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Linux Software

SCO To Invest in LinuxMall 32

Posted by CmdrTaco from the isn't-that-interesting dept.
Jason Perlow noted a story that popped up at ZD Net talking about a new investor at LinuxMall. Sco has entered the Linux World with an investment in the web store. Its interesting to note that they talk about doing this as publicity.
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SCO To Invest in LinuxMall More

SCO To Invest in LinuxMall

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  • Not irrelevant, not M$ flamebait. pure possiblities.


    "Trust no one"
    Remember the Halloween papers??????

  • so what? (Score:4)

    by Suydam ( 881 ) on Thursday October 14, 1999 @02:54AM (#1614981) Homepage
    I'm no longer impressed with the various companies that invest in Linux. Before you call this "flamebait" listen to why.

    The Good Old Days: The first few companies to invest in Linux (IBM, Intel, etc.) did so for 2 reasons. 1) Money. They wouldn't do it if it wasn't going to make them some money. 2) Interest/Excitement. I truly believe that a year or so ago when they were giving money to RedHat, these large corporations saw something exciting in Linux. They wanted to be a part of it (for reason #1) and they thought that it might be a good way to expand their reach.

    New World Order: Nowadays, companies like SCO and Sun just invest in Linux (or open source parts of their software) out of mere survival. THey're afraid that if they don't hitch themselves to the rising star that is Linux, they'll just go out of business.

    I"m not saying I resent their investment,and I'm not saying it's a bad idea. But I AM saying that it's no longer impressive or newsworthy.

  • hey SCO, i thought you said linux sucked. were you lying then or are you lying now? i'd really like to see you explain this one.
  • Here is something to think about. M$ Has a 6-8% investment in SCO. WIth SCO investing in LinuxMal M$ is Indirectly investing in Linux. But here is the catch. People from SCO will be on the board of directors at LinuxMall, thus M$ will have an "in" into a Linux company. Interesting?, Scary? Guess we will see .....
  • I wouldn't say that it's not newsworthy, but I would say that it's not a shocker.

    But I am interested in what companys are investing in Linux. Especially when my manager asks me why I choose Linux instead of other operating systems. If there is another company investment in Linux, it makes it easier to discuss this with my manager.

    So, please keep posting these articles. Their not shockers, but they are "newsworthy".

    Steven Rostedt
  • Well, Sun makes money on hardware and are doing quite well.
    Companies will always want their hardware, because it's as good as it gets.
    Most smart people want their software too, and it's free.

    SCO on the other hand... you told me.


  • So they're selling Linux products (nice way to say programs, eh?). Big whoopee do.

    It's not like it's an earth-shattering concept: Increasing your profits by entering new markets.

  • Absolutely. Wasn't it just a few weeks ago that they started the big FUD machine, putting out a newsletter about why Linux sucks? Has their corporate position changed radically since then or is this a case of the right hand not knowing what the left is doing.

    It doesn't matter much really, SCO is irrelevant. They are the last Old Guard UNIX dinasaur, maybe they just don't know that they are already dead.

    Maybe this would be a good time for RedHat to buy them out, being that they love Linux so.

  • SCO's Linux strategy (Score:4)

    by Ledge Kindred ( 82988 ) on Thursday October 14, 1999 @05:22AM (#1614991)
    Anyone else getting more and more curious over what exactly SCO's Linux "strategy" is? I mean, one the one hand, they seem to take lots of opportunities to bad-mouth it to the public in general and their customers in particular, then about-face and apologise that they "didn't mean it like that." They'll make statements that they don't see a future in Linux and then turn around and invest in Linux-based companies.

    I'm starting to wonder if SCO might be more of a "threat" to Linux than Sun. I really don't like Sun's attitude towards Linux and I know they're scared of it on the low end. (Not the E10K sized servers, but the Ultra 5, Ultra 10, and that range.) Sun seems to be doing a lot to sidetrack, derail, and otherwise just sort of take whatever momentum they can from the growing popularity of Linux with stuff like their SCSL and their so-called "Open Sourcing" of Solaris and the purchase and "release of source code" for Star Office.

