CMPnet.asia: Analyst Finds SCO’s “Proof” Credible

“One of the first observers to see the evidence in the SCO Group
Inc.’s intellectual-property claim against IBM and the Linux
community says there are direct similarities between the Unix code
that SCO claims control over and the Linux operating system.

“‘My impression is that [SCO’s claim] is credible,’ says Laura
DiDio, a Yankee Group analyst who was shown the evidence by SCO
Group earlier this week. ‘It appears to be the same’ code. But
DiDio says the developing battle could hinge on legal fine points
that are hard to sort out in the current atmosphere of claims,
denials, and counterclaims.

“Apparently the most telling evidence is that parts of the SCO
code and Linux code include identical annotations made by
developers when they wrote the programs, says DiDio, who compares
such notes to the signature or fingerprint of a developer’s work.
‘The fact that these appear to be transposed from Unix System V
into Linux I find to be very damaging.’ DiDio says she was shown
several instances where the source code and developer’s comments in
one operating system were the same as in the other operating
system…”

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