According to a statement from Microsoft, the company will license SCO's Unix patents and the source code. That code is at the heart of a high-stakes, billion-dollar lawsuit between SCO and IBM that could alter the computing landscape.
Microsoft's Windows has a monopoly in the market for desktop operating systems, with a market share greater than 90 percent. Linux, which has been developed by thousands of contributors and can be freely obtained, has caught on as a worthy competitor in the market for corporate servers. In the past two years, Microsoft has repeatedly labeled Linux a threat to the Redmond, Washington-based computing giant, partly because of its low cost.
Unix was invented more than 30 years ago by AT&T's Unix Systems Laboratories. In many ways Linux works similarly to Unix, making it relatively easy to translate Unix software to Linux.
AT&T sold the Unix intellectual property to Novell Networks, which in turn sold it to the Santa Cruz Operation. Caldera International, a seller of Linux, then acquired from SCO the Unix rights and two SCO products, OpenServer and UnixWare. Then last year, Caldera changed its name to SCO Group to reflect the fact that most of its revenue came from its SCO business and not from the Linux products.
SCO claims the Unix source code has been copied into Linux. In March, SCO sued IBM for US$1 billion, alleging that Big Blue had used SCO's Unix code in Linux. IBM, along with Hewlett-Packard, has been a major backer of Linux. Last week, SCO escalated the battle by sending hundreds of letters to large corporations warning them that their use of Linux could infringe on SCO's intellectual property.
SCO's letter stated, in part, "We believe that Linux infringes on our Unix intellectual property and other rights. We intend to aggressively protect and enforce these rights. Legal liability that may arise from the Linux development process may also rest with the end user."
Some analysts said the move was an attempt by SCO to be acquired by another company--possibly Microsoft, IBM or another firm with a stake in the matter. "I guess suing IBM wasn't enough to get them acquired, so (the letters are) the next stage," Illuminata analyst Gordon Haff said.
Late Sunday, Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith said acquiring the license from SCO "is representative of Microsoft's ongoing commitment to respecting intellectual property and the IT community's healthy exchange of IP through licensing. This helps to ensure IP compliance across Microsoft solutions and supports our efforts around existing products like Services for UNIX that further UNIX interoperability."
Microsoft's disdain of Linux stretches back more than two years.
In March 2001, Microsoft Senior Vice President Craig Mundie said releasing source code into the public domain is "unhealthy," causes security risks and "as history has shown, while this type of model may have a place, it isn't successful in building a mass market and making powerful, easy-to-use software broadly accessible to consumers."
"Microsoft to license Unix code" a joke ?...
Linux users should not look to the IT market as a sign of Linux success, they, some of them run at the sign of problems anyway. Linux users should look to each other to allow Linux to grow in the business and desktop markets, and if they want to run Linux servers ?, then do that as well. Microsoft is what it has always been, an "eating machine" of the global computer market, a "Pac-Man" if you will. So what, big deal, Microsoft hopes with its sorry self that Linux will bow down at it's feet and ask if we ( "we" Linux and the users ) may buy a complete-control-license at a very high price...please!.
And as for SCO "gold-code", it has been the tail of the market, SCO has never be able to move this "gold" technology code of theirs, ( most of it 30+ years old ) the only hope Microsoft will have is if SCO's hand-full of customers will want it. IBM should not buy this trick of SCO's and Microsoft's, SCO wants money !, and did sit and wait for this time when so much money now floats around Linux, and Microsoft will help them, and will make a few bucks and get a real hand over Linux it hopes !!!. Last should anyone connected with Linux buy anything SCO from Microsoft at this time of the SCO lawsuit, nor anyother time, Microsoft needs to be stopped now, i say buy Linux anyway, work with it, but do not buy anymore future Microsoft products or the license to SCO "gold-code".