    However, I'm starting to believe that SCO might actually be taking a more discrete approach to derailing Linux since it competes directly on exactly the same platform and in the same market.

    Perhaps SCO will get itself entrenched in several of the larger Linux companies, then in a few months or a few years, make some sort of announcement to the effect, "Well, we tried this Linux thing by investing in all these Linux companies, but, as the world's leading supplier of UNIX operating systems for the PC platform, we feel qualified in stating unequivocably that 'Linux isn't working.' Everyone go home and buy SCO from now on."

    Not that I think it would have a whole lot of effect, but it would probably shake things up at least.

    In any case, SCO is starting to worry and confuse me.

    -=-=-=-=-

  • SCO Running scared(or (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Those evil Unix counterparts are afraid that they will not exist anymore in the near future. So they diversify their investments into the Linux Community. They might even be sending a torpedo into the commune in which they later will pull the life out of company, taking all the know-how with it.

    These evil Capitalist Pig companies should just do what is truely good for us, which is to set their source code free and shut down their company. This way, the greater Linux group could morph that in.

    All Unix company employees/perpertraitors, set all the proprietary code within your evil empire's confines free, and let the commune clense it. You would do the world a great service and make Karl proud. Of course, you will still burn in hell since the very blood in you already has been tainted, but your family would be spared.


    Free the source and free the world
    ZZZ
  • so you just moderated it down cuz you don't like linux? there was nothing "out of line" in that post. i was pointing out that SCO had basically said linux sucks, yet they now seem to think otherwise (unless, of course, they're just in it for the money, trying to cash in on linux hype, which wouldn't surprise me)
  • Squashing a World Wide Phenomemna such as Linux takes more than One company with an agenda.

    You don't seem to hear about SCO in the news, anyway. They HAD to invest in a Linux company, any company.

    I just realized that all my Linux CDs came from LinuxMall...I'm prolly gonna get a shit load more spam and junkmail from SCO now...

    Kagenin

  • New World Order: Nowadays, companies like SCO and Sun just invest in Linux (or open source parts of their software) out of mere survival. THey're afraid that if they don't hitch themselves to the rising star that is Linux, they'll just go out of business.

    I"m not saying I resent their investment,and I'm not saying it's a bad idea. But I AM saying that it's no longer impressive or newsworthy.

    No, the 'New World Order' itself is what is newsworthy. The fact that companies feel obliged to support Linux is amazing when you consider the situation three years ago.

  • hey Linus, i thought you said the cool new innovation that somehow competes with Transmeta sucked. were you lying then or are you lying now? i'd really like to see you explain this one.

    If something like the previous statement was posted to a thread, would it deserve to be marked down?

  • Re:Put yourself in SCO's shoes. (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    SCO has been around for about 20 years -- longer than any other commercial UNIX vendor

    I assume you mean "SCO has been in the Unix market longer than any other commercial Unix vendor", because IBM is a commercial Unix vendor and they have been an incorporated company since 1911.

    Actually, while looking up this fact, I found another really interesting tidbit:

    From http://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/story/ [ibm.com]

    "The Social Security deal was secured even while IBM was at odds with another branch of the federal government. The Justice Department filed an antitrust case against IBM and Remington-Rand in 1932, alleging that the two companies, which controlled virtually the entire market for punch card machines, were illegally requiring customers to buy their punch cards. The case went to the Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of the Justice Department in 1936."
    ...
    " In subsequent years, IBM's size and success would inspire numerous antitrust actions. A 1952 suit by the Justice Department, settled four years later, forced IBM to sell its tabulating machines -- at the time, IBM offered them only through leases -- in order to establish a competing, used-machine market. Another federal antitrust suit dragged on for thirteen years until the Justice Department concluded it was "without merit" and dropped it in 1982. IBM's competitors filed 20 antitrust actions during the 1970s. None succeeded."

    Reading this really drives home how much IBM has changed recently (ie: the last 10 years). For most of their history they INVENTED the methodology for gaining and holding unfair advantages over their competitors. I suppose all these lawsuits have made them jumpy, but I can only hope that someday Microsoft too can fall back on its software strengths and stop using brute force to make money.

