eWeek: McNealy Weighs In on Linux, Unix, Sun

“You bought the rights to Unix some time ago.

“We did that in 1991. We spent [$80 million, $90 million] or
$100 million–I can’t remember the number–to go and buy our
rights. It was a deal we cut with [former Novell Inc. CEO] Ray
Noorda before he retired. I said to Ray, “I need full rights to go
out and compete against Microsoft [Corp.].” He was more rabid
[against Microsoft] than anyone I knew out there. He made me look
like a Microsoft lover. He granted us and only us those rights, and
we had to pay dearly for them. It turned out it was pretty good
return on investment.

“But now you also offer Linux.

“We offer Red Hat, and you’ll see us offering another
alternative very shortly.

“Would you consider buying the company SCO?

“I don’t know what I would buy there. Why buy what you already
own? I thought I already paid for that sucker…”

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