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Long Live UNIX
August 8, 2005
By Darl McBride, CEO and President, The SCO
Group
Three years ago, when I first joined The SCO Group, we
focused the company on the area that was most profitable and
provided the most benefit to customers, investors, resellers,
developers and employees: UNIX. People thought we were crazy.
But since SCO owns the UNIX operating system and it made up 95
percent of our company’s revenue, and we were getting strong
demand from customers for a next generation version of UNIX,
that’s where we concentrated our efforts.
 Since then, people have often asked me,
“Is SCO a company that is really focused on innovating
products and technology or are you just hoping to win a
lawsuit against IBM and then ride off into the sunset?” “Isn’t
SCO just all about defeating Linux?” Of course we are
innovating and we absolutely want to defeat Linux, just as we
want to defeat any other competitor. We work and live in a
competitive environment, as do most companies. The competitive
battle between Pepsi and Coke is legendary, as is the battle
between GM and Ford, Boeing and Airbus, and the Red Sox and
Yankees.
If you had a chance to walk the halls of SCO’s offices, you
would clearly know that we are a company focused on furthering
SCO UNIX and innovating in new product areas. Some of these
developments we’ve been public about and others will be
introduced in the coming months. One thing is certain: while
our lawyers are protecting UNIX in the courtroom, SCO is
clearly focused on winning in the marketplace with superior
technology and better value for our customers.
In June, we released SCO OpenServer 6, which was a
multi-year, multi-million dollar development effort that
resulted in a product that goes beyond simply leveling the
playing field with Linux. Based on the feedback from our
strategic partners, customers, resellers, engineers, and many
others, I believe SCO OpenServer 6 outshines Linux on a number
of fronts:
1. OpenServer 6 Costs Less – OpenServer 6 offers
very aggressive pricing. The purchase price for SCO OpenServer
6 is priced from $599 to $1399 which includes the license to
the product, software fixes, and access to SCO’s online
knowledge base. Customers pay once for the product and run it
for as long as they like.
Linux vendors, on the other hand, seem to have a “bait and
switch” pricing model. The initial attraction to Linux was a
price tag of zero cost. Yet, they typically charge customers
from $349 to $2,499 every single year. Calculating the cost of
running Linux over a five year period of time, that same
customer pays from $1,745 to $12,495. Since the Linux license
itself is “free,” are you really happy to be paying annual
subscription fees that are, in effect, higher than SCO’s price
for both licenses and software fixes?
Is Linux really free? Of course not.
“Free” is one of the most searched words on the Web today.
When you type in “Free” in Yahoo search, it brings up more
than 3 billion hits. “Free” is a very powerful marketing
concept. We all love free. Linux lures you in with the promise
of its being “free.” But before you get out of the “store,”
you are surprised to find out that it was anything but free.
Just remember the proverb, “Free is the most expensive
price.”
2. SCO Has a Superior Kernel – SCO OpenServer 6
includes the UNIX System V Release 5 (SVR5) kernel, the result
of more than 25 years of high-end development work that has
created a proven track record of stability and reliability.
With our latest release, OpenServer provides support for up to
32 processors, 64 GB of memory, terabyte file sizes, and full
support for multi-threaded applications. Linux is still young
from an operating system perspective. I would challenge any
kernel out there to match us head-to-head. While Linux may
appeal to some as the sleek, new “racer” on the track, the
experienced IT professional will truly see the real power
under the hood when they test the UNIX kernel and the tried
and true power of UNIX combined with the new capabilities of
SCO OpenServer 6.
3. OpenServer Has Better Security – IT managers rank
security today as one of the most important decision factors
in selecting an operating system. According to technology risk
management firm mi2g, SCO OpenServer is one of the most secure
operating systems in the world. A study confirmed that SCO
UNIX platforms had the lowest number of vulnerabilities of any
operating system they had studied. SCO OpenServer 6 has all
the latest security protocols and encryption systems.
