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Free-OpenServer. What a Concept! - Updated
Sunday, August 10 2008 @ 04:33 PM EDT

In case SCO tries to resurrect any methods and concepts claims to OpenServer or UnixWare, let me remind the world that beginning in 1996, they gave that away themselves when they offered Unix enthusiasts free licenses to what they called Free-OpenServer. Here's the announcement as PDF, "SCO Provides FREE* UNIX System Licenses to Students, Educators and UNIX Enthusiasts around the World". Buh-bye methods and concepts claims. At a minimum. And guess what they threw in? A free software development kit:
The SCO OpenServer Development system is comprised of a set of state-of-the-art compilers, debuggers, application programming interfaces (APIs), and libraries needed to develop applications. The SCO OpenServer Development System can also be augmented by over 200 third-party development tools to create the most robust and efficient development environment.

No kidding? APIs and libraries so you could develop applications, eh? SCOsource is dealt yet another blow.

Well. Maybe a kick. I don't think it's still standing any more.

Free-OpenServer. What a concept! Here's what else I think it means: that even if SCO did win a reversal on appeal, and the appeals court decided SCO did get all the copyrights under the 1995 APA, it still can't go after anybody for methods and concepts in any code that dates back before 1996 (and maybe later), and I have long believed that was the real dream.

Here's a snip from the announcement:

In a move that empowers students, educators, and UNIX® system enthusiasts with free access to the world's most popular computing environment, SCO today announced plans to provide a free license to use its popular UNIX systems, including SCO OpenServer™ and SCO® UnixWare®, to anyone in the world who wants to use it for educational and non-commercial purposes. This bold move has far-reaching implications for the future of UNIX systems and marks the stunning public debut of SCO's stewardship of the UNIX system. It also represents the first time in 20 years that the owner of UNIX technology has provided the operating system free of charge to the public. The availability of free UNIX system licenses begins with SCO OpenServer, followed closely by a free SCO UnixWare license. Free SCO OpenServer will allow students and UNIX system enthusiasts access to a high-end, commercial-quality UNIX product previously out of range. Professionals who use a UNIX system at work will now have an affordable means to continue learning about UNIX systems at home. Additionally, Free SCO OpenServer provides the ability to operate a home BBS or Internet browser....

With Free SCO OpenServer users may obtain a license to use a fully functional, single user version of SCO OpenServer Desktop System, which includes SCO Doctor™ Lite and SCO® ARCserve®/Open Lite from Cheyenne®, and the SCO OpenServer Development System. The SCO OpenServer Desktop System is an advanced, single user operating system for business-critical computing that delivers RISC workstation capabilities and performance on cost-effective Intel® processor-based platforms. The Desktop System integrates a powerful 32-bit, multitasking, X/Open UNIX system compliant operating system with integrated networking, graphics, and internet facilities.

And here's why Santa Cruz's Alok Mohan said they did it:

Alok Mohan, SCO's president and CEO, said, "This is only the second time in UNIX's 25-year history that the owner of the technology has made this offer. The last time this happened, a $60-billion-dollar industry was born."

The UNIX system was in its infancy when AT&T gave it away for free to colleges and universities to help them with research and development projects. Soon, thousands of students were learning to program on UNIX systems. After graduation, they took that knowledge into the corporate world building a $60-billion-dollar industry. The legacy of AT&T's gift to universities includes the Internet, the World Wide Web, multiprocessing, and much more. Today, the UNIX system is the software engine that processes trillions of dollars' worth of business transactions around the world. Probably no other operating system has had such an impact on the way people do business.

"SCO believes it is time to return the favor," said Mohan, "and deliver the result of more than 20 years of technical innovation back to educators and students worldwide. With the explosive growth of the Internet and the breadth of development tools for UNIX system available today, one can only imagine what this new generation will do with this open operating system platform."

My stars! You mean SCO realized that AT&T gave away Unix on purpose so students would learn it in school and then develop using Unix when they entered the workplace? The PDF was originally found, according to the article in Linux Journal here, but don't bother trying to find it there now, I'd guess:

What you have in your hands is one of the free copies of SCO OpenServer, which SCO has been dishing out by the scores since its introduction at the SCO Forum conference in mid-August 1996. This software is neither crippled nor time-bombed, and it includes a full software development kit. Everyone who installs the free version must register with SCO, but such registration is free of charge, and is done on a web page. SCO says they're issuing free registrations at the rate of about a thousand per week, more than two-thirds of them going to people describing themselves as “technical home users”.