    Now back to your regularily scheduled SCO roast.

  • 6-8% is irrelevant, its hardly a controlling interest. To influence Linux Mall, they would need to be able to control SCO, and therefore would need a Larger investment. There is no "in" to speak of.
  • wtf?! why was that moderated down as a troll? that is a VERY legit question. *sigh* some of these moderates have no clue.

  • Re:SCO Running scared(or (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Funny? We Linux comrads are raging mad over Capitalist Swines eating into our Utopia society. If all those evil warlords could provide is the corruptive thing they call money, then we have no use for them. The only thing those $$ does is corrupt the minds of the people in our commune and turn them into greed mongers.

    Freeing the code is the only way to go in order for the Linux society to thrive. We will gain more than those other evil Capitalist Bloodsuckers. And pretty soon, each one of them will collapse and more code are freed. This is like a domino effect. Look at the real world situation. Russia->China->whole easter europe, except that Greed got to them since they still had the ruble to corrupt their brain.

  • You weren't out of line on that one. We just have a few thin skinned moderators who think anything said "in a loud voice" is flaimbate. Of course, I'm "trolling" because I disagree.
    Maybe I'm just "offtopic".

  • Imagine... (Score:3)

    by scumdamn ( 82357 ) on Thursday October 14, 1999 @05:02AM (#1615007)
    Congratulations! You've purchased a Linux distribution! Linux is a Unix based operating system. Did you know that Santa Cruz Operations is the leading seller of Unix on Intel? We are. If you like Linux, you'll love full Unix. SCO Unix isn't a Unix Lite like Linux. SCO is based on the AT&T code that started the Unix tradition, not some fad operating system like Linux. SCO Unix is available for free for a limited time for non-commercial use. Unlike Linux, SCO can be used commercially, but it costs money to do so. Of course, SCO Unix can be used in mission critical applications, Unlike Linux, so it's well worth it. To recieve your free (minus $20 shipping and handling) copy of SCO Unix reply to this message with INTERESTED in the first line of the body as well as your name, address, and phone number. A SCO representative will call you within 24 hours.
    Follow the Unix Tradition: SCO



    Not likely, but not out of the realm of possibilities.
  • Irrelevent anti-M$ flamebat trotted out every time SCO comes up.
    Please moderate into oblivion.
    SCO doesn't take orders from Redmond any more than they take orders from Orem.

    (hint: Novell owns more of SCO than M$)
  • Now wait a second, SCO didn't just enter the Linux World. Slashdot has reported two earlier incidents: SCO joined Linux International (http://slashdot.org/articles/98/12/04/1530208.sht ml) and SCO announced Linux Support (http://slashdot.org/articles/99/08/14/1527243.sht ml). One of the posters asks the question: Is SCO discretely trying to wreck Linux? Unlike IBM, SCO isn't that big of a company. I don't think they can afford to have conflicting strategies regarding Linux; that is, that can't count on their Linux support services as a revenue stream while simultaneously bashing Linux. The press releases we have seen from SCO have come at different times; I think they reflect SCO's efforts to formulate strategy, of which their are (broadly) two responses: fight'em or join'em. I think this is further evidence that they've picked the join'em strategy.... that they are counting on picking up business from those folks who have started to realize that NT isn't the holy grail, that Linux is good for SCO's interest.
  • Nowadays, companies like SCO and Sun just invest in Linux...

    Point of fact: Sun has been a member of Linux International [li.org] for at least 3 years (probably longer, but I remember them being a member then), so to characterize them as a "Johnny-come-lately" is debatable.

    Now, Sun's latest acts of releasing Solaris source and Star Office source do probably qualify as open source(tm) bandwagon...


    --

  • SCO joind linux international (with $$$) about 2 years ago. They said Linux would be good for Unix and good for SCO.

    They ported some of their products to Linux.

    They do Linux professional services.

    They supply open source software.

    They share price is up from $2.50 to $14 over that period, their revenues and profits are up massively.

    Seems like these are smart guys, riding a wave, and doing well. Some people posting here are such blind bigots its almost laughable!

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