7 ms·

When Microsoft sold the Xenix license to SCO it took its payment in stock. Mircosoft owned ~25% of SCO during these legal battles.

hga 11y ago
Huh, I don't remember that, especially if those were the two different SCOs. The first, the Santa Cruz Operation, was OK ignoring some quality issues, and they are the organization that Microsoft got 25% of through that transaction in 1987. Much later, in 2001, this happened: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Cruz_Operation#Asset_sale https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Cruz_Operation#Asset_sal... And Caldera, which renamed itself in the next year to The SCO Group, got all of the original SCO's assets but Tarantella. Not sure what happened with Microsoft's ownership of the original SCO, but I don't remember through the years of SCO v. The World that Microsoft had a large ownership stake ... which would have been major. Instead, per http://www.catb.org/esr/halloween/halloween10.html http://www.catb.org/esr/halloween/halloween10.html and my memory of Groklaw ..., well, here's ESR's first summation paragraph: There you have it. At least a third of SCO's entire market capitalization, and their entire current cash reserves, is payoffs funnelled from Microsoft. Their 10Qs reveal that every other line of cash inflow is statistical noise by comparison. The brave new SCOsource business model is now clear: sue your customers, shill for Microsoft, kite your stock, and pray you stay out of jail. I also seem to remember some Microsoft related deal involving the purchase of Novell SUSE? licenses, although now I can't remember if The SCO Group directly benefited from it. Microsoft earned this part of its bad reputation, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who's purchases from the company in part ended with Windows XP prior to that (of course, it helped that Vista was long delayed and awful). Supporting Microsoft back then was unconscionable.
- valarauca1 11y ago
  To fill in your missing memory In 1987 Microsoft sold Xenix to Santa Cruise Operations Group for a 25% ownership shared of Santa Cruise Operations Group. In 1993 Caldera purchases Santa Cruise Operations Group, and renamed their collective company to SCO Group. Caldrea was part of Canopy Group which has a lot of subsidiaries. Round about 2003 the SCO vs. Linux fight started. Microsoft still owned Caldrea stock, and provided them financial assistance as they attempted to sue the entire world.
  - hga 11y ago
    In 1993 Caldera purchases Santa Cruise Operations Group, and renamed their collective company to SCO Group. As noted in my posting replying to you, that doesn't match my memory or Wikipedia, can you provide any citations to support it?
    - valarauca1 11y ago
      Sorry in 2001 Caldrea didn't purchase Santa Cruise Operations Group outright. It just purchased everything relating to Unix. After this sale Santa Cruise Operations Group changed its named to TARANTELLA inc. While concurrently Caldrea founded SCO Group, which was built on the purchased Santa Cruise Operations Group software. Agreement and Plan of Reorganization: http://sec.edgar-online.com/tarantella-inc/8-k-current-report-filing/2001/05/16/Section7.aspx http://sec.edgar-online.com/tarantella-inc/8-k-current-repor...

hga 11y ago

Huh, I don't remember that, especially if those were the two different SCOs. The first, the Santa Cruz Operation, was OK ignoring some quality issues, and they are the organization that Microsoft got 25% of through that transaction in 1987. Much later, in 2001, this happened: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Cruz_Operation#Asset_sale https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Cruz_Operation#Asset_sal... And Caldera, which renamed itself in the next year to The SCO Group, got all of the original SCO's assets but Tarantella. Not sure what happened with Microsoft's ownership of the original SCO, but I don't remember through the years of SCO v. The World that Microsoft had a large ownership stake ... which would have been major. Instead, per http://www.catb.org/esr/halloween/halloween10.html http://www.catb.org/esr/halloween/halloween10.html and my memory of Groklaw ..., well, here's ESR's first summation paragraph: There you have it. At least a third of SCO's entire market capitalization, and their entire current cash reserves, is payoffs funnelled from Microsoft. Their 10Qs reveal that every other line of cash inflow is statistical noise by comparison. The brave new SCOsource business model is now clear: sue your customers, shill for Microsoft, kite your stock, and pray you stay out of jail. I also seem to remember some Microsoft related deal involving the purchase of Novell SUSE? licenses, although now I can't remember if The SCO Group directly benefited from it. Microsoft earned this part of its bad reputation, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who's purchases from the company in part ended with Windows XP prior to that (of course, it helped that Vista was long delayed and awful). Supporting Microsoft back then was unconscionable.

valarauca1 11y ago
To fill in your missing memory In 1987 Microsoft sold Xenix to Santa Cruise Operations Group for a 25% ownership shared of Santa Cruise Operations Group. In 1993 Caldera purchases Santa Cruise Operations Group, and renamed their collective company to SCO Group. Caldrea was part of Canopy Group which has a lot of subsidiaries. Round about 2003 the SCO vs. Linux fight started. Microsoft still owned Caldrea stock, and provided them financial assistance as they attempted to sue the entire world.
- hga 11y ago
  In 1993 Caldera purchases Santa Cruise Operations Group, and renamed their collective company to SCO Group. As noted in my posting replying to you, that doesn't match my memory or Wikipedia, can you provide any citations to support it?
  - valarauca1 11y ago
    Sorry in 2001 Caldrea didn't purchase Santa Cruise Operations Group outright. It just purchased everything relating to Unix. After this sale Santa Cruise Operations Group changed its named to TARANTELLA inc. While concurrently Caldrea founded SCO Group, which was built on the purchased Santa Cruise Operations Group software. Agreement and Plan of Reorganization: http://sec.edgar-online.com/tarantella-inc/8-k-current-report-filing/2001/05/16/Section7.aspx http://sec.edgar-online.com/tarantella-inc/8-k-current-repor...