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This is probably the best ending the Linux community could have hoped for; however, I'm dismayed that SCO burnt itself in flames, it was actually a very good op
by natas 5y ago
This is probably the best ending the Linux community could have hoped for; however, I'm dismayed that SCO burnt itself in flames, it was actually a very good operating system; not GNU/Linux-good, but very good back in the days. I understand they lost a lot of business to Linux (so did Microsoft etc.) and that's how the system works; but they were "stuck" because they couldn't open it as it held files with various copyrights (AT&T, Novel, etc.) whom wouldn't have agreed to this. What could/should have they done instead? Well, I can't think of anything as most of the commercial unix vendors are gone now (Irix, Solaris, Tru64, etc.).
- mixmastamyk 5y ago> What could/should have they done instead? Gone quietly into the night with their dignity intact.
- gjsman-1000 5y agoOr, "if you can't beat 'em, join em." Adopt Linux-based systems and support both classic and Linux offerings. Adapt.
- Dracophoenix 5y agoChange Linux to FreeBSD and that's what Xinuos is doing right now with Openserver 10.
- kevin_thibedeau 5y agoThat SCO isn't the one that launched the suit. It was Caldera/SCO that did it and already had a business selling support for their Linux distro.
- ghaff 5y agoThe whole thing was/is a tangled web. I spent months on this case at one point and even I'd have to go back to my notes to reconstruct the whole messy timeline.
- yjftsjthsd-h 5y agoIIRC, the SCO that made SCO Unix was purchased by another company which renamed itself SCO and started filing lawsuits; the company you recall fondly is not actually the company that we are here to discuss.
- garaetjjte 5y agoSanta Cruz Operation (SCO) sold off their entire Unix business to Caldera, and renamed itself Tarantella (it was later acquired by Sun). Caldera renamed itself The SCO Group (TSG) and started lawsuits.
- segfaultbuserr 5y agoTIL from another comment: In 2004, Caldera/SCO even considered to rename itself as Unix System Laboratories (AT&T's former Unix business) to create more confusions! I didn't know it was that evil... https://lwn.net/Articles/95854/ https://lwn.net/Articles/95854/
- wmf 5y agoMaybe SCO could have spun their properties as advantages: stable driver ABI, ISV/IHV certification, Unix/Posix certification, support, etc. They could have had a free "CentSCO" version and charged for support like Red Hat.
- ghaff 5y agoSome version of SCO had already made a hash of a multi-vendor datacenter Unix. Before Linux became commercially popular there was a lot of interest in 2nd and 3rd tier vendors in an enterprise Unix that would have enough marketshare to interest ISVs. But the project pretty much flopped. Linux didn't really have a big effect on SCO until they were already flailing. It was mostly Windows NT that was eating their lunch. SCO tried to claim that it was Linux that caused them to go downhill but the timeframes just don't line up. Source: I spent a lot of time studying this at the time.
- throwaway81523 5y ago> This is probably the best ending the Linux community could have hoped for I would have hoped for an ending more like Prenda Law's.
- AnimalMuppet 5y agoYeah, me too. For IBM to give them a dime feels wrong to me. But after thinking about it, it's not so bad. Darl McBride won't get a dime of this. Neither will David Boies - except that Stuart Singer is still a counsel to the Trustee. The trustee might get some, which rankles a bit, but it's better than the other two getting anything.
- axiolite 5y ago> This is probably the best ending the Linux community could have hoped for No, IBM's counter-suit being successful and those who launched the ridiculous lawsuit being fined, disbarred, and or thrown in jail would be the best ending. The fact that TSG will get a pittance out of it is not sufficient discouragement against future lawsuits.
- natas 5y agoThis wouldn't have been possible with a judge that ignorant.