SCO's Suit: A Match Made in Redmond?, Mar 11, 2004

For months, rumors have swirled around the Web alleging that Microsoft helped finance a small Utah software company's suit against IBM and two corporations that use Linux software. BusinessWeek has learned that Microsoft did not put up the money, but did play matchmaker for SCO Group and BayStar Capital, a San Francisco hedge fund which made a $50 million investment in SCO last October.

Motorola has announced several new multimedia-enabled mobile phones supporting music and video playback, including one new device based on embedded Linux. The Linux-based Motorola E680 could see US distribution, making it the first of Motorola's Linux-based mobile phones available outside the Far East.

Would it be OK for a foreign Judge to rule that if someone calls my US office from another country that I cannot utter the word 'Lindows' when I answer the phone, simply because our phone lines were connected? And worse, if I answered the phone, should I incur a fine of 100,000 Euro per day? Our phones may be connected to some of the same wires that a web visitor would travel when connecting to the Lindows.com website. If they can insist a website be shut down so their residents cannot access it, why not the phone system as well? It sounds preposterous, but this appears to be what is unfolding in the Netherlands, and every Net citizen should be worried. We may be headed toward a world in which rich companies can shop around, repeatedly searching for a friendly court that is willing to ban content, ideas, products and choices with which they may disagree.

We tested five Linux desktop solutions: Libra Computer Systems Ltd.'s Libranet 2.8.1 Flagship Edition, Lindows.com Inc.'s LindowsOS 4.5, Lycoris' Desktop/LX, MandrakeSoft Inc.'s Mandrake Linux 9.2 and Xandros Inc.'s Xandros Desktop OS Version 2-Deluxe Edition. None proved to be the clear front-runner. Rather, three of the solutions — the ones from Lindows.com, Lycoris and Xandros — proved evenly matched and ideally suited to replace either Windows or Macintosh systems with ease.

The other two Linux offerings — from Libranet and MandrakeSoft — are viable desktop replacements but don't offer the same level of automation and graphical tools as the other solutions. Lindows, Lycoris and Xandros are good choices for casual business users, while Libranet and Mandrake are solid matches for agency IT staffers and software developers.

Initially, SCO spokesman Blake Stowell implicated IBM in disclosing the document, an act he said undercut confidentiality guarantees made earlier to CA and the two other named licensees, Questar and Leggett & Platt.

On Tuesday, however, Stowell would only say that SCO and IBM "are still trying to determine how the information became publicly disclosed."

IBM spokesman Michael Darcy declined to comment.

There is no question, however, that the letter originally was filed in federal court in Salt Lake City, then quickly snagged and shared on the Internet by open-sourcers and other SCO-IBM watchers, among them the http://www.groklaw.net Web site run by paralegal Pamela Jones.

Webmaster's note: A somewhat confusing headline. Microsoft is sending free (as in beer) samples of its software. It does not refer to "Free Software" as in the GNU project or the Linux kernel.

Microsoft has been mailing free copies of its pricey Office productivity software to government employees, but CNET News.com has learned that at least two federal agencies are warning recipients to return the gifts or risk violating federal ethics policies.

Since the launch of Office 2003 last year, Microsoft has given out tens of thousands of free copies of its flagship software, which retails for about $500, to workers at its biggest customers. The giveaway was expanded to government workers this year, but ethics offices at the Department of the Interior and Department of Defense have said the offers constitute unauthorized gifts and must be returned.

The Department of the Army went a step further, calling on Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates to stop sending the software to Army personnel.

Mandrakelinux 10.0 is based on Linux kernel 2.6.3 and offers the most advanced Linux features currently available -- in terms of technology as well as the most up-to-date software. New features includes higher performance and scalability for servers, greater interoperability with the Windows® world, plus numerous improvements & refinements to the user interface.

2.6.4 has been released today.
See changelog for full details.

Files added: 380
Files changed: 3185
Files removed: 206

 View older news this year: May Apr Mar Feb Jan
 View news from other years: 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000, 1999