The decision of the web hosting company EV1Servers (www.ev1servers.net) to buy UNIX licenses from SCO Group spurred heated debates in web forums. Although some users expressed their support for EV1, the majority of open-source community members and defenders reproached the company for its decision.
Most of postings made on various web hosting forums, after Robert Marsh, CEO of EV1, announced the decision at the beginning of the month, blamed EV1 for helping SCO finance potential future lawsuits, claiming that that Linux uses code from UNIX in violation of SCO’s intellectual property rights. Forum users accuse EV1 of betraying the Linux community it claims to support.
Marsh has repeatedly said that EV1 does not support SCO or its claims. He noted that SCO had $60 million and EV1’s licensing fee would not contribute much to this number. SCO claimed that the contact with EV1 is worth a seven-digit figure, but Marsh said that the sum was highly exaggerated, but revealing the exact amount would be in violation of the non-disclosure terms of the contract.
Marsh’s posting has received over 440 replies and the topic was viewed nearly 63,000 times.
One forum user wrote that it was absurd to claim that giving over $1 million to SCO would not help them. The user notes that even if EV1 had not paid anything to SCO, it would have given SCO credibility, as EV1 was the only one to take out a license publicly. The user claimed that if EV1 wanted to stay out of this, it would not have agreed to go public and become SCO’s poster child.
A different user wrote that the value of the licensing agreement did not matter, but the mere fact that EV1 has given SCO any money was the issue. The user claimed that if EV1 really did not support SCO nor believe in their claims having any merit, EV1 would not have paid such a high price to buy their licenses.
Some users even wanted to give up EV1’s services, others felt that they had no alternative. One user on WebHosting Talk (www.webhostingtalk.com) expressed the opinion that if he continued to give EV1 his business, he would be contributing to the fight against Linux and open source software in general.
Another user directly wrote that he was leaving, saying that whatever reasons EV1 had for bending over for crooks, he simply would not be party to filling the legal war chest of crooks. The user continued to say that he was moving his servers from EV1 elsewhere and would be transferring all of his clients out of there as well. EV1 has not revealed how many customers, if any, it has lost after the deal.
Forum users stated that they were disturbed because EV1 was a large company and its decision could affect those of other companies. One on SitePoint (www.sitepoint.com) forum wrote that EV1 decision sent the message that it approved of SCO’s actions and could possibly open up for many similar bold fraud attempts from random companies.
Users on other forums claimed that EV1 has pulled a publicity stunt, because the company’s decision to buy the licenses was revealed just a few days before the company launched a second data center in Houston.
A user on HostHideout (www.hosthideout.com) forum wrote that if he had to guess, it was nothing more than a marketing deal. He continued that he could think of some other hosts who would not surprise him if they had signed up just to get their name in the paper.
A different user wrote that SCO would not win, but this was a smart move anyway, because it got many people talking. He added that it was better than paying for ads.
Recently eWeek found out that Microsoft served as a matchmaker for a $50 million investment into the SCO Group led by Baystar Capital.
WebHosting Talk forum noted that the news story in eWeek alleged that Microsoft might have influenced EV1’s decision to buy the license, because of EV1’s connections as a business partner to Microsoft.