On a different web page heralding free OpenServer to the world (http://www.sco.com/Products/freeopen.html), SCO boasts, this “bold move has far-reaching implications for the future of Unix systems, and marks the stunning public debut of SCO's stewardship of the Unix system.”

And yet now those devils wanted to charge people under SCOsource for using APIs and libraries from OpenServer and UnixWare? Naughty, naughty boys. According to A. P. Lawrence, if you have a copy of Free-OpenServer, you have a license to develop:

If you have free OpenServer, you already have a license to install the development system; the Web page on which you license free OpenServer gave you several keys and codes, including one to license that....

On older SCO operating systems ... you will probably need the development system, as the header and library files you need are part of it and not part of the operating system itself. This problem has been alleviated in OpenServer Release 5, as the headers and libraries are now shipped as part of the base operating system and are available even if you have not purchased the development system.

Anyone have a copy of those licenses? I'd love to see them. Or a dog-eared copy of Free-OpenServer? Here's someone who got a copy, and someone offers a theory on why SCO released it this way. Here's a snip from an old SCO comp.unix.sco.programmer FAQ:

I have an OpenServer based system. I don't have a compiler. What are my options?

If you're using Free OpenServer and comply with the licensing requirements, install the Free OpenServer compiler from the same CD. You cannot install the Free OpenServer compiler on a commercially licensed OpenServer.

SCO's OpenServer Development system is available as a commercially supported product and includes two compilers, debuggers, and tools such as the custom distribution mastering toolkit. For more information, see http://www.sco.com/developer/products.htm. The SCO part number for SCO OpenServer Development System (media and license) is SA105-UX74-5.0.

OpenServer includes all the necessary libraries, headers, man pages, and the linker to allow the user of third party develoment systems. One such system is the GNU Development System that's available on the Skunkware CD or the newer version available on Robert Lipe's home page and mirrored on SCO's Web site. This kit includes make, the assemblers, the debuggers, and everything you need for a functional development environment. This kit is available at ftp://ftp.zenez.com/pub/zenez/gcc and has documentation at ftp://ftp.zenez.com/pub/zenez/gcc/sco_ds.html and a little FAQ of its own (that should ultimately be smooshed into this one) at ftp://ftp.zenez.com/pub/zenez/gcc/gds_faq.html .

And here's another interesting entry in the FAQ:

I tried to build GCC on OpenServer 5 and it burst into flames. It is time to start using newer version of gcc. Take a look at ftp://ftp2.caldera.com/pub/ This is left for historical purposes.

The first FSF release of GCC to include the necessary support to host or target OpenServer was 2.8.0. EGCS has supported OpenServer 5 since the epoch. Anything before this requires a patched version of GCC.

Robert Lipe did the port of the GNU tools that appears on the Skunkware '96 CD and on ftp://ftp2.caldera.com/pub/Skunk96 or the old site ftp://ftp.sco.com . It is not a simple matter of 'configure ; make install'. It's a complicated product to build and unless you're planning to slog around in compiler internals, you really want to use the available binary kits. It is time that you start using a newer gcc. Please see ftp://ftp2.caldera.com/pub/skunkware . This is also mirrored on ftp://ftp.sco.com/skunkware . It is required that you install the necessary libraries and headers as described in the documention for that package that is in the "sco_ds.html" file at those URLs.

The major contributors of the OpenServer code in GCC (Kean Johnston and Robert Lipe) are active members of the EGCS development team. EGCS is an enhanced GNU compiler system. EGCS contains complete support for OpenServer 5 in both COFF and ELF modes and has received much attention and testing. See http://gcc.gnu.org for more details.

GCC does include support for 3.2v4.2 and earlier SCO releases, though it requires the SCO development system be installed. EGCS also includes support for UnixWare 7 and for UDK.

I don't know. I'm thinking SCO might need to get creative again and come up with another new theory of infringement. These header files are just not working out so well as they hoped.

