Caldera OpenLinux
Encyclopedia
Caldera OpenLinux is a defunct Linux distribution
that was created by the former Caldera Systems (now SCO Group
) corporation. It was the early "business-oriented distribution" and foreshadowed the direction of developments that came to most other distributions and the Linux
community generally.
corporation within the Advanced Technology Group. Novell wanted an internet desktop
and conducted research on how to better and more easily integrate
and manage network access for users. The Windows
networking support for Novell networks would not be improved until later releases and the internet was dominated by Unix
-based operating systems. Relative to their needs, Novell deemed the Unixes of the day were too hardware intensive, too large, and charged too much in license
fees.
This group became convinced that Linux
offered the best possible answer for the OS
component. There were many other components as well, of particular interest were:
On April 5, 1994, the Board of Novell brought in Robert Frankenberg
, the general manager of Hewlett-Packard
Personal Information Products Group to replace Ray Noorda as CEO
of Novell. Novell's stock price had performed poorly recently due to flagging growth. At Novell the Network division was growing at a pace of 19% per year, the Unix business division which was flat, and the Desktop Applications division which was shrinking at a rate of $400 million per year.
Frankenberg's initiative was to refocus the company on networking and networking services. In terms of the Corsair that meant shedding most of the pieces. Negotiations started which would eventually lead to Wordperfect being sold off to Corel
. The Advanced Technology Group was disbanded which shut down Willow and the OS project. Ferret was in line with the new direction and this component was kept within Novell. Ray Noorda had founded a venture capital
investment group called the Canopy Group
two years earlier. He felt there was substantial promise in both the OS project and the Willow project. He created two companies, to continue the work started at Novell. The OS company was called Caldera
, and the API company Willows Software.
Noorda's early vision for Caldera was to create an IPX
-based version of Linux which would license the key components, resell this technology back to Novell to continue the "Internet Desktop." In effect, Caldera started life as an outsourcing
project for Novell. Caldera started with ten employees and most were from Novell: Bryan Sparks, founder/president (Novell); Bryce Burns, chief operations officer (Novell); Ransom Love
, VP marketing (Novell); Greg Page, VP engineering (Bell Labs, AT&T); Craig Bradley, VP Sales (Lotus, Word Perfect).
At this point Ransom Love and Noorda took note of the technologies that Caldera put together. Specifically:
More than just a component for Novell, Caldera has assembled the components needed to create a VAR
platform. Caldera faced a chicken and egg problem. OEM VAR applications often depended crucially on other company's commercial
applications
. Since these other applications hadn't been ported to Linux
yet they couldn't meaningfully port their own applications. Caldera responded by creating a binary applications package
which allowed Linux to run Unixware
and OpenServer applications, the Linux Application Binary Interface
(ABI) project, and assisting SCO in creating the Linux kernel
Personalities. Linux Kernel Personalities was worked on to bring Linux application compatibility to SCO Unix (formerly UnixWare) and OpenServer. "The idea was to enable developers
to write for both Unix and Linux with a common Application Programming Interface (API) and common Application Binary Interface (ABI). That way developers didn't have to work so hard, and Unix users, the client base we inherited from SCO, could run Linux applications."
Caldera also supported Alan Cox
in his work on SMP
. If Linux destroyed the Unix base on Intel then Sun Microsystems
wouldn't have a low-end Unix path. This point becomes more interesting in light of SCO's litigation 8 years later. That is IBM
was not the company involved in the SMP work and moreover the company most directly involved is the company that later became the SCO group
, essentially SCO suing IBM for work it itself did.
During 1996, Caldera continued to be a valuable player, for example, on May 23, 1996, at the Linux Kongress
in Berlin
, Germany
, Caldera announced its plans to obtain POSIX
and FIPS
Certifications and the X/Open
brand for UNIX 95 and XPG4 BASE 95 for the Linux operating system kernel
.
By 1997 Caldera had taken on the form that it would be most remembered for. Caldera had switched over to the high end Linux product. The "business" linux distribution
became more rich with features with bundled proprietary software
. However, it became less community oriented and was released less frequently than other Linuxes did. Other differences included automated configuration for administration
tools, paid technical support
staff, built-in consistent default GUI
, and a range of supported applications
. In 1995, for example when XFree86
was still very hard to configure and unreliable on most chip sets, Caldera had shipped with MetroLink's Motif
and XI Graphic's Accelerated-X
.
