Editor’s Note: Dark Magic

The scale of SCO’s misdirection is both grand and subtle. It is grand in that they are trying to fool a lot of people at once and it is subtle because it seems to be wheels within wheels. Complicated, sometimes illogical, but always designed to direct people away from the truth, the core of their arguments: is there SCO code inside Linux?

All of the fussing, all of the accusations, all of the threats–they are all designed to have CIOs, analysts, and journalists forget that there is no legal proof there is unauthorized SCO code in Linux. We’re not supposed to pay attention to that one glaring piece of news. To his credit, George Weiss of Gartner had his eye on the ball and shells this week.

I said very early on in this process that there may very well be SCO IP in the Linux kernel. It certainly wasn’t beyond the realm of possibility. It still isn’t, though with each passing day the prospect of actual stolen code seems more and more remote. But now, it does not matter. This ceased being an argument about the truth a long time ago, if it ever was about that. This is now about money, pure and simple. If it were about protecting SCO’s IP, then the allegedly stolen code would be out in the open and out of Linux while SCO sued the parties responsible for putting it there.