Markus’ Blog

This news doesn’t come entirely unexpected. Apparently SCO filed for bankruptcy protection shortly after they lost their lawsuit against Novell. The courts ruled that “Novell is the owner of the UNIX and UnixWare copyrights” and not SCO. That was on August 10, 2007.

If SCO doesn’t own the copyright to UNIX to begin with, they don’t really stand much of a chance suing IBM for copyright infringement, which was going to be their ingenious next step. So, on Sepember 14, with nothing else left to do, SCO filed for Chapter 11 protection.

Dear SCO Customers and Partners,

This afternoon we took the extraordinary step of filing for Chapter 11 protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court to protect assets for our creditors and stockholders and to ensure the continuation of our normal business operations. This decision was not taken without extensive consultation with the board of directors, and many outside experts and legal counsel.

SCO intends to maintain business as usual throughout the Chapter 11 proceedings. Subject to court approval, SCO will use the cash flow from its operations to meet its capital needs throughout the reorganization process.

Other companies such as Delta Airlines, Texaco, Dow Corning, K-Mart, United Airlines, Toys R’ Us, Macy’s Department Stores and others have emerged from Chapter 11 protection after restructuring themselves for success. We intend to do the same.

We value our relationship with you and want to provide the assurance that you can continue to order product, and receive exemplary service and support from us during this restructuring period.

We invite you to consult with your SCO representative if you have any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Darl McBride
President & CEO
The SCO Group

That’s what you get, suckers. Instead of being a technology company (like you once were) and trying to innovate, adapt and change, you decided to become a lawyer shop whose sole reason of existence was to find parties you can sue for copyright infringement: parties who actually did some productive work. Some parties didn’t even make profit off their work, because it was released to the community for free. Yet, you tried to make money off of them. Impressive business model, I have to say. Why do productive work if you can just sue those who actually do work and make them pay you?

Well, because it didn’t quite work, did it? And that’s good. You are a disgrace to the technology industry and I hope you either go under and disappear, or re-emerge as a new company with new goals. A company who will actually focus again on creating and selling a product and making their customers (and shareholders) happy.