Wabi to allow people to run Windows applications under Linux. Additionally, they shipped with Linux versions of Word Perfect and CorelDRAW
(from Novell
and later Corel
). Since many of their customers used a dual boot
setup and FIPS
was unreliable, they shipped with PartitionMagic
to allow their customers to non destructively repartition their disk
. In partnership with IBM
they produced the first Linux distribution which was DB2
compatible. With the Oracle Corporation
they became the target platform for the Linux port of the Oracle database
. Other ventures included starting the Blackdown Java
project, founding the Embedix distribution, created professional certification
. They also formed strong partnerships with SCO's value-added reseller
market and started laying the groundwork for OEM
sales of Unix
-based vertical application
s. By the end Caldera offered 3 versions:
In addition to other people's applications, they created many Linux extensions
to fill voids where no other commercial company was. Caldera began working on a Linux equivalent of replacing the Microsoft Exchange Server
and Microsoft Outlook
that would eventually become Volution Messaging Server. Volution Messaging Server which was a replacement for exchange server integration with Microsoft's Outlook and offers calendaring/scheduling
options with shared busy/free information, SSL
support for e-mail and easy configuration. Additionally, they created the first fully graphical installer for Linux, called Lizard. They invented browser-based Unix system administration and created the webmin
project as well as purchasing DR-DOS
to create OpenDOS to help port DOS applications.
Caldera created a full featured GUI system administration tool called Caldera Open Administration System (COAS). The tool was a unified, easy to use administration tool with a modular design
. With its scalability
and broad scope abilities it featured:
OpenLinux was not a Microsoft killer, but it showed the Linux community what would be required to create a mainstream desktop OS
out of the Linux kernel. In many ways the last 10 years of desktop progress has been to successfully implement what Caldera was attempting to do with the tools they had available using open source software in place of the closed applications. Their technique for this was to utilize commercial software to fill in the largest gaps making their product a "value add" and thus they could charge for it. It made them the most commercial and at the same time it made them the most advanced distribution available.
portion, where Caldera's technologies fully owned were well ahead of competitor's products. These technologies included:
This combination of technologies allowed Caldera to offer a full Linux
operating system
with a graphical browser that could run off a floppy disk
. More importantly the product was unique, and this came from the fact that Caldera's view on the Linux embedded
market was differed from other vendors. All the other vendors believed that Linux was heavily fragmented and that the solution was to offer Linux features for real time OSes, that is a Linux API for some other OSes. Red Hat with its EL/IX created a kernel independent framework
(API
) which allowed some Linux software to run on the eCos
kernel. Caldera did not agree with this assessment and believed the API was offered far more advantages and allowed for a fully hardened
system, that is Caldera utilized a custom Linux kernel. Through the six companies embedded Linux company Lineo
acquired, they were able to extend the same Linux technology across multiple chip architectures and add real-time capabilities. The acquisitions gave broader Linux support, from very small microcontrollers, through traditional platforms like x86, and up to high end, high availability
systems.
Bryan Sparks CEO of Caldera Systems went on to split off Lineo
from Caldera as a technology company under his own direction. The desktop
company became Caldera International under the direction of Ransom Love
. The focus for the desktop company became mainly marketing
and business relationships. There were several reasons for this. The first was that Caldera had won a two hundred and fifty million dollar lawsuit
against Microsoft
for DR-DOS
and was flush with cash. Secondly, while the Caldera distribution was good, its primary advantages were the use of technologies not owned by Caldera and thus if Caldera were successful its success could (from a technical standpoint) be imitated, by Red Hat
, SUSE
, TurboLinux
, etc. Third, for years Caldera had been competing directly with SCO Unix, but by 1997 Linux outperformed SCO in almost every respect. Making the choice to switch from SCO to Caldera was not a "no-brainer" for companies because that also meant a switch of vendors and support organizations. Caldera's SCO acquisition was aimed at eliminating this problem. That is Caldera International's corporate direction became to combine SCO's distribution, marketing and VAR arm with LAMP
, and use Project Monterey
to develop a 64-bit
strategy. What SCO offered was:
From a technical standpoint however Caldera Open Linux really shone during the Ransom Love years. Their commercial
bundling
solution continued to work. They had a powerful low bug
(by Linux standards) distribution
that worked well on a wide range of hardware. They charged a great deal relative to other distribution and were able to generate a very strong profit. Red Hat pulled way ahead of them in terms of US sales and on the global sales front they trailed SUSE and TurboLinux as well, but financially due to the DR-DOS settlement they were the strongest of all the Linux distributions.
