SCO cuts support for UnitedLinux

SCO has cancelled marketing, business development and financial resources for UnitedLinux, throwing its position in the consortium into doubt.

But UnitedLinux, which was formed with the aim of enterprise-class Linux distribution, will survive even without SCO's support, insists SuSE Linux, another member of the consortium.

SCO's relations with its consortium partners - SuSE Linux, TurboLinux and Conectiva - have been strained ever since it brought its $1bn lawsuit against IBM in March.

SuSE's vice president of corporate communications, Joseph Eckert, told vnunet.com: "SCO's withdrawal will not be a challenge. We are unconditionally supporting all customers and partners."

He added that SuSE had asked SCO for clarification of its public statements but SCO had declined its request.

Previously, SuSE said it was protected from any legal action as part of the UnitedLinux community, but in an exclusive interview with vnunet.com, SCO's senior vice president Chris Sontag said: "I have reviewed the agreements we have with SuSE. They are dead wrong on that issue."

But Eckert hit back. "How can they sue us for a product we have jointly developed? We [the UnitedLinux companies] have a joint agreement, " he said.

"When we started this there were 15 of SCO's developers working on it. It comes on four CDs. Three of these are UnitedLinux. Every technical point along the way was checked."

In a response to the letters SCO sent warning users they may be legally liable if they are using a version of Linux containing SCO's code, SuSE reiterated that it was not aware of any specific unauthorised code in SuSE Linux or UnitedLinux product.

In a statement SuSE said: "We will honour all UnitedLinux commitments to customers and partners, regardless of any actions that SCO may take or even allegations they may make.

"Even if this were the case, UnitedLinux has implemented appropriate technology cross-licensing arrangements among all its partners."

Eckert added that UnitedLinux had a single code base, and its 'autobuild' capability meant any required changes to Linux could be made to all implementations very rapidly.

Get the latest news, views and technology updates in a weekly round up of the Penguin's unstoppable march by signing up to vnunet.com's FREE Linux newsletter here.