MontaVista on SCO-gate: an embedded perspective

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Aug. 22, 2003

MontaVista has published an excellent paper entitled "MontaVista Software, Embedded Linux, and the SCO-IBM Lawsuit." The work presents MontaVista's perspective on "SCO-gate," along with a detailed and valuable summary of events citing many primary sources and references. As a leading supplier of Linux for embedded devices, MontaVista makes points that apply to much of the embedded market.

MontaVista's points might be loosely summarized as follows:

Most of the disputed code involves enterprise-oriented code unlikely to exist in minimalist embedded installations. MontaVista estimates less than 1% of all embedded projects would be affected.
All disputed code resides in the 2.4 kernel, while 2.2 is still most common in embedded systems.
The amount of disputed code is probably much smaller than SCO has sought to imply.
Any copyright claims of SCOs that are valid would not justify license fees from users, and especially not from both users and distributors.
The suit was motivated by SCO's wish to publicize its IP holdings and become an acquisition.
Linux enemy Microsoft has in part sponsored the suit by paying licensing fees to The SCO Group.
The SCO Group, formerly Caldera, distributed Linux for years under the GPL, so its statements against the GPL are self-incriminating and open the company to thousands of lawsuits.
Despite mail sent to 1,500 large companies warning of copyright inflictions, The SCO Group has not brought suit against any company but IBM.

The paper seeks to address the following key questions:

What's New? Overview of recent events and statements relating to the SCO assault on Linux
What do SCO’s copyrights and claims mean for Linux developers and users?
SCO now claims that the GPL is pre-empted by federal law: are they right?
What is the substance of the Red Hat lawsuit against SCO?
How should embedded developers view SCO’s attempt to charge a US$32 royalty?
Do SCO's claims actually cover embedded Linux code?
How does MontaVista Software intend to help its customers?
Should embedded developers wait to develop and deploy embedded Linux until the SCO situation is resolved?
Does the suit present a real danger to the Linux OS, to Linux distribution creators or deploying customers?
Why did Microsoft contract with SCO to license involved technology?

To summarize, this paper probably deserves a close reading by any embedded industry executives or developers looking to assess the potential impact of the SCO lawsuit upon them.

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