Caldera quickly found itself in a classic business problem where the interests of the existing business conflicted with their growth model. SCO
was a much larger company than Caldera International had been (the DR-DOS
settlement had been what made the buyout possible), and in fact of the $71 million of revenue 90% was from the SCO side of the business. Moreover, Caldera costs $4 in marketing to generate a $1 in sales, SCO was mature and sold itself (mainly to repeat customers). The VAR
relationship was even more problematic. Caldera had always sold the "Linux
is SCO but better" model and had done everything possible to make the transition from SCO to Caldera relatively seamless. Each of the 14,000 SCO resellers made much more from each SCO sale than from sales of Caldera so they were not anxious to move existing customers from SCO to Linux; and even those that were supportive of Linux saw no strong value add for Caldera and often sold Red Hat Enterprise Linux
. Caldera had two businesses in direct competition one which was a shrinking but still profitable Unix business, the other a rapidly growing business that was still hemorrhaging money.
The most logical solution was to establish Caldera as the premier Linux brand
. Without the threat from Red Hat
, transitioning resellers from SCO to Caldera would be much easier. With this in mind Ransom Love
formed an alliance of large business oriented Linux distributions which utilized the KDE
desktop, called United Linux
. The alliance comprised Caldera, SUSE Linux
, Turbolinux
, and Conectiva
. Filings from Novell
in the SCO Group SCO v. Novell
lawsuit showed that this was more than simply a marketing gimmick, and was a real alliance.
Business responded favorably to the movement as IBM
and AMD
quickly formed partnerships. The Linux Professional Institute
adopted United Linux as their standard distribution for training. For the first time there was a Linux distribution with:
SUSE Linux had the engineering as it had continued to maintain a large technical staff, Caldera had the global support organization and Turbo Linux and Conectiva brought with growth potential into less flooded markets. This merger was so successful that Love and Sparks could claim vindication that year when Novell reversed the Frankenberg decision and brought United Linux engineering talent back into the fold with the acquisition of SUSE.
United Linux was rejected by the broader Linux community; the use of per seat licensing was their most highly controversial decision. More importantly by the time United Linux was released Caldera was already dead. Darl McBride
had become CEO of Caldera International and the focus had shifted away from Linux.
As an incidental Caldera at this point released a Caldera "Linux distribution" with the OpenUNIX 8
kernel instead of the Linux kernel
. Unix
has TLI and STREAMS
support which makes writing drivers easier. Caldera proved this by replacing the kernel and yet not having to change much else on a full featured desktop and server "Linux."
, including Ralph Yarro
, brought in the CEO of Franklin-Covey
Darl McBride
. Almost immediately he saw the value of Caldera as being primarily the value of SCO. The company was renamed The SCO Group. Ransom Love
was reassigned to work exclusively on United Linux. After he completed this, he left the company to join Progeny Linux Systems
which was aiming to create a professional Debian
. He remained there in the capacity of a board
member and advisor until April 30, 2007 when Progeny ceased operations.
McBride began to focus on SCO's copyrights. One of McBride's first acts as CEO was to collect $600,000 in back licensing fees that were owed due to Caldera. He cleaned up various Linux-related licensing issues allowing for a new round of financing. Soon thereafter he made strong accusations
that Linux had infringed copyrights SCO held on Unix; they claimed to have purchased these copyrights from Novell
. Novell denied selling them Unix, prompting them to sue for slander of title
. SCO also initiated lawsuits against IBM
and AutoZone
, alleging copyright infringements through the use or distribution of Linux; none of these lawsuits have been resolved. SCO has created a division, SCOSource
, that owns and licenses their intellectual property; a desktop license is $699.