Update: Did they follow through with Free UnixWare? Indeed they did, as of January 1997, according to this BusinessWire press release, entitled, "Come 'n' Get It! Free UNIX Stampede Rolls On":

SANTA CRUZ, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 8, 1996--The mania continues around Free UNIX licenses as SCO (NASDAQ:SCOC) today announced the quantity of Free SCO OpenServer licenses are far ahead of expectations since the company's original announcement during SCO Forum96 in August.

The company also announced two new programs -- the availability of Free SCO UnixWare licenses in January 1997, and low-cost, source code licenses for the SCO UnixWare operating system exclusively for universities and other educational institutions.

In the seven weeks since SCO Forum96, SCO has processed over 8,000 Free SCO OpenServer licenses, surpassing original expectations. The demographics of licensees indicate a large number of students and technical home users are taking advantage of this offer. To gauge the responses from licensees, SCO included a comment box in the on-line licensing form that have been filled with gushing remarks, like, "This is the most fantastic thing 'any' UNIX vendor has ever offered!" and "At last, REAL UNIX becomes free!"

"We thought this over for quite some time and decided to just move forward, knowing that this bold move would have a positive impact in the industry," said Scott McGregor, SCO's senior vice president, Products. "To say we're pleased is an understatement. We wanted to get SCO OpenServer into the hands of students and home users who will experiment with it, develop on it, and bring a new level of interest to UNIX. Well, it's happening. Now we are solidifying our stewardship of UNIX by offering educational source code licenses and Free SCO UnixWare licenses. It's our belief that the thousands who acquire these licenses will benefit from better understanding the technology that laid the foundation for the Internet, Business Critical computing, and heterogeneous computing -- three of the most important computing models of today."...

Free SCO UnixWare and Low-Cost Educational Source Code Licenses

With the announcement of Free SCO OpenServer licenses at SCO Forum96 in August, SCO also promised free licenses of SCO's enterprise-class operating system, SCO UnixWare. The promise will be delivered in January of 1997 as SCO will make free licenses available from its Web site. Licenses are available for educational and non-commercial use to be used for evaluation purposes or to set up a Web server.

In addition to the Free UnixWare product, SCO also plans to offer educational institutions low-cost, source code licenses for the SCO UnixWare operating system. This will provide a unique opportunity for computer science faculty and students to explore and better understand the internal operation and architecture of UNIX technology. The source code is restricted to educational institutions and is limited to uses directly related to teaching and degree granting programs. Eligible educational institutions can license the source product directly from SCO for $5,000. For more information please contact the SCO University Seeding Program by sending an email to cates@sco.com.

And SCO presumably approved that title to the press release, "Come 'n' Get It! Free UNIX Stampede Rolls On". Here's a Google Books find, a book entitled "Practical UNIX", where the author got a Free Unixware 7 license, and he shows how he installed it. When it prompts for the license, which he shows, he writes: "Here, enter the free noncommercial license that you got from the SCO Web site. If you have lost it, go out to www.sco.com and get another license instantly." So they did follow through.

And here's the SCO PDF announcing Free-OpenServer, as text, marking the dashing of SCO's hopes for methods and concepts, methinks.

*******************************

SCO Provides FREE* UNIX System Licenses to Students, Educators and UNIX Enthusiasts around the World

In a move that empowers students, educators, and UNIX® system enthusiasts with free access to the world's most popular computing environment, SCO today announced plans to provide a free license to use its popular UNIX systems, including SCO OpenServer and SCO® UnixWare®, to anyone in the world who wants to use it for educational and non-commercial purposes. This bold move has far-reaching implications for the future of UNIX systems and marks the stunning public debut of SCO's stewardship of the UNIX system. It also represents the first time in 20 years that the owner of UNIX technology has provided the operating system free of charge to the public.

The availability of free UNIX system licenses begins with SCO OpenServer, followed closely by a free SCO UnixWare license. Free SCO OpenServer will allow students and UNIX system enthusiasts access to a high-end, commercial-quality UNIX product previously out of range. Professionals who use a UNIX system at work will now have an affordable means to continue learning about UNIX systems at home. Additionally, Free SCO OpenServer provides the ability to operate a home BBS or Internet browser.

Free SCO OpenServer is licensed for educational and non-commercial use. You can use it for learning about UNIX systems, developing software that you do not sell, or to run a personal web site. You may not use Free SCO OpenServer in your business or to support profit-making activities.

