SCO backs off Linux invoice plan: ZDNet Australia: News & Tech: OS

SCO backs off Linux invoice plan: ZDNet Australia: News & Tech: OS

As a critic of financial capitalism, I have followed the SCO/Linux suit/counter-suit with sick fascination.

The following quote from the article is wonderful example of how capitalism, and especially financial capitalism, abstracts us from the concrete world of cause and effect:

'In other news, SCO's stock surged US$4.97, or 32 percent, to close at US$20.50 on Wednesday after Deutsche Bank analysts Brian Skiba and Matthew Kelly initiated coverage of the company with a "buy" rating and a US$45 price target for the stock.

"Investors with an appetite for risk should, in our view, see an investment in SCO Group as the equivalent of a call option--with most of the risks and rewards often associated with options. The IBM lawsuit and the potential for Linux licensing deals offer plenty to be excited about, while failure could render the shares worthless, in our view," the analysts wrote in a report Tuesday.

Weiss criticised the report as "paradoxical." On the one hand, the analysts gave the stock a "buy" rating and put a high price target on the stock. On the other, they're "warning you this is highly speculative, that this whole thing could fall through."'

Deutche Bank (who have a "Passion to perform") are advocating investing in an organisation who's goal is to undermine an entire community.

The Open Source community is probably the first worldwide movement based on a common passion for producing something for community use without the need for a value chain.

When economists scratch their collective heads over how to make money from the digital revolution, they are trying to answer the wrong question.

That is because the paradigm has shifted.