Linux distribution
A Linux distribution is a member of the family of Unix-like operating systems built on top of the Linux kernel. Such distributions are operating systems including a large collection of software applications such as word processors, spreadsheets, media players, and database applications...
that was created by the former Caldera Systems (now SCO Group
SCO Group
TSG Group, Inc. is a software company formerly called The SCO Group, Caldera Systems, and Caldera International. After acquiring the Santa Cruz Operation's Server Software and Services divisions, as well as UnixWare and OpenServer technologies, the company changed its focus to UNIX...
) corporation. It was the early "business-oriented distribution" and foreshadowed the direction of developments that came to most other distributions and the Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
community generally.
Novell and Corsair
Corsair, a user interface for Netware, was a project founded inside of the NovellNovell
Novell, Inc. is a multinational software and services company. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Attachmate Group. It specializes in network operating systems, such as Novell NetWare; systems management solutions, such as Novell ZENworks; and collaboration solutions, such as Novell Groupwise...
corporation within the Advanced Technology Group. Novell wanted an internet desktop
Desktop environment
In graphical computing, a desktop environment commonly refers to a style of graphical user interface derived from the desktop metaphor that is seen on most modern personal computers. These GUIs help the user in easily accessing, configuring, and modifying many important and frequently accessed...
and conducted research on how to better and more easily integrate
Digital integration
Digital integration is the idea that data or information on any given electronic device can be read or manipulated by another device using a standard format.-Cell phone calendar to public digital calendar :...
and manage network access for users. The Windows
Windows 3.0
Windows 3.0, a graphical environment, is the third major release of Microsoft Windows, and was released on 22 May 1990. It became the first widely successful version of Windows and a rival to Apple Macintosh and the Commodore Amiga on the GUI front...
networking support for Novell networks would not be improved until later releases and the internet was dominated by Unix
Unix
Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...
-based operating systems. Relative to their needs, Novell deemed the Unixes of the day were too hardware intensive, too large, and charged too much in license
License
The verb license or grant licence means to give permission. The noun license or licence refers to that permission as well as to the document recording that permission.A license may be granted by a party to another party as an element of an agreement...
fees.
This group became convinced that Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
offered the best possible answer for the OS
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
component. There were many other components as well, of particular interest were:
- Willows, a Microsoft Windows-compatible APIApplication programming interfaceAn application programming interface is a source code based specification intended to be used as an interface by software components to communicate with each other...
for Unix systems to allow recompilation of WindowsMicrosoft WindowsMicrosoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
programs for Linux. - The Ferret meeting browser.
- WordPerfectWordPerfectWordPerfect is a word processing application, now owned by Corel.Bruce Bastian, a Brigham Young University graduate student, and BYU computer science professor Dr. Alan Ashton joined forces to design a word processing system for the city of Orem's Data General Corp. minicomputer system in 1979...
, a (at this time) cross-platform word processingWord processingWord processing is the creation of documents using a word processor. It can also refer to advanced shorthand techniques, sometimes used in specialized contexts with a specially modified typewriter.-External links:...
applicationApplication softwareApplication software, also known as an application or an "app", is computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks. Examples include enterprise software, accounting software, office suites, graphics software and media players. Many application programs deal principally with... - WineWine (software)Wine is a free software application that aims to allow computer programs written for Microsoft Windows to run on Unix-like operating systems. Wine also provides a software library, known as Winelib, against which developers can compile Windows applications to help port them to Unix-like...
, a compatibility layer for running Windows and DOSDOSDOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is an acronym for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millennium Edition.Related...
software.
On April 5, 1994, the Board of Novell brought in Robert Frankenberg
Robert Frankenberg
Robert J. "Bob" Frankenberg is an American computer engineer and business executive who served as Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Novell, Inc. from 1994 to 1996.-Life and career:...
, the general manager of Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard Company or HP is an American multinational information technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA that provides products, technologies, softwares, solutions and services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises, including...
Personal Information Products Group to replace Ray Noorda as CEO
Chief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...
of Novell. Novell's stock price had performed poorly recently due to flagging growth. At Novell the Network division was growing at a pace of 19% per year, the Unix business division which was flat, and the Desktop Applications division which was shrinking at a rate of $400 million per year.
Frankenberg's initiative was to refocus the company on networking and networking services. In terms of the Corsair that meant shedding most of the pieces. Negotiations started which would eventually lead to Wordperfect being sold off to Corel
Corel
Corel Corporation from the abbreviation is a computer software company headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, that specializes in graphics processing, similar to Adobe Systems...
