Locked in a legal battle with IBM after demanding $3 billion in damages, SCO are accusing IBM of misappropriating its Unix technology to build up its Linux services business,
SCO have made the unpopular decision to invoice over 1,000 companies in the next few months for a UnixWare licence. Most Linux users are simply refusing to bow down to the pressure applied by SCO, probally until the IBM dispute is settled one way or another.
Linux users are refusing to bow to continued pressure from SCO to buy a UnixWare licence, despite its unpopular decision to bill 1,000 companies in the next two months.
SCO says it will begin legal action against those that do not pay, but most industry watchdogs think it unlikely the company will carry through its threat. They believe users will largely ignore SCO's claims completely, or at least wait until the IBM dispute is settled.
Senior researcher at I.T. analyst firm Butler Group, Mike Davis, believes most large companies will continue to to ignore SCO. "I think that companies will take the invoice and put it on a shelf or deposit it with their lawyers and tell them to wait until the IBM case is settled," he said. "The IBM case has to take precedence (over any case against users brought by SCO). What would a company director be doing paying an invoice before a court case is settled?"
Director of public relations at SCO, Blake Stowell said, "We're not giving specific details on licences sold just yet, but I can tell you that we had more than 900 calls during the first week regarding the licence, and at least 300 of those were calls from companies serious about purchasing a licence". He also added that the 1,500 firms invoiced were amoung the largest blue chips in the world.
SCO are still refusing to announce how many firms have actually applied for its UnixWare licence.
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