Alok Mohan, SCO's president and CEO, said, "This is only the second time in UNIX's 25-year history that the owner of the technology has made this offer. The last time this happened, a $60-billion-dollar industry was born."

The UNIX system was in its infancy when AT&T gave it away for free to colleges and universities to help them with research and development projects. Soon, thousands of students were learning to program on UNIX systems. After graduation, they took that knowledge into the corporate world building a $60-billion-dollar industry. The legacy of AT&T's gift to universities includes the Internet, the World Wide Web, multiprocessing, and much more. Today, the UNIX system is the software engine that processes trillions of dollars' worth of business transactions around the world. Probably no other operating system has had such an impact on the way people do business.

"SCO believes it is time to return the favor," said Mohan, "and deliver the result of more than 20 years of technical innovation back to educators and students worldwide. With the explosive growth of the Internet and the breadth of development tools for UNIX system available today, one can only imagine what this new generation will do with this open operating system platform."


ISV's will benefit because the number of SCO installations is expected to grow dramatically. There will also be a substantial benefit for SCO's IHV's because of the increased demand for peripherals and drivers that run with SCO UNIX systems.

Students will have an affordable opportunity to get familiar with a robust, commercial quality operating system. Having a copy of SCO OpenServer at home will allow them to complete homework assignments without having to schedule lab time. Additionally, they can setup a personal web site and generally experiment with a UNIX system.

Instructors will be able to include Free SCO OpenServer as a means to boost enrollment and standardize homework assignments. The ability to offer a more focused curriculum will allow professors to make more progress with their student base each term and thereby ensure their success upon graduation.

With Free SCO OpenServer users may obtain a license to use a fully functional, single user version of SCO OpenServer Desktop System, which includes SCO Doctor™ Lite and SCO® ARCserve®/Open Lite from Cheyenne®, and the SCO OpenServer Development System. The SCO OpenServer Desktop System is an advanced, single user operating system for business-critical computing that delivers RISC workstation capabilities and performance on cost-effective Intel® processor-based platforms. The Desktop System integrates a powerful 32- bit, multitasking, X/Open UNIX system compliant operating system with integrated networking, graphics, and internet facilities.

The SCO OpenServer Development system is comprised of a set of state-of-the-art compilers, debuggers, application programming interfaces (APIs), and libraries needed to develop applications. The SCO OpenServer Development System can also be augmented by over 200 third-party development tools to create the most robust and efficient development environment.

SCO ARCserve/Open Lite from Cheyenne allows you to do simple, attended backup and intelligent restore for single devices. SCO Doctor Lite can be used for manual monitoring and performance tuning of a single server installation.

Free SCO OpenServer is ordered and licensed via the Internet. To order the media, or acquire a license to use, direct your Internet web browser to: http://www3.sco.com/Products/. You may place your order and receive a license in one transaction.

Free SCO OpenServer is licensed for educational and non-commercial use. The license is free of charge. The product media, if you need it, costs $19 (plus tax and shipping and handling). Prices may vary by geography.

If you require a commercial license, you may purchase SCO's full commercial product through authorized SCO suppliers. Please note that reinstallation will be required when you choose to upgrade from educational and non-commercial product.


To get your questions answered or learn more about the system, you may make use of a variety of no-charge online information services, including Usenet newsgroups, the SCOFORUM on Compuserve, software supplements available at http://www.sco.com and ftp://ftp.sco.com. Also available are SCO "proactive" support services for which you may purchase a support contract to cover SCO OpenServer from your SCO support service provider.

SCO will offer Free SCO UnixWare in the near future, under the same licensing terms.

"Gemini" is the code-name of an SCO engineering project that will deliver next generation UNIX systems from SCO. It is the consolidation of the SCO OpenServer and SCO UnixWare product lines with significant enhancements to meet the demands for today's new generation of distributed computing environments. The Gemini platform is the successor to the SCO OpenServer and SCO UnixWare environments, as well as other SVR3 and SVR4 environments. It is also the SCO platform which will provide the easiest path to the forthcoming 64-bit UNIX System being co-developed by SCO and HP for the Intel Merced processor. SCO will release an educational and non-commercial version of Gemini as well.