. The Advanced Technology Group was disbanded which shut down Willow and the OS project. Ferret was in line with the new direction and this component was kept within Novell. Ray Noorda had founded a venture capital
Venture capital
Venture capital is financial capital provided to early-stage, high-potential, high risk, growth startup companies. The venture capital fund makes money by owning equity in the companies it invests in, which usually have a novel technology or business model in high technology industries, such as...
investment group called the Canopy Group
Canopy Group
The Canopy Group is an investment firm founded by Ray Noorda, headquartered in Lindon, Utah. It serves as the parent company of various technology companies. One of its most well-known members was the SCO Group...
two years earlier. He felt there was substantial promise in both the OS project and the Willow project. He created two companies, to continue the work started at Novell. The OS company was called Caldera
Caldera (company)
Caldera was a US-based software company founded in 1994 to develop Linux- and DOS-based operating system products.- Caldera :Caldera, Inc...
, and the API company Willows Software.
Noorda's early vision for Caldera was to create an IPX
IPX
Internetwork Packet Exchange is the OSI-model Network layer protocol in the IPX/SPX protocol stack.The IPX/SPXM protocol stack is supported by Novell's NetWare network operating system. Because of Netware's popularity through the late 1980s into the mid 1990s, IPX became a popular internetworking...
-based version of Linux which would license the key components, resell this technology back to Novell to continue the "Internet Desktop." In effect, Caldera started life as an outsourcing
Outsourcing
Outsourcing is the process of contracting a business function to someone else.-Overview:The term outsourcing is used inconsistently but usually involves the contracting out of a business function - commonly one previously performed in-house - to an external provider...
project for Novell. Caldera started with ten employees and most were from Novell: Bryan Sparks, founder/president (Novell); Bryce Burns, chief operations officer (Novell); Ransom Love
Ransom Love
Ransom Love has been a co-founder of the meanwhile defunct Caldera company in 1994, and was President and Chief Executive Officer of one of its subsidiaries created on 21 August 1998, Caldera Systems, a company, which reorganized in August 2000 to become Caldera International in March 2001. He...
, VP marketing (Novell); Greg Page, VP engineering (Bell Labs, AT&T); Craig Bradley, VP Sales (Lotus, Word Perfect).
Caldera network desktop
- Caldera was built on the Linux kernel which ran on x86, PowerPCPowerPCPowerPC is a RISC architecture created by the 1991 Apple–IBM–Motorola alliance, known as AIM...
and AlphaDEC AlphaAlpha, originally known as Alpha AXP, is a 64-bit reduced instruction set computer instruction set architecture developed by Digital Equipment Corporation , designed to replace the 32-bit VAX complex instruction set computer ISA and its implementations. Alpha was implemented in microprocessors...
architectures. - Its wide area networkWide area networkA wide area network is a telecommunication network that covers a broad area . Business and government entities utilize WANs to relay data among employees, clients, buyers, and suppliers from various geographical locations...
ing was far more advanced than the Microsoft networked OSes at the time (Windows for Workgroups and Windows NT 3.51Windows NT 3.51Windows NT 3.51 is the third release of Microsoft's Windows NT line of operating systems. It was released on 30 May 1995, nine months after Windows NT 3.5. The release provided two notable feature improvements; firstly NT 3.51 was the first of a short-lived outing of Microsoft Windows on the...
), due to its being Unix-likeUnix-likeA Unix-like operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, while not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification....
. - Caldera worked perfectly inside of the most common local area networkLocal area networkA local area network is a computer network that interconnects computers in a limited area such as a home, school, computer laboratory, or office building...
, IPXIPXInternetwork Packet Exchange is the OSI-model Network layer protocol in the IPX/SPX protocol stack.The IPX/SPXM protocol stack is supported by Novell's NetWare network operating system. Because of Netware's popularity through the late 1980s into the mid 1990s, IPX became a popular internetworking...
. - The Willows APIApplication programming interfaceAn application programming interface is a source code based specification intended to be used as an interface by software components to communicate with each other...
codeSource codeIn computer science, source code is text written using the format and syntax of the programming language that it is being written in. Such a language is specially designed to facilitate the work of computer programmers, who specify the actions to be performed by a computer mostly by writing source...
written for the Caldera OS would run on Unix, Microsoft Windows, and Apple MacintoshMacintoshThe Macintosh , or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced by Apple's then-chairman Steve Jobs on January 24, 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a...
