Funny how I am reading about the wonders of antitrust, and then I come across this in the Wall St. Journal.
Microsoft is buying the rights to SCO Group’s Unix technology for an undisclosed amount, in a move that will bolster SCO’s controversial campaign to demand royalties from users of the Linux operating software, which SCO claims infringes on its Unix patents. Linux supporters have demanded that SCO identify which parts of the code are duplicative, but SCO says that doing that would allow programmers to cover up their transgressions by rewriting the software. “That’s like saying, ‘show us the fingerprints on the gun so you can rub them off,'” says SCO CEO Darl McBride.
Microsoft, which competes fiercely with both Linux and Unix, at the same time has been a long-time backer of SCO and some in the Linux community have speculated the software giant is secretly bankrolling SCO’s litigation to reduce the Linux threat. A Microsoft spokeswoman denied that rumor.
