I have three stories from yesterday about Linux, two regarding the SCO issue, and one proving Linux can succeed in the face of trouble. The first one is that Linux users in Provo, Utah, where SCO is located, held a protest in front of SCO's headquarters, and while The Register makes it seem like SCO employees were protesting with the Linux users, the other information from the protest show a very different story, with SCO employees, or SCO itself, having put out signs in advance of the protest that made it seem like the Linux users were common software pirates and communists. This displays a complete disrespect of people who have been using this software legally, and likely still are, and is only earning SCO further animosity and embarrassment.
The second story is that Linus Torvalds spoke with an eWeek editor via email this week about the SCO issue and his move to the OSDL from Transmeta, and his obvious aggravations at the attacks he has been subject to due to the SCO and IBM 'spat'. Torvalds, in response to a question about SCO's allegations that he needs to check where code comes form more, said "I allege that SCO is full of it, and that the Linux process is already the most transparent process in the whole industry. Let's face it, nobody else even comes close to being as good at showing the evolution and source of every single line of code out there. The only party that has had serious problems clarifying what they are talking about is SCO, and now when details start emerging like with RCU, it's clearly about IP that they had nothing to do with, and don't even own. I'm sure that they are confident that they own the collective work of Unix, but that's a separate thing entirely legally from being the actual copyright owner of any specific section of code." I couldn't agree more.
The last story is about a Bloor Research piece covered by The Register that points to several low cost, third word destined computers loaded with Linux as examples that desktop Linux is not that far away. From the India only PC from IBM to Acer made, Linux based multimedia PC's running Red Hat 8, not to mention HP's offering's aimed at the same part of the world and LG Electronics out of Korea. The article goes on to look to the future, meaning China and it's billion potential PC users. From Brazil and the Philippines to major parts of Asia and the Middle East, Linux is catching on and it's cost effectiveness is not to be disputed.
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