BayStar Sets Lawyers on SCO 377
myster0n writes "According to The Register: 'SCO's attempts to rescue its relationship with BayStar, its biggest backer, have come to naught. On Friday morning, Eastern time, SCO announced that the stock buyback deal it agreed with the unhappy investor had closed. Two hours and five minutes later, Baystar issued a statement saying that a) no it hadn't and b) we'll see you in court, matey.'" Thanks to The Reg for the write-up.
So, who are the bigger morons? (Score:1, Interesting)
Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)
I see... (Score:3, Interesting)
And I bet there won't be too much rotting flesh left on that carcass when they're done feeding.
Re:Nothing for SCO to fret about... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Another lovely day on the slopes... (Score:2, Interesting)
The 2-year chart illustrates it better (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:Two hours and five minutes (Score:2, Interesting)
Bankers on a Friday morning? I still think it was golf.
Re:Nothing for SCO to fret about... (Score:5, Interesting)
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Google to buy SCO after IPO? (Score:3, Interesting)
Google... Buyout SCO and release all UNIX IP to the public!
Isnt it amazing? (Score:5, Interesting)
myster0n writes? (Score:5, Interesting)
Nope, The Register writes.
If you're going to plagiarize, at least try to make it a little less obvious than a cut-and-paste of the article's opening paragraph.
Re:Baystar is canadian. (Score:2, Interesting)
Now, of course they were completely smoking crack to say the Linux community owes them ~$700 per copy of Linux used. But if they do indeed own the IP to some of Unix AND IBM did indeed slip a few bells and whistles into Linux without getting the propper blessing....then I would say the slashdot boards are going to be an interresting sight to see.
Don't get me wrong. I'm rooting for Big Blue, The Suse guys, and Joe Linux user. But the length this has drawn out does make one wonder.
Re:One could interpret this... (Score:5, Interesting)
I really don't think we've seen a tenth of Redmond's answer to Linux yet, simply because it's a tiny threat compared in reality to their customer base as opposed to what the average slashdot poster seems to think about it.
This was probably just them dipping a toe in the water. Hell, they've destroyed SCO (who had an old Unix and their own version of Linux), cost IBM plenty (those lawyers have to be paid), discredited Novell (what exactly do they own?) and made a lot of people think twice. Sure fills the gap between SP2 and Longhorn.
Not so sure about that (Score:5, Interesting)
Funding (Score:3, Interesting)
Really? Just wait, I read somewhere that Microsoft is going to need some Unix(tm)(r)(patent pending) technology to replace all those open source parts of Microsoft(r) Services For Unix(r). I'm pretty sure Microsoft is not going to mind if the price is a little bit higher than the going rate.
Who lives by the sword, dies by the sword. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: "Aboot" (Score:3, Interesting)
I grew up in Maine. Plenty of visiting Nova Scotians said "aboot". We have one at work here who says it.
Biggest backer? (Score:3, Interesting)
The things that SCO is doing are blatantly suicidal and correspond in time with activity on the part of others, such as Ken Brown. I'm not a big conspiracy theorist, but give me a break. I'd be willing to bet my balls that Microsoft is funding not only SCO, but also all the other groups that have all of a sudden started attacking Linux and open source in general.
They may not be alone either. The other player that I suspect is Sun. Linux has hit them FAR harder than it has Microsoft. For the most part Microsoft has limited the ability of Windows to penetrate the server market, at least without becoming a much better product. Sun on the other hand, has directly lost market share to Linux, and not just a little bit either.
Ever find it funny how SCO went out of their way to declare that Solaris was "ok?" This was said in multiple PR notices. This makes me very suspicious of Sun. They have a LOT more to lose than Microsoft does. Their bread and butter is the server room, not the secretary's desktop, and that is exactly where Linux is kicking butt and taking names. This isn't just a matter of Solaris vs. Linux either. Its a matter of Linux on commodity hardware vs. Solaris on fabulously expensive proprietary hardware. Sun is behind the eight-ball in both regards. When Sun wants 100k for a quad processor system when you can easily buy an far faster Opteron based quad processor system for 1/5th the price, it makes you wonder what it is that Sun is smoking and why they haven't passed the bong.
