This lengthy essay at Linux Journal describes Ian Lance Taylor's recent visit to SCO to discuss their claim that Linux infringes on its intellectual property rights. Though he can't give specifics, Taylor got to see a portion of the UNIX code SCO claims found its way into Linux — and he wasn't impressed.

Incidentally, Taylor wrote the GNU UUCP package (also known as Taylor UUCP), is the author of the initial version of the 64-bit PowerPC ELF ABI Supplement, and is co-author of a book about GNU Autoconf, Automake, and Libtool.

Taylor writes . . .

“I visited the SCO office in Lindon, Utah, for about one hour. I spoke with Chris Sontag, Senior Vice President, Operating Systems Division, and with Blake Stowell, Director of Public Relations. In order to speak with them, I signed a non-disclosure agreement.”

“The short version of this essay is SCO's claims are unproven, as I expected would be the case before I went. The amount of information SCO was willing to show me was extremely limited, and it did not by itself prove that SCO's claims were true nor that its claims were false.”

The long — and quite interesting — version of the essay is here . . .

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