SCO, The Santa Cruz Operation, the SCO logo, SCO OpenServer, SCO Doctor, and UnixWare are trademarks or registered trademarks of The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc. in the USA and other countries. UNIX is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries, licensed exclusively through X/Open Company Limited. Cheyenne and ARCserve are registered trademarks of Cheyenne Software, Inc. All other brand and product names are or may be trademarks of, and are used to identify products or services of their respective owners. The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc. reserves the right to change or modify any of the product or service specifications or features described herein without notice. This summary is for information only. SCO makes no express or implied representations or warranties in this summary. ©1996 The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

*You may obtain, free of charge, a license to use the SCO products contained on the Free SCO OpenServer CD-ROM under the terms and conditions specified in the software license agreement.


  


Free-OpenServer. What a Concept! - Updated | 195 comments | Create New Account
Comments belong to whoever posts them. Please notify us of inappropriate comments.
Free-OpenServer. What appears to be License text.
Authored by: dmomara on Sunday, August 10 2008 @ 04:58 PM EDT
Apparently posted here:

" Notes

(1) Free SCO OpenServer License Text

Use of this software is solely for evaluation and understanding of SCO products, and only for: (1) non commercial educational purposes, or (2) noncommercial personal home use (such as personal website and bbs), or (3) evaluation purposes limited to 60 days, or (4) demonstration purposes for prospective customers.

SCO grants to you a non-exclusive, non-transferable, royalty free, limited license to use the software only for those purposes stated above, and not for any other use. You will not acquire any right in the software except the limited use rights specified in the software license agreement which you are required to read prior to use of this software. The licensed software may not be sold, leased, assigned, sublicensed or otherwise transferred, in whole or in part, by you.

(2) Free SCO OpenServer is not relicenseable and cannot be upgraded to a multi-user system.

(3) SCO is preparing a version of SCO UnixWare Release 2.1 that will be available under similar terms. More information on Free SCO UnixWare will be provided soon.

(4) SCO provides a variety of no-charge on- line information services in support of our products. For full information visit the SCO web site. There is no free email or phone support provided with Free SCO OpenServer. Support assistance may be purchased from any SCO service provider.

(5) For information on commercial SCO products, contact your SCO supplier. For local supplier referral, visit the SCO home page at http://www.sco.com , or send email to info@sco.com ."

The Development System was separately "licensed" and installable. A.P. Lawrwnce should be able to provide information.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Free-OpenServer. What a Concept!
Authored by: joef on Sunday, August 10 2008 @ 05:07 PM EDT
But that was Santa Cruz! We're SCO!

[ Reply to This | # ]

Corrections Thread
Authored by: Aladdin Sane on Sunday, August 10 2008 @ 05:07 PM EDT
Ye Olde Corrections Thread starts here.

Please use the title field to summarize your proposed correction.

Thanks.

---
"Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted." --R. Pausch

[ Reply to This | # ]

[NP] Talk about Groklaw News Picks
Authored by: Aladdin Sane on Sunday, August 10 2008 @ 05:09 PM EDT
Reply to this message to comment on Groklaw News Picks.

Please don't forget to tell us which NP you are commenting on.

Thanks.

---
"Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted." --R. Pausch

[ Reply to This | # ]

[OT] Off Topic Threads
Authored by: Aladdin Sane on Sunday, August 10 2008 @ 05:13 PM EDT
Please confine Off Topic threads to replies in this thread.

Somehow, it just makes more sense that way.

Real live HTML clickies can be used, just read the "Allowed HTML" cheat sheet written in red in the Post a Comment page.

---
"Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted." --R. Pausch

[ Reply to This | # ]

I was keeping the manuals and media as fuel for a BBQ n/t
Authored by: atheist on Sunday, August 10 2008 @ 05:17 PM EDT
An Irish tradition of my generation was a Peig burning on leaving secondary
school.

[ Reply to This | # ]

So?
Authored by: Henning Makholm on Sunday, August 10 2008 @ 05:42 PM EDT
Pardon me for being a grouch, but what exactly is the great thing here? This seems to be a free-as-beer binary-only licence. I cannot see how that offering intersects with anything that SCO claims illegitimately found its way into Linux.

Why, it surely contained an errno.h somewhere, but the whole errno.h thing was stillborn from the beginning. To find yet another argument against it does not seem to be worth these jubilations.

