Novell Opens Unix
January 19 94 / News & Views / Novell Opens Unix
Dom Pancucci
Novell has transferred the Unix trademark to the international X/Open standards organization. The transfer, which was announced last October, when combined with other standards efforts, may yet result in multiple implementations of Unix that conform to a single specification.
Novell's transfer of the Unix trademark to X/Open is, said Kanwal Rekhi, executive vice president of Novell's Unix Systems Group, the next logical step for Unix. (In September, over 75 companies, including Sun, Hewlett-Packard, DEC, IBM, Novell, and SCO, agreed to adopt a single set of 1170 API calls.) X/Open will be responsible for certifying that vendors' operating systems meet the Spec 1170 definition of Unix.
The idea behind the common API is to let developers write to a single set of memory, file- system, and other kernel-level cal ls so that they need to do only a source-level recompilation to support another Unix platform. With multiple compatible implementations of Unix, vendors will then compete on the basis of price, quality, service, and reliability, or as X/Open's president and CEO Geoff Morris said, "a single specification, a single brand, and as much innovation as the industry can deliver."
The movement toward a unified Unix will continue throughout this year. SunSoft, IBM, and SCO officials say they expect to have versions of Unix that comply with Spec 1170 this year. But Morris said that the suite of software tests to verify Spec 1170 compliance will likely not be available until the end of the year. Until then, there is an interim specification that says companies must use USL operating-systems technology, conform to SVID (System V Interface Definition), and conform to XPG3 (X/Open Portability Guide) or XPG4.
Novell will not give up its right to license Unix System V source code to other vendors, but once the t est suites are available, Unix vendors will no longer be required to use Unix code developed at USL/Novell.
And I found this press release at Novell's site
Press Release
Novell Completes Sale of UnixWare Business to The Santa Cruz Operation
OREM, Utah -- December 6, 1995 -- Novell, Inc. today completed the sale of its UnixWare business to The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc. (SCO), finalizing an agreement first announced in September, 1995. Under the agreement, Novell receives approximately 6.1 million shares of SCO common stock, resulting in an ownership position of approximately 17 percent of the outstanding SCO capital stock. The agreement also calls for Novell to receive a revenue stream from SCO based on revenue performance of the purchased UnixWare business. This revenue stream is not to exceed $84 million net present value, and will end by the year 2002.
In addition, Novell will continue to receive revenue from existing licenses for older versions of UNIX System V source code. Also, Novell will receive royalties from SCO's licensing of its NetWare networking software, including NetWare Directory Services (NDS), for use in UnixWare based operating system products.
The transaction positions SCO to consolidate the UNIX System on the Intel platform. SCO plans to merge the SCO OpenServer Release 5 and SCO UnixWare product lines to create a standard high-volume UNIX operating system that contains integrated NetWare networking software. SCO has announced that the merged product will begin shipping in 1997. SCO has also announced that it will ship the next release of UnixWare in the first quarter 1996, and that this UnixWare product will include NetWare networking software to help customers integrate UNIX Systems with Novell networks.
Novell Contact:
Melanie King
(408) 577-6842
This may explain the timing of the lawsuit. No point in trying to make money when a big chunk would go to Novell, but now that SCO can keep all of the money, they are getting aggressive.