[Tech] Scontro SCO-Linux: forse trovata la prova del coinvolgimento di Microsoft

Eric S. Raymond, figura storica del mondo hacker e del free software, ha pubblicato sul suo sito dedicato all'open source quella che lui stesso ritiene possa essere la "pistola fumante", la prova cioè che Microsoft ha sobillato (e, soprattutto, finanziato) SCO contro il mondo del free software.



L'impegno finanziario da parte di Microsoft, inizialmente ipotizzato in 11 milioni di dollari, ammonterebbe invece a ben 86 milioni di dollari:

"The document below was emailed to me by an anonymous whistleblower inside SCO. He tells me the typos and syntax bobbles were in the original. I cannot certify its authenticity, but I presume that IBM's, Red Hat's, Novell's, AutoZone's, and Daimler-Chryler's lawyers can subpoena the original."



(...)



(Dalla mail "incriminata", NdR): I realize the last negotiations are not as much fun, but Microsoft will

have brough in $86 million for us including Baystar. The next deal we

should be able to get from $16-20, but it will be brutial as it is for

go to makerket work and some licences. I know we can do this , if

everyone stays on board and still wants to do a deal. I just want to

get this deal and move away from corp dev and out into the marketing

andfield dollars....In this market we can get $3-5 million in

incremental deals and not have to go through the gauntlet which will get

tougher next week with the SR VP's.



(Commento di Raymond, NdR): "This is the smoking gun. We now know that Microsoft raised at least $86 million for SCO, but according to the SCO conference call this morning (03 Mar 2004) their cash reserves were $68.5 million. If not for Microsoft, SCO would be at least $15 million in debt today.



The "$16 to $20" is almost certainly $16 to $20 million, and since this memo is five months old that deal is almost certainly completed by now. This means it's possible SCO has burned through as much as $30 million in just a year of barratry."

Che dire? Raymond ammette di non essere in grado di certificare l'autenticità della missiva, ma sostiene che le parti in causa (e i loro legali) non dovrebbero avere difficoltà a sciogliere i dubbi, in un senso o nell'altro.



Certo, se fosse tutto vero, Microsoft si sarebbe fatta beccare a portare avanti pratiche che nulla hanno a che vedere con la concorrenza leale - ancora una volta.