Suppliers move to reassure users facing threat of legal
action from SCO Group.
Novell is offering new users of SuSE Linux, concerned about the
ongoing Linux copyright dispute an indemnity against legal action
by SCO.
Steve Brown, UK managing director at Novell, said, "One of the
inhibitors to users moving forward with Linux had been the worry
that a large scale Linux roll-out would be affected by SCO." The
indemnity was designed to overcome those fears. "The object of the
exercise is to give users peace of mind," he said.
To receive the indemnity, users need to take out a support contract
with Novell costing from £5,200 a year. In September 2003 Hewlett
Packard said it would offer a limited indemnity to its customers
using Linux.
Philip Dawson, programme director at Meta Group, welcomed the offer
from Novell. He said, "The indemnity offers commercial users a
buffer against SCO."
Butler research director Tim Jennings welcomed the Novell pledge.
"It is good news for users to have the option, even if they do not
buy the support contract."
In a letter to SCO president Darl McBride, Novell chairman Jack
Messman said, "SCO is not the owner of the Unix copyrights."
