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What Did Microsoft Know About SCO's Plans and When Did It Know It?

By Pamela Jones et al.

When did Microsoft know about SCO's plan to attack Linux, and when did it know it? And was it a force behind it?

We've long wondered.

Certainly there have been indications that it was. Michael Anderer's leaked memo in 2003 certainly claimed Microsoft had been funneling money to SCO, but SCO said he was mistaken. Was he? He later also said that Microsoft had a patent plan to destroy Linux or force them to pay for licenses, but that's another chapter. Was he wrong about that? And when BayStar funded SCO in 2004, it was reported that Microsoft had asked BayStar in 2003 to do it, which Lawrence Goldfarb later confirmed in a Declaration submitted by IBM in the SCO v. IBM litigation, despite Microsoft's denial. But it was still a little bit he said, she said, although all the available evidence was strong that Microsoft's carefully worded denial was not, shall we say, the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

But now, thanks to a volunteer working on doing the exhibits in the Comes v. Microsoft antitrust litigation as text, we find an email thread in Exhibit 8953 [PDF] where Microsoft employees, including the managing director of Microsoft in India at the time, mention SCO in a discussion about heading off the Linux threat in India. The emails are dated September 11, 2002. Given the date, I believe this opens up the question of Microsoft's involvement once again. At a minimum, it needs clarification. If it doesn't demonstrate Microsoft knowing about SCO's plans before they unfurled, what does it mean? I'd like Microsoft to tell us. Because I have a lot of questions about the email thread.

Full post as published by Groklaw on June 27, 2010 (boomark / email).