, 2008 at 2:00 p.m." SCO never gives up. I know you are wondering about the docket entry just before this, #471, and the delay is because I got intrigued by one element in the bill from Dorsey & Whitney, and I'll tell you what I have been researching in connection with it in the next article.
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| Darl's 2003 Letter to Questar: Proof SCOsource was about AT&T's System V, not UnixWare |
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Monday, May 12 2008 @ 03:35 AM EDT
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On April 29, day one of the SCO/Novell trial in Utah, one of the main issues addressed was whether SCOsource was about Unix System V or, as SCO has recently started claiming, about UnixWare. SCO's position is that they are one and the same. There were questions posed to Chris Sontag about the SCOsource license that Questar bought back in 2003. But earlier, there was an exhibit attached to Novell's Motion for Partial Summary Judgment on its 4th Claim for Relief, namely Exhibit 7 [PDF], a May 12, 2003 letter from CEO Darl McBride to Questar CEO Keith Rattie. We never had time to do it as text back in December when it was filed, but I have time now, especially now that we see it matters, and it so, so clearly shows that back in 2003, SCOsource absolutely was about Unix System V, the original AT&T code "licensed by AT&T to approximately 6,000 companies and institutions worldwide", as SCO describes it in the letter, and not UnixWare, which isn't mentioned at all and couldn't be described that way. So here is the letter as text, for the record, and happily the judge has this exhibit in hand. It's so funny, after the August 10th Utah decision that informed SCO it doesn't own the copyrights to Unix it claimed, to read McBride's description of proprietary software as carefully built in a process "designed to monitor the security and ownership of intellectual property rights associated with the code." He contrasts Linux as being a kind of anonymous free for all, with no one caring about who owns what. How hilarious that in fact the court ruled that is was proprietary SCO who didn't know who owned the UNIX code. So much for carefully monitoring IP ownership rights. As for security, I give you Microsoft's record in that department. Exhibit A.
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| Microsoft emails Blender |
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Sunday, May 11 2008 @ 12:52 PM EDT
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Microsoft has just approached the Blender guys, and I would assume have or will approach other FOSS projects since we learn that Microsoft has assigned a guy to work with Open Source projects, with a request for information on how to make Blender run better on Windows. Here's part of what Microsoft emailed to Blender:
With respect to Blender, what can you tell me about your community/user
feedback that you have heard regarding file formats? Specifically,
Microsoft is slowly shifting toward a more open standards based
approach to its file formats. The ISO standard Office Open XML is an
example of the direction we are moving towards.
A good user experience of Blender on Windows is good for your
project/community and good for Microsoft. What we are trying to
understand is what file formats, which are not open or not fully open,
are impeding the optimal experience with your community. OOXML is an example of openness? They're kidding, right?
While on the surface, one might think this is an example of greater openness on Microsoft's part, I thought it would be probably a good time to point out Microsoft's competitive strategy against Linux and FOSS. I think this is an example of its announced strategy to "outsmart Linux", as Ballmer put it, using "openness" -- a Brand X, tilted version of it -- to do it.
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| SCO wants more time to exclusively file a reorganization plan |
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Friday, May 09 2008 @ 06:47 PM EDT
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SCO wants even more time to file a reorganization plan. It has filed a motion asking for 90 more days, until August 11, in its Second Motion by Debtor Under Section 1121(d) For Extension of Exclusivity Deadlines [PDF]. I expect they'll probably get it, unless there is a ruling from the Utah court on SCO v. Novell before the hearing on this motion in Bankruptcy Court in Delaware.
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| The GPL Wins Again - Welte vs. Skype Technologies SA (Germany) |
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Thursday, May 08 2008 @ 09:46 PM EDT
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Today was the hearing in Skype's appeal of an earlier judgment against it for a GPL violation. Harald Welte, as part of the gpl-violations.org project, brought the matter to court in Germany back in February of 2007, seeking to enforce the GPL against Skype. The case is Welte vs. Skype Technologies SA, and he won an injunction in the lower court. But Skype wanted to appeal to the higher court in Munich, alleging ... hahahaha ... well, something about antitrust, à la Dan Wallace, I gather. You'll recall the Wallace v. FSF appeals court ruled on that theory in the US already: The GPL encourages, rather than discourages, free competition and the distribution of computer operating systems, the benefits of which directly pass to consumers. These benefits include lower prices, better access and more innovation. Just in case Skype is thinking deep second thoughts tonight.
Well, today was the hearing, and Welte reports that one of the judges told Skype's lawyer that if a copyright owner wants a publisher to publish his book in a "green envelope" (dust jacket), it might seem odd to the publisher, but he can't publish without the green envelope. In short, don't touch the GPL code if you don't follow the requirements of the license. Like it or lump it. I think that's how one would translate into English the judge's mindset.
