“It’s the beginning of a new era and the end of an old one. Last
night, Caldera, a leading Linux distributor, bought the Server
(Unix) and Professional Services division of Santa Cruz Operations
(SCO), the long-standing leader of Intel Unix. With this single
move, Linux and Unix are unified for the first time under one
company. The enterprise operating-system world will never be the
same.”
“Some are welcoming the change with open arms. Many believe that
uniting Unix with Linux can only strengthen Linux’s rising tide.
According to IDC, Linux has 1.4 million server licenses, far more
than all Unixes put together, but SCO’s servers are located in the
core of many older businesses. While Linux’s strength is on the
Internet, SCO still runs many small to midsize businesses,
governmental departments and vertical markets.”
“Frankly, SCO had little choice but to make some kind of deal.
While according to IDC’s research manager for system
software Al Gillen SCO is the leading Unix distributor holding
37 percent of the Unix market with 313,000 software license
shipments in 1999, compared to Sun’s 22 percent of the market, SCO
and the Server division were still losing money hand over
fist.”