SCO Group warns Linux users

The SCO Group, which owns key components of the Unix operating system, has sent letters to Linux customers claiming the software is an "unauthorised derivative" of its property, reports AP.

The move follows the filing of a $1 billion lawsuit in March against IBM for allegedly taking bits of Unix code and transferring them to Linux. IBM dismissed the lawsuit as unfounded.

Linux, a Unix derivative first developed in the early 1990s by Finnish college student Linus Torvalds, has in recent years gained in popularity because of its low cost, reliability and ability to run on inexpensive computer hardware.

In an e-mail interview yesterday, Torvalds said: "I`d dearly love to hear exactly what they think is infringing, but they haven`t told anybody. Oh, well. They seem to be more interested in FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) than anything else."

Worldwide PC shipments will grow just 6.4% this quarter, compared to the second quarter of 2002, market researcher Gartner believes. But shipments will fall sequentially on last quarter by 10.9%, a point the company doesn`t make in its press release, reports The Register.

Some 30.7 million PCs will ship around the world during Q2 2003, generating $38.3 billion in sales, Gartner said today. Back in April, it posted data showing that 34.5 million PCs shipped worldwide in Q1 2003. Even Q1 2002 was better than what Gartner is expecting for Q2 2003: back then, 32.7 million PCs shipped.

While the war in Iraq may be over, the anticipated bounce doesn`t appear to be lifting sales - to corporates in particular - as more deep-seated fears about the state of the world economy come back to haunt potential buyers, Gartner believes. SARS is having an effect on Far Eastern economies, but it has yet to strike fear into the hearts of Western PC buyers. If the disease spreads, that may change.

Eastman Kodak and Hewlett-Packard are dissolving a joint venture to develop retail photo finishing for digital camera photographers that was supposed to generate more than $500 million in new revenue by 2005.

Silicon Valley reports that the world`s biggest photography company and the computer giant said yesterday they would no longer invest in Phogenix Imaging, which was developing digital inkjet photofinishing mini-labs for retail use.

Both companies agreed to terminate the three-year venture before any mini-labs were installed commercially.