Usenix group disputes SCO position on open-source

Computerworld - The Usenix Association today publicly challenged assertions by The SCO Group Inc. that Linux and open-source software are damaging to intellectual property rights and to the global economy.
In an open letter to Congress, the organization's board of directors said that "as an organization dedicated to advancing the skills and contributions of computer researchers and developers, the USENIX Association is compelled to address and refute the position SCO has taken regarding open source software."
"USENIX and its members serve as an unparalleled demonstration that the best way to support advances in computer programming and to create better computer programs (and to help the American economy) is by sharing innovations, rather than keeping them secret or charging large amounts of money for access to them, as SCO advocates," the letter said.
The group, which has 6,000 members and is based in Berkeley, Calif., said that SCO's own programmers use open-source computer software tools, "so it is difficult to explain SCO's position except by noting its hypocrisy."
The Usenix letter comes in response to a letter (download PDF) sent by SCO to Congress last month calling Linux and open-source software a threat to the security and economy of the U.S. (see story).
SCO filed a lawsuit now worth $5 billion last March against IBM for allegedly putting some of SCO's proprietary System V Unix code into the Linux code base. IBM has denied the allegation.
"Many of the most popular computer development tools are available to programmers worldwide for free through the contributions of the open source development community," Usenix said in its letter. "If their developers were to charge substantial fees for their use or to withdraw them from distribution entirely, commercial programmers such as SCO and non-commercial programmers alike would be the worse for it."
The Usenix letter also charged that SCO's argument that free, open-source licensing undermines intellectual property rights "lacks any legal justification and therefore appears to be merely self-serving. Nothing in our intellectual property laws requires inventors to charge substantial fees for access or use of their inventions.
"Society is better off when consumers have choices and when products compete with one another on the basis of functionality and price, and inventing is facilitated when inventors share their ideas," the group said. "Usenix supports the right of programmers to choose whether to charge for their programs or to make them available for free, and we oppose any attempt to change the balance inherent in our intellectual property laws."
Marshall Kirk McKusick, president of the Usenix board, saidtoday that the 10-member board of directors began working on its letter after SCO sent its letter to Congress. "We sort of got mad when [that] happened, and it just took that long for us to sign off on it," he said.
Usenix's members use open-source software "to get their jobs done, and we feel they should have as many choices as possible to choose from," McKusick said. "The point is the marketplace should decide what are the best solutions and not try and limit the scope of our members' choices."
A spokesman for Lindon, Utah-based SCO today said the company had no comment on the Usenix letter.
Usenix, which was created in 1975, is a computing group that provides discussion and training on technical matters.

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