, as well as Caldera itself.
More than just a component for Novell, Caldera has assembled the components needed to create a VAR
Value-added reseller
A value-added reseller is a company that adds features or services to an existing product, then resells it as an integrated product or complete "turn-key" solution...
platform. Caldera faced a chicken and egg problem. OEM VAR applications often depended crucially on other company's commercial
Business software
This article is about software made for business, if you were looking for the business of selling software, see Software business.Business software is generally any software program that helps a business increase productivity or measure their productivity...
applications
Application software
Application software, also known as an application or an "app", is computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks. Examples include enterprise software, accounting software, office suites, graphics software and media players. Many application programs deal principally with...
. Since these other applications hadn't been ported to Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
yet they couldn't meaningfully port their own applications. Caldera responded by creating a binary applications package
Object file
An object file is a file containing relocatable format machine code that is usually not directly executable. Object files are produced by an assembler, compiler, or other language translator, and used as input to the linker....
which allowed Linux to run Unixware
UnixWare
UnixWare is a Unix operating system maintained by The SCO Group . UnixWare is typically deployed as a server rather than desktop. Binary distributions of UnixWare are available for x86 architecture computers. It was originally released by Univel, a jointly owned venture of AT&T's Unix System...
and OpenServer applications, the Linux Application Binary Interface
Application binary interface
In computer software, an application binary interface describes the low-level interface between an application program and the operating system or another application.- Description :...
(ABI) project, and assisting SCO in creating the Linux kernel
Linux kernel
The Linux kernel is an operating system kernel used by the Linux family of Unix-like operating systems. It is one of the most prominent examples of free and open source software....
Personalities. Linux Kernel Personalities was worked on to bring Linux application compatibility to SCO Unix (formerly UnixWare) and OpenServer. "The idea was to enable developers
Software developer
A software developer is a person concerned with facets of the software development process. Their work includes researching, designing, developing, and testing software. A software developer may take part in design, computer programming, or software project management...
to write for both Unix and Linux with a common Application Programming Interface (API) and common Application Binary Interface (ABI). That way developers didn't have to work so hard, and Unix users, the client base we inherited from SCO, could run Linux applications."
Caldera also supported Alan Cox
Alan Cox
Alan Cox is a British computer programmer who formerly maintained the 2.2 branch of the Linux kernel and continues to be heavily involved in the development of the Linux kernel, an association that dates back to 1991...
in his work on SMP
Symmetric multiprocessing
In computing, symmetric multiprocessing involves a multiprocessor computer hardware architecture where two or more identical processors are connected to a single shared main memory and are controlled by a single OS instance. Most common multiprocessor systems today use an SMP architecture...
. If Linux destroyed the Unix base on Intel then Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982...
wouldn't have a low-end Unix path. This point becomes more interesting in light of SCO's litigation 8 years later. That is IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
was not the company involved in the SMP work and moreover the company most directly involved is the company that later became the SCO group
SCO Group
TSG Group, Inc. is a software company formerly called The SCO Group, Caldera Systems, and Caldera International. After acquiring the Santa Cruz Operation's Server Software and Services divisions, as well as UnixWare and OpenServer technologies, the company changed its focus to UNIX...
, essentially SCO suing IBM for work it itself did.
During 1996, Caldera continued to be a valuable player, for example, on May 23, 1996, at the Linux Kongress
Linux Kongress
The Linux Kongress is an annual two-day conference of Linux developers from around the world. It has taken place since 1994, when Linux was in the early stages of development, and has except 2001 and 2007 always occurred in Germany. Linux-Kongress is one of the three major international...
in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Caldera announced its plans to obtain POSIX
POSIX
POSIX , an acronym for "Portable Operating System Interface", is a family of standards specified by the IEEE for maintaining compatibility between operating systems...
and FIPS
Federal Information Processing Standard
A Federal Information Processing Standard is a publicly announced standardization developed by the United States federal government for use in computer systems by all non-military government agencies and by government contractors, when properly invoked and tailored on a contract...