After failing to show actual infringing source code (which is not a joke, such as errno.h), the only leg SCO has left in the IBM case is the "method and concepts" thing, which would be a trace secret rather than a copyright thing. And the black-box API descriptions that one could get for free is nothing more than what paying users of OpenServer, or UnixWare, or Solaris, or HP-UX, or AIX, already got. Any and all API "methods and concepts" were already out of the box irrespective of FreeOpenServer.

If SCO can prevail at all – which I don't think they can, but if they nonetheless did – it would be because of some methods of concepts that were internal to the kernel and not disclosed to paying licensees or FreeOpenServer.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Much Ado About Little
Authored by: sk43 on Sunday, August 10 2008 @ 05:58 PM EDT
With all due respect, this "free license" program is far less than it
apears, and most certainly has no impact on any of SCO's "methods and
concepts" claims. It is not a license for UNIX source code, just
OpenServer binary code and development kit [with the usual header files and
APIs] that any commercial customer would receive. The only thing special is
that the license is free. The press release is filled with all sorts of
bombastic marketing rhetoric that makes it appear that Santa Cruz is returning
to the days of the educational licenses granted by AT&T to universities -
but that is most certainly not the case.

[ Reply to This | # ]

"SCOsource is dealt yet another blow"
Authored by: Anonymous on Sunday, August 10 2008 @ 06:03 PM EDT
You really enjoy kicking that dead horse 50 times...

SCO reminds me a story about a general who visited a fort and
did not get a cannon salute. He called the commander and
demanded to know why. The commander said that he had 10 good
reasons and started to enumerate them. Number #1 was that
the fort had no cannons. The general stopped him right there.
He did not care about the 9 other reasons.

I hope judge K. will be as smart as that general...

[ Reply to This | # ]

I'm missing something.
Authored by: Anonymous on Sunday, August 10 2008 @ 06:54 PM EDT
While the press release seems to indicate "We're giving this away for
free," the license document is stating "We're granting a free license
to use this product subject to some conditions." And one of those
conditions is "no sublicense/relicense".

One of the press releases compares the situation to AT&T giving Unix away to
universities. I don't think anyone's argued (yet) that AT&T gave away the
store when they did that, or that they no longer had anything to license to IBM,
Sun, DEC, etc.

How is this different?

[ Reply to This | # ]

Free Unix. What a Concept! - Updated: Under the GPL???
Authored by: Anonymous on Sunday, August 10 2008 @ 08:13 PM EDT
Did all this beauty happen under the GPL?
And if not, should we be grateful?
One remark though: methods and concepts is a contract problem for IBM to deal
with in Court. Not for other Linux users. It never was. I hope PJ finds an
opportunity to correct that idea if she led you to believe it is. Or ever was.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Free-OpenServer. I am confused! There are at least two free versions!
Authored by: tiger99 on Sunday, August 10 2008 @ 08:55 PM EDT
There was a "free" Unix once upon a time, but I have a copy here and it is called Open Unix 8, by Caldera. It was not actually free, I think it cost about £50 for the media set, including postage. That was 4 floppies and 8 CDs. It may have been available as a free download, I can't remember, but I was on dialup in those days.

So now it seems that they did at least two "free" versions!

I think the one I have is based on Unixware, but it comes with the infamous LKP, and lots of FOSS tools etc.

I recall that one of the first things Darl did was to discontinue this version, as he alleged that people were using it for business purposes, where they required a $699 licence.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Methods and Concepts
Authored by: bugstomper on Sunday, August 10 2008 @ 09:15 PM EDT
Like several people here, I also was confused as to how a no-cost non-commercial non-redistributable license would hurt SCO's claim that their Holy IP rights had been infringed, since the license did not actually free the code for copying the way releasing it under GPL would. I have to admit that I did not understand PJ's answers to the questions about that in the comments here.

So I Googled for information on "methods and concepts" and copyright in a legal context. Please note that I have no legal expertise myself.

I think I found an explanation as to why Free-Openserver is relevant.

Here is a quote from a book excerpt on a patent lawyer's web site

Ideas, concepts, methods and processes are not subject to copyright protection [...] Ideas, processes, methods and concepts are the purview of patent protection, while the works that express them are protected by copyright.
Another quote found in Google Books by searching for "methods and concepts" in Legal Handbook for Photographers by Bert Krages also mentions patent protection, then adds
you can rely on trade secret protection, trademarks, and trade dress to limit others from using your methods and concepts in some specific situations
PJ wrote an article A Bit of Insight Into Methods and Concepts in which she said
Here there is the added element of methods and concepts, which I think they are tying to their contract claims, although I do believe they have ideas about extending copyright to include methods and concepts at some point, if they can.

