President of OSI responds to SCO's DoS claims
| From: | "Eric S. Raymond" <esr@snark.thyrsus.com> | |
| To: | wire-service@snark.thyrsus.com | |
| Subject: | President of OSI responds to SCO's DoS claims | |
| Date: | Tue, 6 May 2003 23:41:49 -0400 |
In a press release today, SCO suggests that the Linux community may be
responsible for the denial-of-service attack on its servers that
occurred on Friday, May 2nd.
This is a baseless slur, unsupported by facts. Anyone tempted to
take it seriously should note that neither the Linux community nor
the wider open-source community of which it is part has any past
record of such behavior. If we fought our battles in those terms,
Windows is a sufficiently vulnerable target that we would have
severely hammered certain much larger adversaries years ago.
News accounts suggest that the machines subverted into performing the
attack were Windows boxes. It would be more reasonable to suppose
that the attack was the work not of anyone in the Linux community but
of a Windows-based cracker-underground gang that is sympathetic to us
and has decided to fight for the "good guys". If that's so, we reject
such misguided assistance. Any pro-Linux crackers out there should
stand down *now* and refrain from any such offensives in the future.
We cannot accept such `help' and remain the good guys.
Let there be no mistake about this. We in the Linux community
do *not* regard denial-of-service attacks or any other form of
criminal trespass as a legitimate tactic in disputes. Sustained
as we are by our shared belief that our open-source development
model is a better way, we are too proud to fight dirty.
Finally, shame on SCO for attempting to use slurs and insinuations to
win in the court of public opinion the anti-Linux verdict that the
facts[1] will not entitle them to in court.
I have drafted this statement alone in order to get it out during the
current news cycle, but I am in no doubt that other Linux and
open-source community leaders will join me in rejecting both SCO's
accusation and any use of DoS tactics against SCO or other adversaries.
We will win our fight. But we'll do it cleanly, not by attacking
SCO but by refuting their ludicrous accusations and outcompeting
them in the free market.
--
Eric S. Raymond
President, Open Source Initiative
www.opensource.org
[1] See "OSI Position Paper on the SCO-vs.-IBM Complaint"
at http://www.opensource.org/sco-vs-ibm.html
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President of OSI responds to SCO's DoS claims
Posted May 7, 2003 13:06 UTC (Wed) by microlhk (guest, #7619) [Link]
Well, SirYou do not have to waste your time on SCO.
SCO is obsolete, technologically irrelevant, and made an insane attempt to rip-off open source contributors.
No need to worry, courts can find plenty of perfectly documented evidence on LKML and at kernel.org.
IMO, SCO may well have orchestrated this "attack" for publicity.
Let's really deny them - attention, coverage, contributions, usage ...
Michael Frank
President of OSI responds to SCO's DoS claims
Posted May 7, 2003 18:48 UTC (Wed) by kalifa (guest, #11045) [Link]
However ridiculous may SCO's whining be, I am tired of ESR's self-proclaimed roleas a spokesperson for the "community".
Incidentally, I don't think true libertarians can be megalomaniac or control freaks.
President of OSI responds to SCO's DoS claims
Posted May 7, 2003 19:13 UTC (Wed) by skybunny (guest, #4478) [Link]
I have drafted this statement alone in order to get it out during the current news cycle, but I am in no doubt that other Linux and open-source community leaders will join me in rejecting both SCO's accusation and any use of DoS tactics against SCO or other adversaries.I'm sorry, but what about the above makes any suggestion that ESR should have no role as a spokesperson for the community? He is (as in, one of many) a community spokesperson, and sent out a press release quickly in the name of damage control and to make a quick rebuttal to SCO's claims. If other spokespeople (heaven knows why they'd support defacing SCO's website) disagree with Eric S. Raymond's point of view here, they can feel free to respond in turn, and will be heard.
Eric S. Raymond is one of several Important People in and around the free software and open source community. What he has to say bears weight, or he wouldn't have bothered making a press release at all. I for one am glad he said what he did, and quickly.
Perhaps you'd prefer a completely decentralized, idealless, and voiceless community, where all the time is spent figuring out who is important enough to defend the community - rather than...actually defending it? That's exactly what SCO would like...
President of OSI responds to SCO's DoS claims
Posted May 7, 2003 20:10 UTC (Wed) by proski (subscriber, #104) [Link]
The reference to "Windows-based cracker-underground gang" sounds just wrong. It doesn't matter if it was a gang or an individual, and whether they were Windows-based or Linux-based, or, say, KA9Q-based.Even if the perpetrators were using only open source software it doesn't make the developers of said software responsible for the actions of those users.
President of OSI responds to SCO's DoS claims
Posted May 8, 2003 9:04 UTC (Thu) by mfuerstenau (guest, #11059) [Link]
Well I think it is time that the members of UnitedLinux and all other linux organisations will immediately kick out SCO. I have cancelled my developer network account. The old SCO was nice. Caldera (at the beginning as a dream of Ray Noorda) was nice, but the new one is nearer to M$ than to any *ix company i know. So kick them out. Kick them out of every board, every organisation, every whatever. No hardware information for the development of drivers. Nothing. Embargo.Martin Fuerstenau
Germany
President of OSI responds to SCO's DoS claims
Posted May 12, 2003 11:02 UTC (Mon) by xoddam (subscriber, #2322) [Link]
Nah, kill 'em with kindness. Give free software advancementawards to people on SCO's payroll. Speaking of which, why
did Vinod Valloppillil never get one?