The Linux community seems to be taking very lightly the recent events surrounding the SCO-versus-IBM lawsuit and SCO's claim that Linux relies on Unix in unfair ways. One writer calls the situation a farce, while another thinks it's laughable and stupid. Linus Torvalds has reportedly said it is not much different than a Jerry Springer Show—mere entertainment. The Linux community seems to have put its collective head in the sand. Nobody seems to realize that Linux and the entire open-source movement are at grave risk.

Listen closely to what Microsoft is not saying about SCO Group's open-source operetta.

Linux advocates have an advantage - logic and reason are on our side. We can dispel the myths, deflect the fud and rattle off the many reasons why our favourite OS is the best choice for most situations. We have all the facts at our fingertips and can use them to reply to any question. Any question that is, until we are asked "if it's so good, why isn't everyone using it?" We all know that Microsoft has used tactics, many unethical, some illegal, to keep the sheep together; but even knowing this the sheep follow each other and stay in the pasture.

This article argues that the shift towards Web services has reduced the attractiveness of the current generation of Open Source Web products. The only solution is for Open Source to adopt a Web services architecture, and fast. Fortunately, there is one at hand, and it's not dotGNU! Can the Open Sourcers wake up and save the world before it is too late? Read on to find out.

Linux users tend to fight religious wars over the proper distribution of Linux to install. I don't have time or space for the whole story, but it boils down to this: If you want Linux to do things the way most people do, it's probably easier to get there with Mandrake. Mandrake installs Linux and by default turns on a number of processes. It builds interfaces in a particular way. Most of the installation scripts have been prepared by people with considerable experience. The goal is to get running in a fairly standard way," says Jerry Pournelle.

Last week Michael Stutz released the "design science license," in an effort to bring copyleft to all copyrighted materials, not just software. But it's a soft-headed idea, argues Powell, who calls it a plan for progressive redistribution of talent that will appeal to the talentless.

"The lesson I take away from all of this is pretty straightforward: Even if everybody used Linux, the support we'd get would continue to be terrible. It's tempting to believe that there's a quiet anti-Linux conspiracy at work in the farmed-out support houses, customer centers, and help desks of the world (some people seem to want to run an OS they perceive as likely to remain marginal in perpetuity), but it seems clear that there isn't: there's just a general problem with customer care and quality in general," says Michael Hall.

For his new Ricochet setup, Jerry Pournelle goes with Linux, maintaining that it's the more secure alternative and that support from the developer community is good: "The advantage of Windows 2000 is that it's easy to set up. The disadvantage is security. There are several advantages to Linux. Stability, security and flexibility. The only disadvantage is difficulty in getting the system set up and running in the first place, starting with USB support. Given the alternatives I chose Linux."

The big question is how to make sure you can survive market downturns until the good times come back again. In this Linux in the Enterprise column, David HM Spector presents some ideas on how to make sure that you're still around, and how you can do this by leveraging your Linux skills.

"It was early '99 when I made the jump. I installed SuSE 6.1 and started to poke around. It was like I was a kid in a candy store with no spending limit. Oh sure, there were some things I didn't quite figure out right away, but I had time, lots of time. We got the source code too. It was like walkin' into a room and findin' a safe on the table, with the combination written on the door. I had Linux workin' for me and I had everything I needed, and more.