SCO's McBride: Rumors of our demise are greatly exaggerated

Computerworld ^ | October 01, 2007 | Todd R. Weiss

[antiRepublicrat]

If the corporate Grim Reaper is truly knocking on the door of The SCO Group Inc., no one apparently told the company's CEO and president, Darl C. McBride.

Despite SCO's a major court loss last month in its legal case against Novell Inc., its bankruptcy reorganization filing and an ominous-sounding quarterly U.S Securities and Exchange Commission filing last week in which SCO said there is "substantial doubt about the company's ability to continue as a going concern," McBride insists that no one should be lining up yet for his company's funeral parade.

On the heels of all of that news, Nasdaq even got into the act by announcing that SCO would be delisted from the stock exchange because the price of its stock had fallen below $1 per share. An appeal by SCO has delayed that action for now.

Since 2003, SCO and Novell have been fighting over who legally owns the rights to Unix and UnixWare. That's when Lindon, Utah-based SCO sued IBM in what became a $5 billion lawsuit, alleging that IBM illegally contributed some of SCO's Unix code to the then-fledgling Linux open-source project. In 2004, SCO sued Novell directly, prompting Novell to file counterclaims disputing SCO's case.

In August, U.S. District Court Judge Dale A. Kimball in Salt Lake City undercut much of SCO's case in a ruling that declared Novell the owner of the Unix and UnixWare copyrights. As a result, a bench trial will determine how much money SCO might now have to pay Novell for Unix licensing revenue it received

[antiRepublicrat]

You have to hand it to Darl for being able to have a positive outlook when the world he created is crumbling around him. Here is what I would like to see, from most likely to least likely:

• Novell: Case goes forward, it is determined that SCO stole (not SCO owes) at least $10 million.
• IBM: Allowed to go forward, all SCO claims dismissed due to Novell's right of waiver. IBM's claims continue, resulting in a judgment of millions more.
• Red Hat: Allowed to go forward, Red Hat wins summary judgment for millions due to Novell's copyright and right of waiver.
• AutoZone just gets dropped at summary judgment due to Novell's copyrights. I don't believe AutoZone has any counterclaims.
• SCO forced into Chapter 7 due to the above, sale of UNIX assets to IBM or Novell used to pay off everybody.
• Stockholder suit against McBride resulting in a multi million dollar judgment.
• SEC investigation into McBride puts him in jail.

[Izzy Dunne]

hand it to Darl for being able to have a positive outlook when the world he created is crumbling around him

"Positive Outlook" is one term for it.

"Insanity" might be another.

[Frumious Bandersnatch]

I haven' followed this recently. But when I was, several years ago, it was obvious that SCO (with the help of MS) was doing something bogus. They kept changing their reasoning why they were doing it. I believe that they first denied that Novell owned Unix. When Novell showed that they did own it, SCO claimed that Novell had sold it to them. When that didn't wash, they claimed that Novell had given them an exclusive license. Too bad they couldn't (or at least refused to ) provide the paper trail to make their case.

Not to mention that they totally refused to release the code they claimed was proprietary, thereby putting the onus on the supposed abusers. How in the world they expected IBM and others to cease and desist when they didn't know what they were supposed to cease and desist from is beyond me.

Lastly, they claim that the judge ruling against them has been overruled two-thirds of the time. That may be, but considering SCO's veracity level, I wouldn't put too much faith into it. Plus, SCO has been overruled, effectively, everytime.

[ikka]

Darl McBride - American version of the Iraqi Information Minister .

[PAR35]

I think I’ll run out and buy some SCO stock based upon his representations.

[ShadowAce]

[amchugh]

I think the real bad guys are the lawyers representing SCO. They probably told McBride he had a case when he didn’t. He shouldn’t go to jail just because he’s an idiot. The lawyers on the other hand should probably be disbarred, and forced to return the money SCO payed them and/or pay Novell.

I do agree about the shareholder suit against him though.

[antiRepublicrat]

I think the real bad guys are the lawyers representing SCO.

You might be right, as this is the same firm that represented Gore for the 2000 election aftermath.

[TChris]

Darl is manifesting exemplary denial. When the anger phase hits, there should be some interesting articles produced.

[dayglored]

> Darl is manifesting exemplary denial. When the anger phase hits, there should be some interesting articles produced.

Oh gawd, you mean there's more to come?!?!?

Darl, go away. Just shut up, and go away. Put down the microphone and back away from the stage, and no one will get hurt. Your 15 minutes was up in 2003.