Certifications and the X/Open
X/Open
X/Open Company, Ltd. was a consortium founded by several European UNIX systems manufacturers in 1984 to identify and promote open standards in the field of information technology. More specifically, the original aim was to define a single specification for operating systems derived from UNIX, to...
brand for UNIX 95 and XPG4 BASE 95 for the Linux operating system kernel
Linux kernel
The Linux kernel is an operating system kernel used by the Linux family of Unix-like operating systems. It is one of the most prominent examples of free and open source software....
.
Caldera OpenLinux
Linux distribution
A Linux distribution is a member of the family of Unix-like operating systems built on top of the Linux kernel. Such distributions are operating systems including a large collection of software applications such as word processors, spreadsheets, media players, and database applications...
became more rich with features with bundled proprietary software
Proprietary software
Proprietary software is computer software licensed under exclusive legal right of the copyright holder. The licensee is given the right to use the software under certain conditions, while restricted from other uses, such as modification, further distribution, or reverse engineering.Complementary...
. However, it became less community oriented and was released less frequently than other Linuxes did. Other differences included automated configuration for administration
System administrator
A system administrator, IT systems administrator, systems administrator, or sysadmin is a person employed to maintain and operate a computer system and/or network...
tools, paid technical support
Technical support
Technical support or tech support refers to a range of services by which enterprises provide assistance to users of technology products such as mobile phones, televisions, computers, software products or other electronic or mechanical goods...
staff, built-in consistent default GUI
Graphical user interface
In computing, a graphical user interface is a type of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices with images rather than text commands. GUIs can be used in computers, hand-held devices such as MP3 players, portable media players or gaming devices, household appliances and...
, and a range of supported applications
Application software
Application software, also known as an application or an "app", is computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks. Examples include enterprise software, accounting software, office suites, graphics software and media players. Many application programs deal principally with...
. In 1995, for example when XFree86
XFree86
XFree86 is an implementation of the X Window System. It was originally written for Unix-like operating systems on IBM PC compatibles and is now available for many other operating systems and platforms. It is free and open source software under the XFree86 License version 1.1. It is developed by the...
was still very hard to configure and unreliable on most chip sets, Caldera had shipped with MetroLink's Motif
Motif (widget toolkit)
In computing, Motif refers to both a graphical user interface specification and the widget toolkit for building applications that follow that specification under the X Window System on Unix and other POSIX-compliant systems. It emerged in the 1980s as Unix workstations were on the rise, as a...
and XI Graphic's Accelerated-X
Accelerated-X
Accelerated-X is a proprietary port of the X Window System to Intel x86 machines.-History:The Accelerated-X server is built on top of the X386 X server that was created by Thomas Roell for X11 Release 5...
.
Commercial extensions
Over the next 5 years Caldera offered additional commercial extensions to Linux. They licensed Sun'sSun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982...
Wabi to allow people to run Windows applications under Linux. Additionally, they shipped with Linux versions of Word Perfect and CorelDRAW
CorelDRAW
CorelDRAW is a vector graphics editor developed and marketed by Corel Corporation of Ottawa, Canada. It is also the name of Corel's Graphics Suite...
(from Novell
Novell
Novell, Inc. is a multinational software and services company. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Attachmate Group. It specializes in network operating systems, such as Novell NetWare; systems management solutions, such as Novell ZENworks; and collaboration solutions, such as Novell Groupwise...
and later Corel
Corel
Corel Corporation from the abbreviation is a computer software company headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, that specializes in graphics processing, similar to Adobe Systems...
). Since many of their customers used a dual boot
Dual boot
Multi-boot or Multi-booting is the act of installing multiple operating systems on a computer, and being able to choose which one to boot when starting the computer. The term dual-booting refers to the common configuration of exactly two operating systems...
setup and FIPS
FIPS (computer program)
FIPS is a DOS program for non-destructive splitting of FAT hard disk partitions.Splitting partitions is an alternative to deleting the partitions and creating new ones using software such as fdisk, the advantage of which is that the data is not lost...
was unreliable, they shipped with PartitionMagic
PartitionMagic
PartitionMagic was a computer program for hard disk drive partitioning originally made by the PowerQuest corporation but now owned by Symantec. As of December 8, 2009, the Symantec website stated that they no longer offer Partition Magic. The program runs on Microsoft Windows operating systems...
to allow their customers to non destructively repartition their disk
Hard disk
A hard disk drive is a non-volatile, random access digital magnetic data storage device. It features rotating rigid platters on a motor-driven spindle within a protective enclosure. Data is magnetically read from and written to the platter by read/write heads that float on a film of air above the...
