uc: Add a summary of the SCO lawsuit to the history section.

[aple.git] / Unix_Concepts.m4

diff --git a/Unix_Concepts.m4 b/Unix_Concepts.m4
index 321bdda7ce2f7f65e8b1a11f6003a0db393f7430..be51cc9096ad4af3e9bb5721e1bd67774f776be6 100644 (file)
--- a/Unix_Concepts.m4
+++ b/Unix_Concepts.m4
@@ -145,18 +145,34 @@ interface based on the X window system facilitated cheap workstations
 which ran a complete open source software stack. </p>
 
 <p> The success of Linux, or <em>GNU/Linux</em> as some prefer to
-call it for reasons that should now be clear, has only increased
-over time, to the point where commercial Unix systems are mostly
-irrelevant. Today Linux runs on a wide variety of machines ranging
-from supercomputers to workstations, smart phones and IOT (internet
-of things) devices with very limited resources.
-
-<p> The same companies which almost killed Unix by commercializing it
-in order to maximize their profit make money with Linux today. However,
-they had to adjust their business model in order to comply with the
-GPL. Rather than selling proprietary software, they bundle open source
-software and sell support to paying customers. Some companies also
-sell hardware with Linux pre-installed. </p>
+call it for reasons that should now be clear, steadily increased over
+time. In 2003 the SCO group, a company which sold a proprietary Unix
+system, was unhappy about this progress and sued IBM, which offered
+various Linux products. SCO claimed to be the owner of Unix, and that
+Linux contained "millions of lines" of code copied from Unix. SCO's
+lawyers argued that the success of Linux originated from this theft
+of intellectual property and asked for $5 billion as compensation
+for the resulting losses. The company also tried to collect taxes
+from other Linux users. Microsoft funded SCO in these efforts. </p>
+
+<p> In the end SCO lost the lawsuit since it was evident that all that
+copied code never existed. In fact, the court ruled that SCO did not
+even own the Unix copyrights to begin with. Another fun fact is that
+the large number of bugs in the early Linux code actually helped to
+prove that Linux was original work. The long term effects of this
+lawsuit, an improved position of Linux and its ecosystem, last until
+the presence. Commercial Unix systems have become irrelevant as Linux
+runs on a wide variety of machines ranging from supercomputers to
+workstations, smart phones and IOT (internet of things) devices with
+very limited resources. </p>
+
+<p> While SCO went bankrupt eventually, some of the companies which
+almost killed Unix by maximizing their own profit still exist, and
+make money with Linux today. However, they had to adjust their
+business model in order to comply with the GPL. Rather than selling
+proprietary software, they bundle open source software and sell
+support to paying customers. Some companies also sell hardware with
+Linux pre-installed. </p>
 
 SUBSECTION(«Linux Distributions»)
 
@@ -202,10 +218,6 @@ EXERCISES()
        <li> Run <code>uname -a</code> on various Unix machines to see the
        OS type and the kernel version. </li>
 
-       <li> Nice read on the
-       <a href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/taoup/html/ch02s01.html">Origins and
-       History of Unix</a>, 1969-1995. </li>
-
        <li> Explore the <a
        href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/Unix_history-simple.svg">Unix
        time line</a>. </li>
@@ -214,14 +226,6 @@ EXERCISES()
        href="http://www.gnu.org/cgi-bin/license-quiz.cgi">Free Software
        licensing quiz</a>. </li>
 
-       <li> Read the <a
-       href="https://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/the-gnu-manifesto-turns-thirty">
-       notes on the 30th anniversary</a> of the GNU Manifesto. </li>
-
-       <li> Read the <a
-       href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/unix-koans/end-user.html">
-       Koan of Master Foo and the End User</a>. </li>
-
        <li> On a Debian or Ubuntu system, run <code>aptitude search
        python</code> to list all python-related Ubuntu packages. Run
        <code>aptitude show python-biopython</code> to see the description
@@ -2514,6 +2518,21 @@ SUBSECTION(«symlink_madness»)
 
 SECTION(«Further Reading»)
 <ul>
+       <li> <a
+       href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/taoup/html/ch02s01.html">Origins
+       and History of Unix, 1969-1995</a> by Eric Steven Raymond. </li>
+
+       <li> <a
+       href="https://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/the-gnu-manifesto-turns-thirty">
+       The GNU Manifesto Turns Thirty</a>, by Maria Bustillos. </li>
+
+       <li> <a href="https://lwn.net/Articles/924577/">The SCO lawsuit,
+       20 years later</a> </li>
+
+       <li> <a
+       href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/unix-koans/end-user.html">
+       The Koan of Master Foo and the End User</a>. </li>
+
        <li> <a href="https://lwn.net/Articles/411845/">Ghosts of Unix Past:
        a historical search for design patterns</a>, by Neil Brown. </li>