However, they face a couple of real problems. One is that practically every programmer on earth studied UNIX in school. They were able to do so because AT&T licensed UNIX to schools precisely so they would teach it. To turn around now and claim infringement of methods and concepts that you promoted be taught in colleges and universities around the world is ridiculous and sounds like a mighty dirty set-up to me. I feel sure they won't argue any such foolish thing. Well, after the no-pagination-on-CDs argument, who knows? But it's a losing argument.

There's more in that article, but you can see that her point about the methods and concepts being openly taught in schools is made even stronger by the Free-Openserver license and the publicity about wanting it to be studied by university students who would go on to use them in industry.

There there is another one from PJ, Methods, Concepts and a Demand for Specificity in which an eyewitness reporter says of SCO's attorney Stuart Singer:

He said the contracts between SCO(sic) and IBM required it to keep methods and concepts confidential.
To summarize: There is no legal theory that I have seen saying that "methods and concepts" are protected by copyright. SCO may have hinted that they were going to present such a theory to back up their claim that what was infringed included "methods and concepts" that do not need file and line number specificity, but they never did present such a theory. That leaves as possible vehicles for protection of methods and concepts: 1) patents, of which none were claimed in this case; 2) contracts between IBM and SCO; and 3) trade secrets. The latter two would not require IBM to keep secret anything that SCO divulged themselves. So the fact that SCO provided a free license that included the API, libraries, and a full development system seems to put a nail in the coffin on any claim of infringement based on methods and concepts.

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Free- Unixware - but you are confused.
Authored by: Anonymous on Sunday, August 10 2008 @ 09:34 PM EDT
> Did they follow through with Free UnixWare?

They certainly did give away 'free UnixWare', I had a couple myself for
7.1.something and one for OpenServer. Actually it was the licences that were
free, one had to buy the media kit which was some CDs and a manual or two in a
box, but it was only a few UK pounds.

But you are confused about 'methods and concepts'. Certainly the free
development kit gave access to and documentation of the API, but that is not the
'methods and concepts', that is in the underlying Unix code.

For example: the API allows one to open a file. When one issues an 'open' the
file directory is searched and the handle to the file is returned.

A 'method and concept' may be that the directory search is done using a special
technique which is hidden but which gives a better perfomance than a simple
serial search of the entries. The API 'open' doesn't tell you how it works
internally, only what the result would be.

Giving away binary copies of Unix and free licences to it and the SDK does not
give you the source code nor does it expose the 'methods and concepts'.

Of course the 'Lion' book covered most of these anyway so I doubt there are any
secret mechanisms.

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... students ... educators ... non-commercial ... owner of UNIX
Authored by: Anonymous on Sunday, August 10 2008 @ 10:39 PM EDT
The license they offered this release under specifies students, educators, and
non-commercial uses. So it isn't the kind of license that is compatible with the
GPL for example.

Some things of interest to me however are
1. Did they get the permission of Novell for this release?
2. They call themselves the `owner of UNIX' even way back then.

Interestingly this seems to support SCOs contention that the deal was understood
at the time by at least some people as transferring 'ownership' of UNIX to SCO
(for some value of the word 'ownership'). Clearly the executive and marketing
people at SCO (in typical executive and marketing people fashion) had a best
only an extremely vague understanding of exactly what kind of `ownership' they
were buying. As we now know it was at best an extremely limited form of
`ownership' - basically the rights to develop and sell a derivative product and
a promise from Novell that they would not compete by making further unix
offerings.

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Free-OpenServer. What a Concept! - Updated - What is your point?
Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, August 11 2008 @ 12:19 AM EDT

What is your point?

SCO (Now TSG) gave out licenses at no charge for non-commercial use of OpenSever and the development kit. SCO did not give out source code, or rights to the source code, or rights to re-distribute, or rights to infringe on intellectual property.

