3 ms·

Some claim that the AT&T lawsuit hurt the BSDs, but there was lawsuit-rattling for Linux and GNU as well Do you mean the SCO lawsuit against IBM? Because I wou

Some claim that the AT&T lawsuit hurt the BSDs, but there was lawsuit-rattling for Linux and GNU as well Do you mean the SCO lawsuit against IBM? Because I would argue that 1) that happened long enough after Linux had established itself that people were too invested to be immediately scared off and 2) people put a lot of faith in IBM and there legal team to defend Linux. I think the community around Linux was able to basically laugh the whole thing off once SCO started presenting their actual "evidence". Without a large company to defend it and the fact that no one had really started using it for anything serious yet made the AT&T lawsuit against the BSD's look a lot scarier at the time. All good points by the way, but I do think AT&T rattling their sword did have a pretty chilling effect on BSD adoption as well.

stock_toaster 7y ago
> Do you mean the SCO lawsuit against IBM? No, pretty sure the parent meant the the USL vs BSDi one. Though I disagree with the parent, and believe it _was_ impactful on BSD adoption. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNIX_System_Laboratories,_Inc._v._Berkeley_Software_Design,_Inc https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNIX_System_Laboratories,_Inc.....
- smhenderson 7y ago
  I meant the part where he mentioned but there was lawsuit-rattling for Linux and GNU as well. I don’t remember anything before SCO so I was curious if there was something before that I missed. I must admit I was downright obsessed with that case and Groklaw’s coverage at the time so I guess it’s not surprising that it was the first thing I thought of...
- dwheeler 7y ago
  I meant the USL vs. BSDi case. That case was, of course, focused on the BSDs. While GNU and Linux were independently implemented, I recall there being some claims at the time that the USL vs. BSDi case also implicated GNU and Linux. The SCO vs. Linux/IBM/the universe travesty that attacked Linux came a little later; that started in 2003 and seems to never really end. There were also legal accusations around that time (circa 2004) about Linux raised by Kenneth Brown (from the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution). Both were focused on Linux and not on BSD, and both failed to slow down Linux. Reasonable people can definitely disagree on whether or not the USL vs. BSDi legal case seriously impacted BSD adoption as compared to Linux. I don't think it was a key factor in the long run. The USL vs. BSDi case was raised in 1992, and resolved in 1994, so the legal issues didn't stick around very long. In addition, the BSDs had a head start and plenty of time to recover after the legal issues were resolved... if legal issues were the only problem. But again, reasonable people can disagree. We'll need two universes, where it did and did not occur, to really answer the question :-).

stock_toaster 7y ago

> Do you mean the SCO lawsuit against IBM? No, pretty sure the parent meant the the USL vs BSDi one. Though I disagree with the parent, and believe it _was_ impactful on BSD adoption. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNIX_System_Laboratories,_Inc._v._Berkeley_Software_Design,_Inc https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNIX_System_Laboratories,_Inc.....

smhenderson 7y ago
I meant the part where he mentioned but there was lawsuit-rattling for Linux and GNU as well. I don’t remember anything before SCO so I was curious if there was something before that I missed. I must admit I was downright obsessed with that case and Groklaw’s coverage at the time so I guess it’s not surprising that it was the first thing I thought of...
dwheeler 7y ago
I meant the USL vs. BSDi case. That case was, of course, focused on the BSDs. While GNU and Linux were independently implemented, I recall there being some claims at the time that the USL vs. BSDi case also implicated GNU and Linux. The SCO vs. Linux/IBM/the universe travesty that attacked Linux came a little later; that started in 2003 and seems to never really end. There were also legal accusations around that time (circa 2004) about Linux raised by Kenneth Brown (from the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution). Both were focused on Linux and not on BSD, and both failed to slow down Linux. Reasonable people can definitely disagree on whether or not the USL vs. BSDi legal case seriously impacted BSD adoption as compared to Linux. I don't think it was a key factor in the long run. The USL vs. BSDi case was raised in 1992, and resolved in 1994, so the legal issues didn't stick around very long. In addition, the BSDs had a head start and plenty of time to recover after the legal issues were resolved... if legal issues were the only problem. But again, reasonable people can disagree. We'll need two universes, where it did and did not occur, to really answer the question :-).