At that, after a break, Skype decided to accept the lower court decision and skip the appeal. And so the GPL wins again. To all those who don't like the license: you don't have to use it. Just write your own code. But if you want to use GPL code, the license comes with it. It's a package deal. Thanks.
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| Catching up on the bankruptcy filings |
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Wednesday, May 07 2008 @ 11:55 PM EDT
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SCO's accountants, Tanner, have applied to the bankruptcy court for compensation for the seventh month. Amazing, isn't it, this story without an end? This monthly bill is for April, and Tanner would like only $8,574 plus $71 in expenses. That's the lowest monthly bill ever. October 5-November 5 was $28,499; November 6 - December 5 was $19,001; December 6 - January 4 was $65,955; January 5-February 1 was $98,095; February 2 - March 3 was $32,868; and March 4 - March 31 was $28,441.
They seem to be running out of things to do, which may explain why Tanner has applied to the court for permission to audit SCO's 401K next.
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| SCO's Prentice-Hall Letter - McBride's Trial Testimony |
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Wednesday, May 07 2008 @ 09:33 AM EDT
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A number of media reports have focused on Darl McBride's testimony in last week's SCO v. Novell trial, which morphed into Novell v. SCO when all but Novell's counterclaims were decided on summary judgment back in August. McBride asserted again that Unix is in Linux, blah blah. But what was more interesting to me was a piece of "evidence" that he tried to introduce into the record via his testimony. It's a letter from 1996, I believe this letter [PDF] to Prentice Hall, the publishers, about who to contact regarding certain Unix works. The timing is after the APA in 1995. This may be the low water mark in the SCO saga's "evidence", so I thought I'd go over a few details about it. For sure, the SCO lawyers, at least, had to know that it doesn't prove what McBride tried to use it to prove, although they did quote from the letter in SCO's Memorandum in Opposition to Novell's Motion for Partial Summary Judgment on its 4th Counterclaim for Relief, and in Support of SCO's Cross Motion for Partial Summary Judgment , a motion Novell won in the August 10 decision. So, the letter didn't help SCO at all then, and it is unlikely to do so now.
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Court-Ordered Restrictions on Trial Participant Speech
Although modern communications technology may give the press wide reach, the Supreme Court has called the free press / fair trial debate "almost as old as the Republic." In fact, it is older than the Republic: the founders, wrote the Court, "were intimately familiar with the clash of the adversary system and the part that passions of the populace sometimes play in influencing potential jurors." When British soldiers fired into a Boston crowd in 1770, their actions were met with revulsion. Paul Revere and Samuel Adams published images of the Boston Massacre, a "slaughter of the innocent, an image of British tyranny." The soldiers' appointed attorney, John Adams, feared for his own life and that of his family against the "prejudices" of the people. Despite the public outcry -- and following a continuance to allow some cooling off -- the trial took place locally in Boston; and the jury found the captain and most of his men not guilty. A seminal event, the trial served as a "showcase [of] both community rights and defendant rights."
Post-Revolution trials raised similar concerns. Nearly everyone held opinions leading up to the 1807 treason trial of Aaron Burr. Chief Justice Marshall, presiding over the hearings, resorted to extensive voir dire before he was able to seat an impartial jury. Early in the twentieth century, newspapers and radio stations previewed the trial of Bruno Hauptmann for the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby, and the Scopes trial drew the attention of the nation. This Part presents four Supreme Court cases that are part and parcel of the debate about freedom of speech and fairness of trials. These cases help stake out the boundaries of the debate over restrictions of trial participant speech. - Jonathan Eric Pahl, Duke Law Journal
MySpace Suicide Indictment -- And Why It Should Be Dismissed
This case involves a terrible tragedy; I think what Lori Drew did is truly despicable. But the government's legal theory, based entirely on the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, 18 U.S.C. 1030, is very weak. Legally speaking, the prosecution is a real stretch. In my view, the courts should dismiss the indictment. In this post, I'll explain why. - Volokh Conspiracy
Imposing Sanctions on Attorney, 9th Circuit's Kozinski Cites Kozinski
After the lawyer lost, he filed a complaint alleging the judge hid evidence, took bribes and framed him, Kozinski wrote, without providing any evidence.
"Complainant is an attorney, so he should know better than to file such an obviously frivolous and abusive complaint," Kozinski wrote. "He has wasted considerable judicial resources for no purpose whatsoever."
The chief judge then asked the attorney to explain why he shouldn't be sanctioned. - Dan Levine, Law.com
'$100 laptop' platform moves on
"We will continue to work with OLPC but we will also work with other manufacturers," explained Sugar Labs founder Walter Bender.
"Hopefully it will mean that these ideas will get out there faster and to a broader community." ...
