Is SCO-Caldera Trying to Add More Confusion?
Meanwhile, in a 1 May interview with CNET's Stephen Shankland, McBride said "We're finding...cases where there is line-by-line code in the Linux kernel that is matching up to our UnixWare code," Now if you believe what Sontag and Stowell said to us and also believe what McBride told CNET, then that means that in the two days between 29 April and 1 May, SCO-Caldera suddenly found SCO-owned code in the Linux kernel that it had not been able to find there prior to 29 April.
The Sontag and Stowell statements appear to be statements against SCO's interest in that they clear the kernel.org Linux kernel of SCO code. Therefore, we tend to find the Sontag and Stowell statements more believable than McBride's statement.
However, McBride did not say there was SCO-owned code in the kernel.org kernel in the CNET interview. Rather he used the more vague, not-specific term Linux kernel. So, McBride's statement to CNET could be reconciled with Sontag and Stowell's statements by construing McBride's statement to allege there is SCO-owned code in something other than the kernel.org kernel code such as a patched, hacked, or customized Linux kernel.
Whether there is SCO-owned code in the kernel.org Linux kernel is a matter of fact. Regardless of what we or anyone else says, the facts are the facts. What is said does not change the facts.
However, it is SCO-Caldera that is claiming there is SCO-owned code in Linux. The burden is on SCO-Caldera to show where there is SCO-owned code in Linux. And so far SCO-Caldera has failed to show where there is SCO-owned code in the kernel.org Linux kernel, any Linux kernel for that matter, or anyplace in Linux.
Until yesterday the only direct quote, where there is a clear and specific statement as to SCO code in the kernel.org Linux kernel, from a SCO-Caldera spokesperson that we have come across in our own discussions with SCO-Caldera spokespeople, and in reading interviews with SCO-Caldera spokespeople elsewhere, is our 24-25 April discussion with SCO's Chris Sontag. There he says there is no tainted code in the Linux kernel that Linus [Torvalds] and others have helped develop.
However, it appears that on 15 May Sontag told Linux Journal's Don Marti that Infringement is present not only in distributions and vendor kernels, but in the official kernel available from kernel.org. (Linux Buzz: SCO to Reveal Allegedly Copied Code, Linux Journal, 15 May 03. Link in Resources section at end of this article.) So now, some two weeks after Sontag told us there is no SCO-owned code in the kernel.org kernel, which was confirmed by Blake Stowell on 1 May 2003, Sontag is telling Linux Journal there is SCO-owned code in the kernel.org kernel.
Did SCO find that SCO-owned code in the kernel.org code since Sontag's and Stowell's statements on 25 and 29 April? Or is Sontag not telling the truth in there someplace?
The answer to that question might lie in yet another new development. In an e-mail discussion about another matter yesterday, SCO's Blake Stowell told us: The only thing we have stated is that we have found our SCO owned code in various Linux distributions (including Red Hat), and in the Linux kernel. We have not reviewed the code found on kernel.org or the GNU/Linux operating system.
If SCO-Caldera has not reviewed the kernel.org Linux kernel code, how can Sontag say, as he did to Linux Journal, that there is infringement in the official kernel available from kernel.org?
Sontag cannot really clear the official Linux kernel of containing SCO-owned Unix code either. Blake Stowell told us yesterday that SCO has not looked at the official, kernel.org Linux kernel to see if it contains any SCO-owned code. In that circumstance, none of the SCO-Caldera spokespeople are in a position to either allege there is SCO-owned code in the kernel.org Linux code or to clear that official Linux kernel of containing tainted code.
Conectiva, Mandrake, and SuSE Say No SCO Code
SCO-Caldera does claim it has found proprietary SCO-owned code in Linux distributions and specifically in SuSE and Red Hat Linux.
On Monday, we asked Conectiva, MandrakeSoft, Red Hat, and SuSE people if there is any SCO-owned code in their Linux distributions.
MozillaQuest Magazine: Is there any SCO-Owned code in Conectiva Linux?
Gordon K. Ho: Not that we are aware of.
MozillaQuest Magazine: Is there any SCO-Owned code in Mandrake Linux?
Gaël Duval: MandrakeSoft takes care that all the code that is distributed in Mandrake Linux Download Edition is available for download on Internet under the terms of a Free Software license. All the code done at MandrakeSoft is GPL or similar.
MozillaQuest Magazine: Is there any SCO-Owned code in SuSE Linux?
Joseph Eckert: No -- there is not.
MozillaQuest Magazine: Is there any SCO-Owned code in Red Hat Linux?
Mark de Visser: No comments from me - this is now lawyer stuff.
