Kernel release: 2.4.22-rc2, Aug 08, 2003

2.4.22-rc2 has been released today.
See changelog for full details.

Files added: 587
Files changed: 2841
Files removed: 287

2.4.22-rc1-ac1 has been released today.
See changelog for full details.

Files added: 306
Files changed: 768
Files removed: 21

"Unlike SCO, IBM has been very careful not to make inflammatory statements. So when IBM fires a broadside it is a very carefully prepared action, which will be very carefully executed," said Gary Barnett, principal consultant at Ovum. "If SCO is wrong, IBM is absolutely right to ask for compensation."

"IBM has more patents than anyone, and more money and more lawyers than SCO. SCO will be bled dry before it can make its case," he added.

Oracle is aggressively adopting Linux both internally and for its products, despite SCO Group's threats earlier this week that it may sue those who don't pay licensing fees to the company. Chuck Rozwat, an Oracle executive VP, says the company has moved its IT infrastructure to Linux, a year after CEO Larry Ellis issued the mandate.

"We run our business on Linux," Rozwat said at the LinuxWorld conference in San Francisco on Wednesday. "If you look at any IT company, Oracle is by far the leader at running Linux."

In the high-stakes legal showdown between Linux users and SCO Group Inc. over whether that company is owed unprecedented license fees, advocates for the free software on Thursday showed no signs of blinking at their biggest annual gathering.

"If Linux wasn't doing so well, no one would bother filing lawsuits against us," said open-source developer Frank Gorskin. "I look around LinuxWorld and I see how far we've come in a few short years. Nothing and no one can stop Linux now."

The company, best known for its consumer-oriented version of the Linux operating system, on Thursday launched a $449 desktop computer with a flat-panel monitor. It's the second such announcement from Lindows in just a few weeks. In July, the company unveiled a $169 network computer, the WebStation, which lacks a hard drive and a floppy drive.

We view IBM's counterclaim filing today as an effort to distract attention from its flawed Linux business model. It repeats the same unsubstantiated allegations made in Red Hat's filing earlier this week. If IBM were serious about addressing the real problems with Linux, it would offer full customer indemnification and move away from the GPL license. As the stakes continue to rise in the Linux battles, it becomes increasingly clear that the core issue is bigger than SCO, Red Hat, or even IBM. The core issue is about the value of intellectual property in an Internet age.

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