SCO plans Linux user lawsuit today

SCO is reported to be planning to file its long-awaited lawsuit today, to charge a Linux user with violating its intellectual property.

InternetWeek reports that SCO plans to file the lawsuit against a company "with a recognisable name" and a Unix licence from SCO or a previous owner of Unix, said company spokesman Blake Stowell.

Software maker Corel announced a new version of its WordPerfect office software yesterday, marketing the package as a low-cost alternative to Microsoft Office for consumers and small businesses.

ZDNet reports that WordPerfect Office 12, set to go on sale in late April, includes new versions of the WordPerfect word processing application, Quattro Pro spreadsheet program and Presentations slide show software.

The number of US users of the Internet has passed 150 million, according to comScore Networks` Media Metrix unit. IDG reports this is more than seven times the number recorded in comScore`s initial 1996 study.

Overall spending online in the US is set to top $100 billion for the first time in 2004, comScore adds.

Viruses have spread through PCs like sniffles through a kindergarten. But at the Internet`s foundations, a debate is under way about whether profit or prestige does a better job of preventing more crippling diseases, reports Dallas Morning Herald.

VeriSign, a $1.2 billion company, argues for profit. ICANN - the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, a non-profit coalition of businesses, academics and engineers - argues for prestige.

Last week, VeriSign sued ICANN for blocking its commercial ambitions. VeriSign officials cite a cyber attack from October 2002 to assert that profits make for better security. The denial-of-service attack hit at the Internet`s 13 root servers, the bedrock address books of the World Wide Web. Had all 13 gone down, decay would have started spreading through the Internet`s memory like Alzheimer`s.

"Those who may or may not have been viewing this as less than an Olympic sport realised there are people who want to take the Internet down," says Ken Silva, VeriSign`s VP for security.