SCO lawsuit 'won't hurt UnitedLinux'

SCO Group's $1bn court battle with IBM over its use of Unix code is not affecting UnitedLinux, according to the head of the consortium.

This is despite recent negative comments about SCO's decision to pursue the lawsuit from fellow UnitedLinux co-founders SuSE and Connectiva.

Paula Hunter, general manager at UnitedLinux, told vnunet.com in an exclusive interview: "The lawsuit has nothing to do with UnitedLinux. It is not having any impact. We are continuing as before."

She added that there are no immediate plans to add new members to the consortium.

Earlier this month, SuSE vice president Joseph Eckert told vnunet.com that the company was very disappointed at SCO's actions, adding that SuSE was "re-evaluating its relationship with the SCO Group".

Connectiva has also made clear its disagreement with SCO's lawsuit in relation to Linux, denying SCO's claim that Linux had used code taken from Unix.

But Hunter dismissed the views expressed by SuSE and Connectiva, saying: "Everyone has their own opinion of SCO. We don't have any concerns."

Analysts have suggested that SCO is looking to be bought by IBM, but Hunter maintained that this would not hurt the consortium.

"One of the strengths of UnitedLinux is that it minimises risk. If there is a problem this will not cause disruption to distribution," she said.

But SCO has a large distribution network which, if lost, would undoubtedly put strains on UnitedLinux customer support.

The fourth consortium member, TurboLinux, is probably least affected by SCO's move.

The company was acquired last summer by Software Research Associates in Japan, which scaled back US operations to concentrate on Asia.

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