In case you don’t really follow this (which you probably shouldn’t, since it’s incredibly silly), SCO CEO Darl McBride wrote this error-filled open letter to the open source community. And, of course, the open source community responded. The response is thoughtful and concise, but I’ve got one question to all these folks who have made it their life’s purpose to fight SCO in the media. Who are you writing to?

If you’re writing for just the media, well, that’s very noble of you. And I’m sure that you may, in fact, change some people’s minds about SCO. But I suspect that most people, unless they are employees of Microsoft or SCO shareholders, understand that SCO is completely out of their collective mind.

And if you’re writing directly to the folks at SCO, well, you’re wasting your time. Do you really think you’re going to change Darl McBride’s mind on the subject? Do you really believe he’ll read an article by ESR and think “Wow! These guys are right. I’m going to drop this lawsuit immediately!”?

Some level of defense from the open source community should be expected. But this is too much. At this point, you’re not furthering your cause. Let SCO run out of steam, and let the courts tell them to pound salt.

Posted on 11 September 2003