Grokline
SCO v IBM
When The SCO Group invented a scheme to sue IBM to scare Linux users into paying them money for "licences", a large body of Linux users, developers, vendors, and and consultants were mystified. Most computer users are not savvy about corporate law, contract law, copyright law, patent law, and trial procedures.
Pamela Jones steps in
PJ, as she is known by her Groklaw handle established a weblog, where she has been able to use her skills as a paralegal to dig up information. The website Groklaw [1] has become immensely popular with about 5,000 registered users, plus thousands of anonymous hits daily.
A large body of research has been performed by nerds who know how to use the internet and dig up facts. This reservoir of valuable details has been accessed by both SCO and IBM legal staffs, and has in some part shaped the on-going nature of the conflict.
Since the website speaks for itself, the best evidence is here: [2].
Add Grokline
A collaborative online project has been created in May, 2004, named Grokline [3], to document the UNIX and Linux development history. As of this writing the website is only a couple of days old. Ultimately it will produce the clear pedigree of Linux developments, and document the Public Domain portions in TSCOG UNIX. This will greatly simplify the legal process by weeding out all the public domain, or legal original contributions to Linux and weeding out all the unprotected Public Domain portions in UNIX. When the smoke clears, it is expected there will be very little code on SCO's side to argue about, and none of that will be found in Linux.
