SCO's Linux is shadow

Article title: SCO's next-hand Linux shadow. Linux is a technology channel of the IT lab in China. Includes basic categories such as desktop applications, Linux system management, kernel research, embedded systems, and open source.
What is the great crisis behind SCO's suspension of Linux business and the pursuit of Microsoft under IBM?
　　
In March 7, SCO claimed that IBM had infringed on its UNIX intellectual property rights and trade secrets and filed a US $1 billion claim against IBM.
　　
On April 9, May 15, SCO sent a warning to 1500 Linux users and their partners, stating that the Linux product section copied SCO's Unix program code and that using Linux may cause them to assume corresponding legal responsibilities.
　　
On April 9, May 19, SCO signed an authorization agreement with Microsoft to announce the issuance of UNIX patent rights and source code to Microsoft.
　　
Linux has been growing rapidly in the world in recent years, and its lack of effective business models has always been a critical obstacle to its further development. This time, SCO once again tore this scar. How will it affect China's Linux business?
　　
"Days will not fall down"
　　
In an interview with reporters, Pan Di, president of the Asia-Pacific region of trins, said: "The sky will not fall! What should we do. "He is even a little excited." This is not necessarily a bad thing. On the contrary, it may be a better promotion for Linux. "
　　
In Pandi's view, what SCO has done so far has not been removed from the lawsuit against IBM and its pursuit of economic interests. Instead, it sent a letter to Linux users and signed a UNIX authorization agreement with Microsoft, IBM is under pressure.
　　
Liu Bo, president of Zhongke Hongqi, also agreed with this opinion. he felt that it was indeed "too early" to worry about the fate of Linux, and some "too worried". he affirmed that, "SCO told IBM to cooperate with Microsoft, obviously a business operation, not really wanting to subvert Linux", "Not only does it not have this ability, but it has not seen this intention. "
　　
According to the information obtained by the reporter from SCO China, "SCO does not want Linux to die." Jia Yaoliang, general manager of SCO China, repeatedly stated in an interview with reporters that, SCO only "suspend" rather than "permanently stop" Linux services. "after the copyright issue is resolved, we will continue to promote Linux. "In any case, it is obvious that SCO does not want to lose its previous Linux customers, although it solemnly declares in a warning letter to 1500 users around the world that "Linux is an unauthorized UNIX derivative software, and Linux commercial users may assume legal liability ", however, in its statement "suspend sales of all future Linux operating systems" issued at the same time, it stressed that "SCO will continue to provide support for existing SCO Linux and Caldera OpenLinux users, and ensure that these users are not affected by SCO intellectual property rights when using SCO Linux and Caldera OpenLinux products. "This means that the user he is warning is a user with a defined range and a specific user.
　　
Jia Yaoliang also revealed in an interview that the reason why sco ceo Darl McBride told IBM was that a manager of IBM was at a meeting in New York in May, publicly speaking, we need to port the AIX technology to Linux and claim to eliminate the value of UNIX. According to Jia Yaoliang, SCO had previously communicated with IBM, "If there is an appropriate subsidy, the problem can be solved", "but IBM refused ". Some insiders have pointed out that SCO's $1 billion lawsuit against IBM is enough to buy SCO's entire company, and its transaction with Microsoft is to suppress IBM, force them to follow suit.
　　
Is SCO's financial status really poor? According to reports, SCO's annual revenue for the previous fiscal year was about $60 million, while the new CEO Darl McBride set a target of $0.1 billion for this fiscal year. Since SCO was acquired by Caldera and engaged in Linux business, the revenue from Linux has been very limited for nearly two years, most of which come from UNIX, and UNIX is not optimistic in terms of its vision. therefore, it is understandable that Darl McBride needs to use other means to achieve its financial goals. In fact, the storm has played a significant role in improving SCO's financial situation. According to Jia Yaoliang: "When the new CEO Darl McBride arrived, SCO had only about six cents in stock, but now it has grown to more than eight, more than a dozen times, investors have more confidence in us. "
　　
Not all Linux vendors and partners are in the scope of SCO's allegations. vendors such as SUN and HP who have purchased sco unix licenses will not be affected. Perhaps because of this, SUN Gong Li, president of China Engineering Research Institute, became more calm in an interview with reporters. He thought this storm was not a big headache for Linux, at best, it can be regarded as a small cloud. "According to his analysis, even if everything SCO says is true, even if all Linux vendors and users have to pay for SCO, the fees will not be too high, it may not affect the survival of Linux vendors.
　　
"Microsoft is just a fortune"
　　
Throughout the incident, Microsoft's intervention left the industry in turmoil.
