Caldera Acquires Big Chunk Of SCO

It came across the wire today that Caldera Systems is buying a big chunk of SCO. Caldera is buying SCO's Server Software and Professional Service Divisions from SCO, giving SCO 28% of the company. As well, one of Caldera's major investors is loaning $18 million to SCO, who will be keeping their Tarantella Divison - the press release has the other statistics in mind-numbing detail. The company is being renamed from Caldera Systems to Caldera, Inc. and Ransom Love ^[?] (who I think should win coolest CEO name) will remain as CEO.

Comments

Re:This is only the beginning...

[sjvn]

Nah, SCO was never a Microsoft subsidary. Microsoft did their own Unix, Xenix, and then when they got Quick & Dirty Operating System, soon to become PC-DOS and then MS-DOS for cheap, they got out of the Unix biz and sold Xenix to SCO. For a brief while they jointly marketed and supported Xenix, that was it.

For more on Microsoft, the Unix company, and the early days of SCO and Unix on Intel, see my column:

http://www.zdnet.com/sp/stories/column/0,4712,26 06631,00.html

Steven

A little more background on the "investor"

[jht]

The Canopy Group is Ray Noorda's private venture capital company that he started after leaving Novell. He funds just about anything that'll take a shot at Microsoft, like Willows Software, Caldera, and Palm cloner TRG. He also has money in Troll Tech, too.

Ray Noorda is really the perfect sugar daddy for what's left of SCO. He's ridiculously rich (not Gates level, but he has enough to fund a lot of startups) and he hates Microsoft. And he already owned Unix once - he's the one who had Novell buy Unix System Labs back in the early part of the '90s. I met him some years back (and I'm friends with some people whe are and have been connected with him), and, based mostly on the word of the people I know, I consider him to be one of the few Good Guys in the business.

- -Josh Turiel