"I didn't leave OLPC because of the Microsoft deal - it was a symptom rather than the cause," he told BBC News.
"I left OLPC because I think the most important thing it is doing is defining a learning ecosystem." ... Sugar is a user interface that allows children to collaborate even when working on different machines. For example, they can write documents or make music together. - Jonathan Fildes, BBC News
Sugar Labs will make OLPC interface available for Eee PC, others
"By being independent of any specific hardware platform and by remaining dedicated to the principles of free and open-source software, Sugar Labs ensures that others can develop diverse interfaces and applications from which governments and schools can choose," Bender wrote on the Sugar Labs Web site.
One of the first of the "others" on the list is Asus' popular Eee PC. [PJ: This is the group I told you about. As you can see, no matter what happens, you can't kill off FOSS, thanks to forethought regarding licenses and a community willing to do whatever will get things done. It in no way depends on those at the top, so to speak, being for it or against it.] - Erica Ogg, CNET
Bender Forms Group to Promote OLPC's Sugar UI
Former One Laptop Per Child President of software and content Walter Bender has launched Sugar Labs, an organization that will promote the development of the open-source user interface originally developed for the XO laptop.
Sugar Labs Foundation will refine the development of Sugar, a UI (user interface) for the Linux OS that provides educational tools for kids. The foundation aims to create distributions of Sugar for multiple hardware and open-source platforms beyond the XO laptop.
"By being independent of any specific hardware platform and by remaining dedicated to the principles of free and open-source software, Sugar Labs ensures that others can develop diverse interfaces and applications from which governments and schools can choose," the nonprofit said. - Agam Shah, PC World
Novell Readies Silverlight Clone for Linux
Silverlight is Microsoft's competitor to other cross-platform media streaming products, particularly Adobe's Flash technology. Moonlight is a Linux version of Silverlight. According to a statement on Novell's site, the goals of the project are "to run Silverlight applications on Linux, to provide a Linux SDK to build Silverlight applications, and to reuse the Silverlight engine [Novell] has built for desktop applications. - Internet News
Novell Appoints Rick Crandall Chairman of Its Board of Directors
Novell, Inc. NASDAQ: NOVL today announced the appointment of Richard L. Crandall to the position of non-Executive Chairman of its Board of Directors. Mr. Crandall succeeds Thomas G. Plaskett, who has served as non-Executive Chairman of Novell's Board of Directors since 2006. Mr. Plaskett will continue to serve on Novell's Board.
Mr. Crandall is a founding Managing Director of Arbor Partners, a high technology venture capital firm, a position he has held since November 1997. Mr. Crandall also serves as the Chairman of the Enterprise Software Roundtable, an organization of the senior corporate leadership of the 35 largest software companies, which he founded in July 1994. Since November 2006, Mr. Crandall has served as Chairman of Pelstar LLC, a manufacturer of medical weighing and measurement devices. Since May 2005, Mr. Crandall has served as Managing Partner of Alpine Capital Partners, LLC, a real estate developer. Mr. Crandall served as the Chairman of Giga Information Group, an IT research and advisory firm, from July 2002 until February 2003, and was a board member and special advisor of Giga from its founding in April 1996 until February 2003. Prior to that, Mr. Crandall was a founder of Comshare, Inc., a decision support software company, and served as its Chief Executive Officer from April 1970 until April 1994 and its Chairman from April 1994 until April 1997. Mr. Crandall is the technology advisor to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and is also a director of Diebold, Inc. and of the Dreman/Claymore Dividend & Income Fund, a management investment company. - Novell press release, PR Newswire
Novell names venture capitalist as its new nonexecutive chairman
Novell Inc., the second-largest seller of Linux operating-system software in the United States, named Richard Crandall to replace Thomas Plaskett as nonexecutive chairman.
Plaskett will continue to serve on the board of directors, the Waltham, Mass.-based company said Thursday in a statement. Novell was founded in Utah and continues to have its largest office in Provo.
Crandall is a founding managing director of technology venture capital firm Arbor Partners LLC and chairman of Pelstar LLC, a maker of medical measuring devices. He's also managing partner of real-estate development firm Alpine Capital Partners LLC.
- Salt Lake Tribune
Exceptional Linux programs for Kids
The idea in technology (and education for that matter), is to teach concepts so the whole underrated independent thinking mode can kick in when little Johnny is tinkering with different programs. Then true exploring and true creating can occur and the operating system or program is of little consequence. Also, with a little time, most users, especially children, will be able to get around in the program and start creating. Since no one can predict which operating system will have the majority market share in the future it seems pointless to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars solely on that basis alone.
In that vein, below is a round-up of exceptional Linux programs for children which cater to their endless fascination with learning exploration and fun. Please check them out and let us know your favorites. - fanaticattack
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