I personally think that Sun is toast. If all they sold was an OS, then things wouldn't be so bad for them. But as it is they are stuck having to field both an OS AND the hardware it runs on. This isn't something that a struggling company can do well.
Today's SCOX chart - dipping below $4 (Score:3, Interesting)
Remember that SCOX has an announced stock buyback plan. So the support is, we have to assume, by SCO itself, spending its own money to keep the stock price up. Unsuccessfully. Support at $4 will probably be about as successful as the previous support attempts at $15, $10, and $5.
Re: "Aboot" (Score:5, Interesting)
Yes you have, you just didn't realize it because the difference isn't as pronounced as the parady in the South Park movie. I too, used to think it was just an old wive's tale, and that the pronounciation was identical, but a couple of months ago, there was a special on CBC called "Talking Canadian," which examined the regional dialects, inflections, and differences in our language.
They demonstrated the slightly different pronounciation of several words, most famously, "about." Like you, I used to think that the joke was that Canadians said "aboot", as in, "look at my foot, I'm wearing a boot." Since I personally don't pronounce it that way, and have never heard anyone else say it like that, I thought it was just a myth. But in fact, we do pronounce it differently than USAmericans, just not that strongly. If you listen, you can hear it.
Canadians pronounce it as "a-bout," like a wrestling "bout". Think of how you'd say, "I'm going out." That's the sound Canadians (and me too, I realized" employ when we way "about." I incorrectly assumed that that was how USAmericans say it, too. But the CBC special opened my eyes, and now I notice it when watching USAmerican media, too. They don't say it like we do. They say it like "a-bowt." The sound is more like we'd say if we stubbed our toe: "Ow!" Say it to yourself, "Today, the US President talked abowt the upcoming election..." Doesn't it sound surprisingly accurate?
There were other fascinating differences they highlighted, too. Like "stocking/stalking." Canadians pronounce them identically, but USAmericans put more of an "aw" sound in "stalking" than they do in "stocking." It was a pretty cool special.
Comment removed (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm suprised (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Pains (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Biggest backer? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:NOT GOOD at all......... (Score:2, Interesting)
The only company that could even possibly get at SCO's investors REAL identities now would be IBM, as they are the only ones with valid discovery claims towards their counterclaims.
As for 'instructed', I take it that you've had limited exposure to venture capital?
I'm acquainted with both investment capital and shill companies much more intimately than I would rather be. Both looking for and getting denied VC, and watching undeserving companies get VC money due to large corporate interests.
In Today's tech climate, how many places do you think they could have found with a business plan worthy of their VC ? And they just ACCIDENTILY invested in the worst / most hated / sleaziest tech company that there is ? Or do you think they might have been induced into doing it........
Re:Who lives by the sword, dies by the sword. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:One could interpret this... (Score:3, Interesting)
They can't just "take their money". They already gave it to SCO, and SCO's not giving it back.
Well, they reportedly agreed to give back $13e6 in cash and more in common stock with sell rate limits. But if Baystar is to be believed, the deal fell through
Why prolong the agony looking for a declaratory judgement?
When you believe someone owes you money, but won't pay, what do you do? Sounds like negotiations have fallen apart and Baystar's only recourse is to take it to court.
You fail to explain this, and that's why i'm closer to the mark.
Did that explaination work?
If "your mark" was merely that Baystar invested in a legal attack but was unsatisfied with SCO's ability, then the public record clearly supports you. But if "your mark" involves some notion that Baystar was uninterested in profit and only wanted damage to linux (presumably Microsoft covering expected losses), rather than owning a portion of outrageous per-cpu linux license fees.... well, now would be a time to post some compelling evidence to support an accusation of such malice.