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Asher
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Calgary, Alberta
Nov 1999
time: 22:19
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 06-05-2005 07:40
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#1
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IBM complies to the max: 80GB of source, a server, snide instructions given to SCO
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Suffering from ads?
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http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?...050505145639180
quote:
Here's the Todd Shaughnessy affidavit [PDF] from IBM that Magistrate Judge Brooke Wells requested they file when they turned over all the code and paperwork to SCO, which we now find out happened on schedule on March 18.
It's a remarkable document in many ways, and, as I'm sure you'll see for yourself, it's got the air of a company not a bit worried about turning over every last Stickie note it could find, so to speak. They even turned over a server to SCO's "outside counsel", no doubt Boies Schiller, complete with elaborate instructions, even a script to help them find whatever they wish. (I have transcribed Exhibit B, but it throws the page formatting off, and you end up having to scroll, so I'll work on figuring that out, while you read this part. UPDATE: It is now complete.) Frankly, it's hilarious. It tells them how to do everything but plug the server in to the electric outlet. Perhaps they didn't believe Chris Sontag when he claimed to be knowledgeable about how CMVC works.
Why? Well, Judge Wells, in that January Discovery Order, suggested that IBM be thorough so as to block SCO from complaining about not getting everything, and for sure they now have everything IBM says they could find:
IBM is also hereby further ORDERED to file an affidavit specifying the efforts it took to deliver the code from the CMVC and RCS systems. Included in this affidavit should be an attestation to the percentage of AIX and Dynix information found and provided from the CMVC and RCS systems. By requiring this, the court seeks to circumvent future complaints by SCO alleging that IBM failed to provide all CMVC and RCS information.
Knowing SCO, they'll complain that IBM must have more hidden in a mattress somewhere, but it's a tired argument now, with this massive dump of code and white papers.
If SCO complains about wanting more, IBM is now positioned to argue that SCO is being unreasonable, and so is the court, if it goes along with SCO's outre demands. It tells the court just how much this has cost them in man hours and effort, by employees and the legal team. It comes to a pretty penny:
5. Complying with the Court's Order involved more than 4,700 hours of work from more than 400 IBM employees. This does not include the time spent by IBM's counsel and consultants on this project, which was likewise considerable. IBM produced a total of more than 80 GB of source code and other electronic data to SCO, and more than 900,000 pages of paper (which were scanned and produced in electronic form on CDs).
That is a lot of white papers and design documents, and it's a significant amount of money spent, and discovery is not supposed to punish the defendant, so that they end up losing even when they eventually win. I think they've made that point very clear to Judge Wells.
Another interesting point is that it turns out that there aren't even 3,000 contributors to AIX and Dynix code, another indication that the original Wells order was out of line. There were 7,200 people with access to the code, but not all were contributing code, so should SCO come back with more demands -- do you doubt it? -- the outside limit is now considerably less than it seemed to be before. IBM will produce, by July 19, 2005, documents from the files of the 100 individuals who made the most contributions and changes to AIX and Dynix source code, as ordered by Judge Wells when she cut back the requirement to turn over such documents from the 3,000 she thought existed.
So IBM is obeying the order to the max, but it is also letting both the court and SCO know that they feel it was a ridiculous, albeit expensive, fishing expedition. And judging from the tone of this affidavit, and the way IBM turned over every last crumb it could dig up, I gather they don't think SCO will find any fish, either, though they no doubt wish them an elaborate and expensive fishing trip. |
Had I only been around earlier, and I would've been one of those individuals with access to the AIX family on CMVC. 
This whole SCO vs IBM thing is ridiculous to start with, and I'm very glad that they're leaving no room for error in getting this case dismissed.
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Asher
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Calgary, Alberta
Nov 1999
time: 22:19
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European service and management jobs mostly.
EMEA is a terrible region for IBM. It harkens back to when Thomas Watson gave control of IBM to his two sons, Tom and Dick, one EMEA and one North America.
When Gerstner took over, he eliminated much of the barriers between the two of them, but not all of it. There are basically two levels of IBM management: EMEA and otherwise. And they compete and disobey eachother frequently. It's been documented on several occasions that directives from the top of IBM were ignored, and coverups even orchestrated by European employees to pretend to be complying,when they weren't.
Long story short, enough is enough. That top layer of IBM EMEA is being eliminated, and will report directly to the IBM execs like everyone else. Some management will be redistributed, others asked to leave, others will be laid off.
Also, a bunch of "Global Services" employees in Europe are getting the axe. They aren't nearly as productive per person as they are in North America, for whatever reason.
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mrmitchell
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European service and management jobs mostly. |
You think 10,000 jobs aren't important?
But in the EU, doesn't a company have to pay 2/3 salary for life until a new job or retirement to every employee it lays off? That's what I heard. We need something like that here in the States, to prevent unscrupulous bigheads halfway across the country from closing productive, profitable plants.
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mrmitchell
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3% of the workforce isn't something that concerns me much, especially considering it's in a different group of IBM with a completely different management chain and direction on another planet.
For what it's worth, the service reps I've dealt with from Europe I felt were grossly underqualified. Maybe that has something to do with it, and their underperformance compared to the North American counterparts. |
Whoah, whoah, whoah. It doesn't have anything to do with IBM. Employment is a two-pronged deal: the employees produce for the employers, but the employers care for the employees in return. What matters is 10,000 people with families who have depended upon IBM for a source of work will be out of it soon.
I'm not one to support deadbeat workers, but if a big executive or a single group isn't acting within the proper standards for IBM, do it on a case-by-case basis. There's no need to suddenly toss out thousands of qualified, intelligent, good workers.
quote:
They printed out the contents on 900,000 pages, right? |
Well that makes it easy. Just hire 1,000 lawyers and each of them only has to sort through 900 pages. 
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