It's IT Blogwatch: in which the near-dead SCO celebrates a lifesaving offer of $100 million. Not to mention mainstream virtualization...
Todd R. Weiss reports:
Five months after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as part of a reorganization effort last September, The SCO Group Inc. today unveiled a potential $100 million cash infusion ... from Stephen Norris & Co. Capital Partners L.P. (SNCP) and partners in the Middle East ... In a 15-page "Memorandum of Understanding" filed with the court ... SCO must "continue to pursue aggressively the company's claims in the Novell/IBM litigation and other pending litigation against AutoZone Inc." [more]
Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols adds:
In every bad horror movie, viewers know the monster is never, ever really dead. Some Linux users may feel much the same way about Unix vendor and Linux litigator SCO ... SCO tried to form a somewhat similar deal with York Capital in November 2007. That deal fell apart. Since then, SCO had appeared to be collapsing at a rapid rate ... Stephen Norris, managing partner for SNCP, claims that SNCP has a business plan for SCO "that will enable the company to see SCO's legal claims through to their full conclusion." [more]
Jordan Golson puts it another way:
The investment will give SNCP a controlling stake in SCO and allow the company to ... pursue its legal claims against IBM, Novell, and anyone who ever shook Linus Torvalds's hand. [more]
Eric Savitz abbreviates:
OMG, look who is back from the dead ... In trading on the pink sheets, SCO shares today are up 3 cents, or 50%, at 9 cents. [more]
Jeremy Garcia's mind boggles:
Unless the Norris in SNCP is Chuck, I cant see how this will help. SCO has a dying operating system on its hands along with two lawsuits that are going absolutely nowhere. Ive not seen too much recently about their mobile offerings either ... $100 for SCO seem ludicrous to me ... There is a possible silver lining here though. If Novell does win its case against SCO, now there may actually be some assets for them to take. [more]
Pamela Jones groks the news:
It seems Stephen Norris Capital Partners "and its partners from the Middle East" have fallen in love with SCO's "vast range of products and services" ... Hahahaha ... code, I think, for "this will enable the company to continue to attack Linux". The press release is a bit coy ... It seems Bill Gates has a friend in this picture. The two announced another deal last year ... So, there's Waldo ... Has the system really become this corrupt? [more]
And hardburn agrees:
How many companies exist that would invest in a company that has no actual customers, already in chapter 11, and stuck in drawn-out legal proceedings that it almost certainly won't win? Microsoft has already undeniably helped SCO before, and they do have enough money to throw around that $100 million isn't too much to spend on a longshot. So even if there's not direct evidence, there's also a very short list of people with $100 million sitting around who would want to invest in SCO. If it's not Microsoft, then I'd like to know who, because I've got a Perpetual Motion Machine for them to invest in next. [more]
Perhaps KiloByte knows why:
It's not about winning money. It's about making sure SCO's corporate veil isn't pierced. If that hive of villainry fails, some of their dealings could see the daylight. And at least a couple of big companies are really interested in making sure this doesn't happen. So they funnel money into the sinking ship to keep it afloat or make it sink in a secluded place -- it's better to lose some cash than have the dirt revealed. [more]
And finally...
Buffer overflow:
- Alan Shimel: Is security in the genes?
- Chromatic: The Magic of Web Apps is HTTP, Not the Browser
- Ben Rockwood: Sun Confirms Inflexability & Community Disregard
- Michael Learmonth: Nielsen: Women Like Web TV, Men Like Web Clips
- Paul McNamara: Help save EFF's Patent Busting Project
- Mark Whitehorn: Back to basics for SQL Server 2008
- Brooke Crothers: Flash drives ready to jump in capacity
- Joel Hruska: Annual IBM security report paints worrisome picture for 2008
- Data Center Knowledge: 2.2 Billion Text Messages for Valentine's Day
Other Computerworld bloggers:
- Seth Weintraub: EETimes: iPhone success? "It's the User Experience, Stupid"
- Barbara Krasnoff: Are your printed documents being tracked?
- Preston Gralla: Microsoft sees the light: SP1 is available on TechNet and MSDN
- Martin MC Brown: Dell/AMD pause, but great deals available
- Robert L. Mitchell: Comcast's broadband pickle
- Seth Weintraub: iPhone users search Google 5,000% more than the nearest competitor
- Scott McPherson: The looming day of reckoning
- Mike Elgan: Boingo customers get WiFi at McDonald's
- Mark Hall: "Recession proof" MSP readies new service
- Don Tennant: IT labor shortage: Two contrasting views
- SaaS Revolution: SaaS and Service-based Architecture
- Patrick Thibodeau: Don't count on ICANN for adult supervision
- Seth Weintraub: This Mac guy might rather have a ThinkPad
- Ken Gagne: A very geeky Valentine's Day
- Preston Gralla: Clean out the gunk: The best free Windows junk-cleaner of all time
- Douglas Schweitzer: Damaged mail puts identity data at risk
- Shark Bait: This shipment is REALLY bad ...
- Shark Tank: There's always gotta be a Rule No. 1
Richi Jennings is an independent analyst/adviser/consultant, specializing in blogging, email, and spam. A 20 year, cross-functional IT veteran, he is also an analyst at Ferris Research. You too can pretend to be Richi's friend on Facebook, or just use boring old email: blogwatch@richi.co.uk.
Previously in IT Blogwatch:
- Apple MacBook Air left for dead by rivals? (and OTT-cop)
- Intel antitrust raid in Germany (and Mathieu's book)
- Vista SP1 early access for IT/devs? (and Error'd)