SCO Group To Sell Unix Business

The SCO Group announced Thursday that it will attempt to sell most of its Unix business. The announcement follows a bankruptcy court approval of the sale. Ocean Park Advisors of Los Angeles will accept bids for the Unix assets until October 5.

The sale of the Unix business is the latest chapter in a long running SCO melodrama in which the company attempted to gain control over Unix by suing Novell and IBM. In 2004, SCO sued Novell, arguing that Novell owed it millions of dollars. SCO also attempted to drag IBM into the controversy, claiming that SCO had rights to Unix code that had found its way into open source code.

The main force behind the SCO campaign, former CEO Daryl McBride, left the firm long ago.

The asset sale has remained in abeyance for months, but with the approval of the bankruptcy court, bids can be accepted and SCO's few remaining customers will have a new provider to look after the SCO software. Some of SCO's recent customers included Kmart, McDonald's and Germany's train system.

"This asset sale is an important step forward in ensuring business continuity for our customers around the world," said Ken Nielsen, the SCO Group's chief financial officer, in a statement. "Our goal is to ensure continued viability for SCO, its customers, employees and the Unix technology."

SCO's remaining business has been estimated at more than $4.5 million annually.

Although it has been vanquished in court, SCO still has some hopes for some appeals of some of the litigation it has lost. Novell won a jury decision against SCO earlier this year. It has filed appeals in the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.

FURTHER READING: SCO Group Seeks To Add Novell To Unix Infringement Suit Novell Wins Unix Case Against SCO Kiss SCO Goodbye, Again