We also believe in quickly responding to the latest
security threats. In CNET’s, May 27, 2005 article entitled ”OS
Makers Slow to Fix Flaw,” a vulnerability was discovered
affecting Intel’s hyperthreading and allows a local hacker to
steal sensitive information. A notification was given to all
operating system vendors in March. “FreeBSD security team
member Percival has received formal responses to the issue
from the makers of the BSD family of open-source operating
systems, as well as SCO and Ubuntu Linux. However, Linux
vendors Red Hat, Novell and Mandriva have been slow to act, as
has Microsoft,” he said. SCO was first to respond to the
security threat.
Unfortunately for Linux, mi2g also confirmed that the Linux
operating system has become somewhat of a hacker’s paradise.
In a study conducted only seven months ago they found that
overall, the most vulnerable operating system for manual
hacker attacks was Linux, accounting for 65.64% of all hacker
breaches reported.
Regarding Linux vulnerabilities, mi2g stated, “For how long
can the truth remain hidden that the great emperors of the
software industry are wearing no clothes fit for the fluid
environment in which computing takes place, where new threats
manifest every hour of every day.”
4. SCO Has a Customer-Driven Roadmap – Customers
expect to see a published roadmap of product development.
Linux development plans and schedules are generally as unknown
as they are unpredictable. Contrary to that approach, SCO
believes in a solid, public, and planned roadmap based on the
tried and true methodology of listening to customers,
evaluating technology and bringing it to market in a timely
manner. SCO is committed to deliver on its roadmap
promises--on time and on target.
Linux will likely continue to face challenges about its
development methodologies and roadmaps as long as it continues
to be a loosely organized set of volunteers who develop what
they want, when they want.
5. OpenServer 6 is Backward Compatible – In
listening to our customers, we’ve received the strong message
that backward compatibility is essential. Backward
compatibility is almost non-existent for Linux customers.
Linux has a “community” of contributing volunteers, and while
some would say this is a boon for Linux, I would characterize
it as a bane because channeling all of these contributions
into another point release for Linux inevitably causes
problems. Who is checking for compatibility across thousands
of applications, drivers, hardware and peripherals? Who is
verifying backward compatibility? When a new upgrade of Linux
is required, software vendors and end users most likely have
to upgrade their application as well.
 SCO OpenServer 6 customers get a stable
operating system with full compatibility for applications back
to the earliest versions of SCO OpenServer and Xenix. SCO
customers don’t worry that their application won’t run with
the new version of their SCO operating system because backward
compatibility is built into each new release. It’s part of the
product release criteria, and SCO’s focused engineering team
makes it happen every time. As is the case with OpenServer 6,
older applications written on this operating system work
seamlessly with the new features and capabilities built into
the product.
6. SCO Allows You to Focus on Your Core Competency –
A popular animation on the Internet features a guy named
Steve, the Linux Super Villain. During the course of the 60
second animation, he describes his work with Linux stating,
“First you have to config it, then write some shell scripts,
update your RPMs, partition your drives, patch your kernel,
compile your binaries and check your version dependencies.…”
While the animation is designed to be humorous, it’s not far
from the truth. If you’re adopting Linux, get prepared to go
into the operating system business because that’s exactly the
path you will be taking.
One of the primary reasons customers choose SCO is that
they don’t want to be an operating system vendor. They want to
be free to manage their businesses, and leave the operating
system details to SCO and our army of resellers, support
engineers, and product development personnel.
7. SCO Owns and Warrantees its Products – SCO owns
the OpenServer 6 operating system that it licenses to its
customers. SCO also owns the UNIX operating system technology
that has been licensed to thousands of firms over the years.
Alternatively, Linux distributors ship an operating system for
which they have little control and no ownership. In fact, the
General Public License, which governs the use and distribution
of the Linux operating system, makes it clear that Linux
conveys no warranty to end users. From the standpoint of
intellectual property rights, SCO OpenServer 6 is backed by a
company that warrantees its products.