　　
Not long ago, Gates bluntly said that Linux is "Microsoft's cancer", but in addition to prevention and self-improvement, Gates does not seem to find a better solution, who can say that UNIX has never made Microsoft itch? Now, with the help of SCO and IBM's "inner", he has finally been able to work independently.
　　
Although SCO has always said that Microsoft has obtained UNIX source code and patents, it only ensures that Microsoft will not infringe on SCO's intellectual property rights, and also ensures the compatibility between Microsoft's products and UNIX. But as we all know, Microsoft is the opposite of Linux. At the same time, in view of the consistent competitive relationship between Microsoft and IBM, pulling into Microsoft will certainly suppress IBM. SCO won't understand this truth, but will IBM be afraid?
　　
SUN Gong Li, president of China Engineering Research Institute, has a very straight View. "It is impossible. "Pan digen, president of trins Asia Pacific, does not believe that IBM will have such a vulnerability." IBM is not an inexperienced new company. it cannot know less about intellectual property rights than anyone else, I believe there is a difference between AIX and Linux. In addition, it has so many lawyers that even if they go to court, there will be no problems. "
　　
According to Jia Yaoliang, China's general manager of SCO, after SCO filed a lawsuit in March 6, IBM spent nearly two months preparing a statement. An industry expert analyzed that the case was "not a problem at all" for IBM ". IBM China has consistently declined to comment on this issue. when a reporter calls to learn about IBM's recent Linux business strategy, the answer is: "IBM's investment in Linux is growing, if IBM invested in Linux two years ago to establish a standard, the recent investment has shifted to "on-demand Processing", because the current momentum of Linux is so fierce. "
　　
Although IBM was as strong as it was at the beginning, some analysts believe that in the whole incident, in addition to obtaining short-term commercial benefits, the main character SCO may have another purpose, that is, simply sell itself. But who will buy it? Those who will think about it think that SCO may be looking at IBM or Microsoft.
　　
However, the results may be completely different for IBM or Microsoft. If the evidence for this lawsuit by SCO is conclusive, then if IBM buys it, or buys out the pirated Source code and sends it to Open Source, the Linux industry will not feel any buzz; however, if it is not IBM but Microsoft, the battle between Windows and Linux may become more intriguing.
　　
This is indeed worrying, but Gong Li's analysis is very decisive: "Microsoft cannot buy SCO, so that others will sue it for monopoly. Therefore, Microsoft can only use a knife to kill people. "Therefore, he believes:" Microsoft's current practice has only two purposes: one is to add insurance for the UNIX technology in its NT, and the other is to create momentum and force others to buy SCO. "
　　
Unpredictable results
　　
According to Jia Yaoliang, SCO is very sure about the lawsuit. He said: "in a studio at the SCO headquarters in the United States, there is absolutely conclusive evidence to prove our evidence, if you sign a confidentiality agreement, you can view it at any time. "Not only that, Jia Yaoliang also pointed out that the lawyers Mr. SCO hired have a lot to come and he won the lawsuit for IBM and Microsoft many years ago." such lawyers, we should know how to protect SCO's intellectual property rights ".
　　
In this case, we must make a hypothesis: if, as SCO said, it has conclusive evidence to prove what it says in a warning letter to Linux users, so what is the worst impact on the Linux industry?
　　
In fact, this is what all Linux vendors and partners are reluctant to answer. When answering this question, both trins and The Zhongke Hongqi must first declare "Your assumption will never be implemented ". If so, Pan Di believes that the worst result is just "delaying some development of Linux". "It is impossible to stop Linux from today. Technically speaking, there are so many Linux developers that it is not a problem to add some source code. "
　　
Liu Bo analyzed the business structure. He said that most Linux vendors have some business components: open source code products, product development twice, and self-developed products, 4. third-party products. "Even if your assumption is true, the open source code product will be slightly affected. In addition, we can work more on secondary development and self-developed products, which is not enough to threaten our survival. "
　　
The simplest thing is Gong Li: "There is no need to worry about this. such cases cannot be terminated in the short term. He has been using the case for ten or eight years. maybe even SCO does not exist. "
　　
Even though IBM on the other side is still in silence, the "support" has appeared.
　　
In May 28, a German Linux software promotion association named Linuxtag claimed that SCO had threatened 1500 of the world's most important Linux users, including German companies such as Siemens and Volkswagen, the association will sue SCO in a German court.
　　
On the same day, Novell stated in a statement that although Novell transferred its Unix technology to SCO in 1995, the company never transferred the Unix copyright and patent rights to SCO.
　　
Novell's statement adds new variables to the lawsuit between SCO and IBM.