11.23.08
SCO: Always Losing Redundant Court Cases, But Winning Mysterious Funds
“[Microsoft's] Mr. Emerson and I discussed a variety of investment structures wherein Microsoft would ‘backstop,’ or guarantee in some way, BayStar’s investment…. Microsoft assured me that it would in some way guarantee BayStar’s investment in SCO.”
–Larry Goldfarb, Baystar, key investor in SCO
THE END OF AN ERA SEEMS NEAR AS SCO CASE EXPERTS over at Groklaw continue to track and record the company’s every move, not just in the courtroom. From the latest account:
SCO Files an Amended Schedule F
SCO, or more precisely, SCO Operations has filed an amended Schedule F [PDF], its list of unsecured nonpriority creditors, or in bankruptcy lingo “creditors holding unsecured nonpriority claims”.
[...]
SUSE? I wonder what they owe to them and why.
Then came the preparation for bankruptcy and the ruling.
There is a bankruptcy hearing scheduled for November 20th, and there’s a Notice of Matters Scheduled for Hearing [PDF] just filed that tells us that the issue of the constructive trust has been resolved “in principal” and there will be a stipulation or consensual order filed. Good Golly, Miss Molly. Is Novell finally going to see some of its money from SCO? Has somebody sprinkled fairy dust in the air or something?
Novell will hopefully receive no money because the company continues to just hurt GNU/Linux as a whole. The final judgment soon arrived, claiming Novell victorious.
The final judgment [PDF] from Utah is here at last. It recites what the August 10, 2007 and July 16, 2008 orders said, but it also resolves the recent dispute over SCO’s desire to voluntarily waive some claims and then bring them back to the table after an appeal, should it prove successful. Here’s SCO’s motion to voluntarily dismiss, and Novell’s response, so you can verify that this judgment indeed represents another loss for SCO. You’ll see that it was Novell that suggested the wording regarding SCO’s voluntarily dismissed claims that we see in the judgment, that they be dismissed “without the possibility of renewal following appeal.”
This was also covered by IDG, which cites Groklaw as its primary source.
Another chapter in the lengthy legal saga between SCO and Novell is closed, with the release of a final judgment by a Utah court on Thursday.
[...]
Prior to that ruling, the long-running dispute served as a threat to Linux users who might have feared legal action from SCO. SCO had charged IBM with copyright infringement over the use of Unix, a charge the court essentially said wasn’t valid.
Don’t ever allow the revisionist interpretation that Novell entered this to ‘rescue’ Linux. It was pulled into it by SCO. Either way, Groklaw also believes that SCO is going nowhere fast.
SCO Bankruptcy: SCO Withdraws Motion Re Confidentiality
[...]
Without prejudice. Lovely SCO touch. If a creditors committee is suddenly formed, SCO is ready. Why now? I’m only guessing but probably they are tying off loose ends, because their time to file a reorganization plan is almost up. And despite investors being “so excited about the business prospects of working with SCO” that Stephen Norris mentioned at SCO’s Tec Forum, so far nothing in writing to file with the court, so it does begin to look like the clock may run out first. What a surprise. Look for a December 31st filing. Oh, wait. SCO shuts down for Christmas, I seem to recall, and recovers slowly. They are “officially” closed from December 24th until January 1st, so I’m thinking we might look for something by the 24th, unless SCO’s participation isn’t required to file later.
The funny stories around Norris and some possible connections with Microsoft were previously discussed in [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]. UserFriendly seems to be celebrating already (see image below), but this does not rule out Novell/Microsoft, which play a similar game to SCO', albeit at a patents level (as opposed to copyrights). █
Highlight: Novell was the first to acknowledge that Microsoft FUD tactics had substance. Novell then used anti-Linux FUD to market itself. 
Highlight: Xandros let Microsoft make patent claims and brag about (paid-for) OOXML support. 
Highlight: Linspire's CEO not only fell into Microsoft arms, but he also assisted the company's attack on GNU/Linux. 
Highlight: Microsoft craves pseudo (proprietary) standards and gets its way using proxies and influence which it buys. 
Highlight: The invasion into the open source world is intended to leave Linux companies neglected, due to financial incentives from Microsoft. 
Analysis: Xen, an open source hypervisor, possibly fell victim to Microsoft's aggressive (and stealthy) acquisition-by-proxy strategy.