CNET News: Can a Subpoena Stop a Movement?

“Call it a new front in the war over open source: SCO’s decision
to seek licensing fees from Linux users has the IT industry–and IT
investors–pondering the legality of building for-profit products
on Linux.

“While the market’s initial reaction to the SCO announcement
boosted its share price, it’s not at all clear that SCO understands
what it’s up against–or the opening it’s giving industry titan IBM
to line up as the defender of the little guy.

“Start with the fact that Linux isn’t as much product as it is a
movement. As the emblem of open source and brainchild of Linus
Torvalds, Linux stands for the notion that progress is not
proprietary. Given that SCO means to ration access to the secrets
Linux’s father set free, SCO’s lawsuit is a little like locking the
door on Martin Luther King Jr.’s jail cell and expecting to stop
the civil rights movement…”

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