You really need to concentrate on the facts:

  • SCO and IBM entered into an agreement.
  • SCO released their source code to IBM for co-development.
  • IBM cancelled the agreement.
  • IBM may or may not have used or given away SCO copyrighted source code.
  • SCO source code does exist in Linux.
  • IBM may or may not be responsible for SCO source code in Linux and therefore may or may not be responsible for damages.

SCO's current status in the marketplace is irrelevant! SCO's licensing at no cost was not a license of source code. It doesn't matter if SCO's net worth is $.01. They are entitled to keep and make claims for any wrong doings by another. Go back to 101.

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Free-OpenServer. What a Concept! - Updated
Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, August 11 2008 @ 01:39 AM EDT
Like others I am not sure that this is particularly significant.

There wasn't anything in the "Free" OpenServer and UnixWare products that wasn't in the "non-free" commercial versions of the product.

In fact the CD's etc were identical.

The only differences about the "Free" versions were the license - which restricted it to non-commercial use or a short evaluation period, and was therefore more restrictive than the normal commercial license - and the cost - the license itself was free.

So, someone getting a copy of one of the "Free" products and its associated license didn't get anything that SCO's paying commercial customers didn't have already.

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Free-OpenServer. What a Concept! - Updated
Authored by: Ian Al on Monday, August 11 2008 @ 05:04 AM EDT
Yes, you are all quite right. It's only a binary licence.

On the other hand.

In addition to the Free UnixWare product, SCO also plans to offer educational institutions low-cost, source code licenses for the SCO UnixWare operating system. This will provide a unique opportunity for computer science faculty and students to explore and better understand the internal operation and architecture of UNIX technology. The source code is restricted to educational institutions and is limited to uses directly related to teaching and degree granting programs.
So, any university with this paid-for licence can share all the UnixWare methods and concepts with all the staff and students involved in a graduate level IT program. Staff and students will be able to study the internal organisation of UNIX, the architecture, the methods, the concepts, the code (albeit, with the AT&T copyright notices intact), how the APIs are implemented and what they do; streams, elf, errno.h, everything.

Of course, the students and staff must sign an NDA with SCO and promise not to reveal what they have learned to a third party or use it with any other operating system but UnixWare. I don't see that in the literature. Can anyone see that in the literature? Anyone? Perhaps it wasn't thought helpful in the promotional literature and press statements. Perhaps I have got it wrong and universities are quite ready to give students IT degrees that they are only, legally, entitled to use when employed by licenced Unixware using employers.

To me, this is a deliberate and wilful incitement by Santa Cruz of the barely controlled dissemination of UNIX organisation, methods, concepts and apis (and error codes and elf and streams) by third parties. Did you notice that, IBM? I'm sure you did. Wasn't that the contract violation that SCOG accused you of? Revealing methods and concepts? You know, the contract that said you didn't have to worry if the UNIX organisation and methods and concepts and code were already released by a third party?

To me, the free-beer licence is icing on the cake. It disseminates API definitions and error codes and the like with no pretense at all of undertakings not to pass on the knowledge gained from the free-beer licence and materials. Copyright law says this information is not protectable, but SCOG say 'Oh, yes it is!'. However, any methods and concepts that they have 'freely' made available cannot be the basis for winning litigation based on a contract NDA restriction that they have wilfully invalidated by their own widespread, well publicised and fully evidenced actions.

---
Regards
Ian Al

If you are not using Linux, you may be beyond help.

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Free-OpenServer
Authored by: stend on Monday, August 11 2008 @ 09:32 AM EDT
I recall when this occurred. I had left the Air Force by that time, but when I was in, my office, which did training research, had been developing software on SCO OpenDeskTop, and (because of the expense) deploying it on Linux. Just in case they had not seen the announcement, I contacted my old supervisor, but this was too late for Santa Cruz in that project - they were happy with Linux.

---
Please see bio for disclaimer.

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Come again?
Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, August 11 2008 @ 12:17 PM EDT
"To say we're pleased is an understatement..."

"To say we're pleased is an understatement..."

"To say we're pleased is an understatement..."

Say that again, Sam.

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Free-OpenServer. What a Concept! - Updated
Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, August 11 2008 @ 03:06 PM EDT
Well I have one of those free UnizWare copies at home. Only cost was a media
charge.

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Free Unixware in a magazine
Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, August 11 2008 @ 08:07 PM EDT
Didn't SCO include freebie Unixware CD's in some computer magazine?

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