Letters to BYTE.com

By Readers of Byte.com

June 23, 2003

(Letters to BYTE.com :  Page 1 of 1 )

SCO Stories

Dear BYTE.com,

In response to Trevor Marshall's "SCO Owns Your Computer" [BYTE.com, 6/16/2003], one would think that property is property no matter whether it is IP (Intellectual Property) or Real Property (Real Estate) or anything else. I once had a piece of real estate. (Now, please bear with me on this story, it really does have to do with SCO and their IP code.) Anyway, the property had been, as most properties in the US, surveyed, defined by lines on a map, registered at a courthouse, and was completely owned by me. The problem with these methods of defining property lines and limits, which may make sence to a surveyor or a lawyer, is that they really make no since to the average Joe (me). I cannot tell a corner stake from a fence post. There had been some old fences (kind of like AT&T's UNIX contracts with SCO), but only a few posts were left after many years of no one doing maintenance. There was really very little left to define where the property lines began or ended, and the kids, and dogs, and possums, and anybody else who wanted to moved back and forth from my property to the next with no regard to who owned it. (Kind of like SCO claims has happened with Linux and UNIX.)

One day I decided to put my property to work as a Christmas tree growing business. (Kind of like the Linux people are doing these days with servers and such.) The property next to mine belonged to the Power Company (who, for me, is kind of like SCO), and they really never paid attention to what I was doing. The fact is that the property I owned I had originally bought from the Power Company.

Great, I had all this land (kind of like the Linux commercial potential), and I could just go out, plant the trees, and reap the benefits. I did just that, the trees matured, the business began to flourish, I was close to realizing a harvest, and all was well.

One day I received a notice from the Power Company (SCO) that I had planted my trees (Linux commercial arena) on their property (Unix IP), and that I had to remove the trees and pay them for the use of their property (UNIX IP royalties).

 Page 1 of 1