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After enduring a year of personal attacks from across the IT industry, SCO Group CEO Darl McBride pledged to continue the company's legal battle with IBM Corp. and renewed its commitment to modernizing its own Unix platforms.
SCO launched a highly publicized lawsuit last year against Big Blue, claiming the company breached its Unix contract by contributing Unix System V code to the Linux project. The case is set to go to trial in Utah on Nov. 1, 2005.
"The pressure applied by IBM and its agents is brutal," McBride said, describing the stress he has endured as a result of the lawsuit over the past year.
McBride admitted he did not expect the previous year would be so tough and, as part of his strategy to cope with the stress, he has decided to own some of the unflattering nicknames he's been given, including "the most dangerous man in IT, Mr. Unpopular," and "corporate enemy number one." It was by these nicknames that he was introduced to the stage at this year's SCO Forum in Las Vegas, but with one addition: "Defender of Unix."
SCO's lawsuit against IBM could have serious repercussions for Linux users. If the Lindon, Utah-based SCO wins, Linux users could be found to be infringing upon SCO's IP unless they pay SCO a licence fee, which SCO has made available under its SCO IP licence.
Since its introduction, SCO has sold less than 100 of these licences, McBride said, but he claims that revenue from the SCOsource division, which is responsible for the SCO IP licence, will be up considerably when SCO announces its third quarter results in coming weeks.
Second quarter results showed SCOsource revenue at US$11,000 but McBride said third quarter's revenue will "be in the six figure range."
Also, SCO is still confident it will win the lawsuit despite opposition from...