SCO updates Unix product, open-source attitude

CNet ^ | 2005-06-23 | Stephen Shankland

[N3WBI3]

In an effort to turn around its dwindling Unix revenue, SCO introduced a new version of its OpenServer product Wednesday along with a new open-source-friendly attitude.

OpenServer 6 is based on the same software core as the company's other operating system product, UnixWare, a later arrival that the company and its predecessors have emphasized for years but that never was adopted as much as OpenServer. The new OpenServer can run software for both operating systems, improves performance by a factor of two to four, and can be used on 32-processor machines with as much as 16GB of memory, SCO said.

The company's software is most popular for use in companies with numerous business branches--a notable customer is McDonald's. However, the SCO Group and its predecessor, the Santa Cruz Operation, struggled with competition from Windows and more recently, Linux.

In SCO's most recent quarter, ended April 30, Unix revenue declined to $7.8 million from $8.4 million during the year-earlier quarter.

SCO has been most prominent recently for its legal attack on IBM, Novell and others regarding its allegation that proprietary Unix software has been improperly moved into open-source Linux. Indeed, one of its targets is AutoZone, a former OpenServer customer.

Part of that attack was leveled at the General Public License (GPL), which governs Linux and which SCO attorneys said violates the U.S. Constitution as well as copyright, antitrust and export control laws. But Wednesday, SCO touted the inclusion of several open-source products with OpenServer.

Microsoft's spam plan New supercomputers overhaul top ranks Telemarketers target cell phones Digital bullies in classrooms Should cities be ISPs? Previous Next "In addition to supporting numerous Unix applications, as well as Java applications with the inclusion of Java 1.4.2, customers will also find thousands of additional applications available through many of the latest open-source technologies that are integrated into SCO OpenServer 6," SCO said in its announcement.

Among the included open-source packages are Samba and MySQL, which are released under the GPL, as well as Firefox, Tomcat, Apache and PostgreSQL.

SCO's position is consistent, spokesman Blake Stowell argued. "We don't necessarily have issues with open source, we just have an issue with open-source technology that includes intellectual property it shouldn't," he said. Indeed, SCO's products have included open-source components for years.

OpenServer 6 costs $599 for a computer with two users and $1,399 for one with 10 users.

[Tribune7]

For stories like this I miss the Eagle :-)

[N3WBI3]

there seems to be a replacement..

[ThinkDifferent]

The LGPL allows for the theft of any of my source that's linked to it

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

[N3WBI3]

He uses theft for almost the same reason the RIAA uses piracy, because its inflammatory. In the case of the RIAA its really copyright infringement, not piracy. In the case of the GPL its called RTFM, not theft. People who moan about the GPL being theft always amuse me (especially when in the same thread they admit its political)..

[amigatec]

The BSD license contains no such communist virus and does not seek to steal the work of legitimate software businesses. The BSD license even allows businesses to use the associated work as closed source in their own works.

Let me get this straight

You like the BSD license because it allows you to steal others work....but you don't like the LGPL because it doesn't??

But it the same time you tell me that the BSD license does not steal???

I am confused here.

[familyop]

I'll put it this way. Any software developer who sells/distributes his own binaries that are linked with L/GPL'd libraries can be sued. Others who have tried that have already been harrassed by lawyers and legions of Linux socialists. See items 5 and 6 in the copy of the license above. And most libraries with the LGPL do not have a good addendum like that.

I'll release some free code for all, but it will be under the BSD license.

[familyop]

Let's get some truth out about this matter.

Open Source Licensing:
What Every OEM Should Know
A Wasabi Systems white paper
Jay Michaelson
Vice President & General Counsel,
Wasabi Systems Inc.
http://www.wasabisystems.com/pdfs/GPL.WhatOEMsShouldKnow.pdf

[antiRepublicrat]

From your link:

It is the first time a court has enforced the GPL, and it illustrates the worldwide jurisdictional risks faced by commercial GPL users.

Hilarious. It's RTFLS ("Read the Friggin' License, Stupid!"). Does anyone grab a copy of Windows Mobile, start hacking it to their needs, and redistribute it without regards to the legalities and possible consequences Windows Mobile license?