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There's little fear. There's virtually no uncertainty. And there is certainly no doubt.
Despite the new flurry of Linux-centered lawsuits and legal threats issued this week, the overwhelming emotion at this year's LinuxWorld Conference & Expo in San Francisco is complete certainty that the open-source operating system will go on to ever-greater glory.
"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."
Most people at the conference don't even want to discuss the SCO Group's ever-escalating claims that Linux users are violating the company's intellectual property rights.
But the subject does come up when people draw near Red Hat's booth and dig deep into their pockets to pull out a cash contribution to the Open Source Now Fund, a new legal defense fund intended to protect small Linux coding and deployment companies should the SCO suit actually bear financial fruit.
During a press conference Monday, Red Hat launched the fund, said it had kicked in the first $1 million, and also announced it had filed its own suit against SCO.
Red Hat is charging SCO with unfair and deceptive business practices and an attempt to create "an atmosphere of fear, uncertainty and doubt about Linux … that is intended to hurt Red Hat and other Linux distributors," according to the suit.
Matthew Szulik, chief executive of Red Hat, explained to anyone who would listen, via a Monday press conference and a keynote delivered Tuesday afternoon at LinuxWorld, that he's sick and tired of "SCO's veiled threats and accusations."
"Enough is enough," said Szulik. "We're not going to let them hold Linux hostage any longer."
Szulik said his ire was rising with every new media story about SCO. But then, during a recent conference call, Red Hat was specifically cited as a possible infringer and Szulik's last remaining nerve snapped.
"I now want a judge to determine and declare whether Red Hat is infringing or not on SCO's intellectual property … we want the truth," Szulik said. "We want SCO to put up or shut up."
Red Hat's countersuit is a move that many Linux developers had been hoping some high-profile company would pursue. Some are worried that the uncertainty could hamper further Linux adoption in the corporate world.
The suit in the center of this tangled web -- SCO's multibillion-dollar suit against IBM -- probably will not hit the courts until 2005, according to legal sources.
"I see no indication that anyone is looking to make a mad dash to justice in the SCO-IBM case," said attorney Harvey Shapiro. "And even once it hits the courts, I wouldn't expect a fast resolution."
The saga began last March, when SCO filed a $1 billion lawsuit against IBM, claiming that Big Blue set out to destroy Linux by inserting SCO-owned code from Unix V into the Linux Kernel. IBM did this, SCO charges, to enhance its own Linux business.
Since then SCO has raised its claims for damages against IBM to more than $3 billion. On July 21, SCO released a statement saying that all commercial Linux users are software pirates, and announced that it would be offering a license that will protect said pirates from any forthcoming legal action by the software maker.
On Tuesday, SCO released the pricing details of that license, which will bestow SCO's blessing on all businesses that want to continue using Linux.
Introductory prices include $199 to run Linux on a desktop PC and $699 to run it on a server with a single CPU. The server price jumps to $1,399 after the introductory period ends October 15.
Red Hat's standard version of desktop Linux sells for $39.
The news of the steep fees provoked much hilarity among LinuxWorld attendees.
"That's what -- 20 grand for a basic cluster? The kind that people put together themselves because they can't afford to buy a supercomputer?" said Mike Christie, a programmer from Seattle.
"People will be paying SCO that license fee right around the time that Bill Gates announces that all Windows programs are now 100 percent secure," Christie said.
In a telephone conference on Tuesday, SCO, whose representatives are staying far away from LinuxWorld as they are "unsure of their welcome," according to SCO CEO Darl McBride, made scathing comments about Red Hat's lawsuit, saying it would only damage Linux.
In correspondence between Red Hat and SCO, which was published on SCO's website Tuesday by SCO, McBride warned that SCO's response to Red Hat's suit "will likely include counterclaims for copyright infringement and conspiracy."
"Hooray for Red Hat, boo SCO," said programmer Jim Vertingo from Chicago, who appeared at LinuxWorld wearing a T-shirt with "Hell No, SCO!!!" emblazoned on it.
"And can we just get back to coding now? I'm sick of this whole mess," Vertingo said. "Actually I'm even sick of this T-shirt. I'm going back to the hotel to change now."
