It’s far from clear that this letter from Darl McBride, chief chancer and scam artist at software-company-turned-professional-plaintiff SCO, to assorted Congressmen on the evils of free software is genuine.

Certainly, it reads like a parody. Highlights include:
– free software allows foreigners to use American technology without paying top dollar, saluting the flag, etc
– free software could be used by terrorists
– free software is a form of predatory pricing (the question of ‘by whom’ isn’t addressed…)
– free content on the Internet destroyed the music industry, and the same could happen in software

I especially like the final one: clearly there are actually people who believe the music industry’s woes stem from KaZaa and Morpheus, not from its own incompetence. Such endearing naivité is impressive.

Although cheering for the underdog is normally de riguer in such cases, I can’t wait to see IBM bury SCO alive in this and next year’s court proceedings. Not so much because of Mr McBride’s xenophobia and his view of free software as a moral issue (!), but because of their utter lack of anything resembling a case, an argument, or evidence in their favour…