8. SCO is Unifying its Code Base – Yogi Berra once
said, “If you come to a fork in the road, take it.” Forking is
exactly what is happening to Linux. The grand promise of Linux
was that it wouldn’t fork or fragment into multiple Linux
operating systems. A noble sentiment, to be sure; but Linux
distributors have ensured exactly the opposite. They are
attempting to get ISVs locked into a specific flavor of Linux,
thereby forking Linux with every new version of the
product.
By not certifying any of the “free” versions of their
operating system (like Fedora), they instead concentrate their
efforts on only certified, “paid for” versions. They have
caused the very problem that they promised they would never
create. The problem is compounded when software and hardware
partners are forced to certify to multiple Linux
distributions
While UNIX has had its own history of forking, SCO is
committed to a policy of converging and unifying its code base
as is evident with the release of OpenServer 6. To simplify
the vender certification process, OpenServer 6 has actually
reduced the number of certifications required of our software
and hardware partners by providing a single-certification for
applications that now run on both UnixWare and OpenServer.
These partners welcome the opportunity for the industry to
create fewer certifications rather than more.
9. SCO UNIX: Legendary Reliability – Customers value
and trust a vendor whose products provide reliability and
stability year after year. A good operating system is like a
strong building foundation, you may not think about it
everyday, but you’re glad it’s there.
Some of the world’s largest and most well-known companies
trust SCO to run their business. One large SCO customer has
chosen OpenServer as its operating system of choice in
thousands of locations due to this legendary reliability.
Their method of deployment was recently described to me this
way: “We put the server in a closet, lock the door, and hide
the key. We never have to touch it again.” I believe this is a
key competitive advantage for OpenServer.
10. SCO Has an Award-Winning Support Team –
Customers of OpenServer 6 have access to a support team that
knows the product inside and out. They have decades of
experience with our product line and are available around the
world and around the clock. In addition, the SCO support team
has access to the very development engineers who created the
product. This cannot be said of Linux distributions. For most
customers who have an immediate need, SCO can respond much
faster than Linux because our support staff is in-house and
has direct access to the developers to answer all customer
questions.
Conversely, when Linux customers run into problems and need
professional technical support they really have only two
choices. First, they can turn to the Linux distributor who
played a big role in packaging the product but had nothing to
do with its core development. Or second, they can turn to the
Linux volunteer community. These volunteers were not paid to
develop the product; and they received nothing from the Linux
distributor, there’s no obligation for that volunteer to
support the product. Would you really want to trust the
backbone of your business to the likely unpredictable response
times of this Linux “volunteer fire department” support
model?
So that’s my “Top 10 List” of reasons you should consider
SCO UNIX as an alternative to Linux. Of course you, the
reader, probably think this byline is biased. Of course it is.
But what are the press saying about OpenServer 6? Here is a
quick sampling of recent sound bites:
“OpenServer 6’s features form a very powerful
server.”
“The price, for what you get, offers a significant return
on investment that cannot be overlooked.”
“This makes a powerful and reliable server combination
that should meet the needs of most organizations.”
“Sporting an updated kernel, The SCO Group Inc.'s
OpenServer 6 offers significant scalability upgrades, along
with new UnixWare application and driver compatibility.
These improvements, along with a set of new and updated
open-source software components, make OpenServer 6 a
compelling upgrade for sites already running this venerable
operating system.”
“SCO OpenServer 6 is a Winner”
I’m very proud of the work our SCO team has put into
OpenServer 6. We recognize that we’re not perfect and there is
much work to be done. However, as the stewards of the UNIX
operating system, SCO is committed to providing technology
leadership and delivering on the promise of UNIX-based
solutions for many years to come.
Best regards to all,
Darl McBride
CEO
The SCO Group
Click here for printer-friendly version of "Long Live UNIX"
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