. In partnership with IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
they produced the first Linux distribution which was DB2
IBM DB2
The IBM DB2 Enterprise Server Edition is a relational model database server developed by IBM. It primarily runs on Unix , Linux, IBM i , z/OS and Windows servers. DB2 also powers the different IBM InfoSphere Warehouse editions...
compatible. With the Oracle Corporation
Oracle Corporation
Oracle Corporation is an American multinational computer technology corporation that specializes in developing and marketing hardware systems and enterprise software products – particularly database management systems...
they became the target platform for the Linux port of the Oracle database
Oracle database
The Oracle Database is an object-relational database management system produced and marketed by Oracle Corporation....
. Other ventures included starting the Blackdown Java
Blackdown Java
Blackdown Java was a Linux port of Sun Microsystems's Java virtual machine, developed by a group of volunteers led by Karl Asha and Juergen Kreileder. It predated Sun's official Linux port, and supported Linux on architectures that the official version did not, including SPARC and PowerPC...
project, founding the Embedix distribution, created professional certification
Professional certification
Professional certification, trade certification, or professional designation, often called simply certification or qualification, is a designation earned by a person to assure qualification to perform a job or task...
. They also formed strong partnerships with SCO's value-added reseller
Value-added reseller
A value-added reseller is a company that adds features or services to an existing product, then resells it as an integrated product or complete "turn-key" solution...
market and started laying the groundwork for OEM
Original Equipment Manufacturer
An original equipment manufacturer, or OEM, manufactures products or components that are purchased by a company and retailed under that purchasing company's brand name. OEM refers to the company that originally manufactured the product. When referring to automotive parts, OEM designates a...
sales of Unix
Unix
Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...
-based vertical application
Vertical application
A vertical application or vertical market application, is software defined by requirements for a single, or narrowly defined, market. It contrasts with horizontal application....
s. By the end Caldera offered 3 versions:
- Lite was a freely downloadableUploading and downloadingIn computer networks, to download means to receive data to a local system from a remote system, or to initiate such a data transfer. Examples of a remote system from which a download might be performed include a webserver, FTP server, email server, or other similar systems...
version. - Base was a $99 version with a few extensionsExtension (computing)Software extension, is a file containing programming that serves to extend the capabilities of or data available to a more basic program. It is a kind of list of commands which are directly included in the program. This term often coincides with the plug-in...
. - Standards was $299 and was their full featured product.
In addition to other people's applications, they created many Linux extensions
Extension (computing)
Software extension, is a file containing programming that serves to extend the capabilities of or data available to a more basic program. It is a kind of list of commands which are directly included in the program. This term often coincides with the plug-in...
to fill voids where no other commercial company was. Caldera began working on a Linux equivalent of replacing the Microsoft Exchange Server
Microsoft Exchange Server
Microsoft Exchange Server is the server side of a client–server, collaborative application product developed by Microsoft. It is part of the Microsoft Servers line of server products and is used by enterprises using Microsoft infrastructure products...
and Microsoft Outlook
Microsoft Outlook
Microsoft Outlook is a personal information manager from Microsoft, available both as a separate application as well as a part of the Microsoft Office suite...
that would eventually become Volution Messaging Server. Volution Messaging Server which was a replacement for exchange server integration with Microsoft's Outlook and offers calendaring/scheduling
Calendaring software
Calendaring software is software that minimally provides users with an electronic version of a calendar. Additionally, the software may provide an appointment book, address book, and/or contact list. These tools are an extension of many of the features provided by time management software such as...
options with shared busy/free information, SSL
Transport Layer Security
Transport Layer Security and its predecessor, Secure Sockets Layer , are cryptographic protocols that provide communication security over the Internet...
support for e-mail and easy configuration. Additionally, they created the first fully graphical installer for Linux, called Lizard. They invented browser-based Unix system administration and created the webmin
Webmin
Webmin is a web-based system configuration tool for Unix-like systems, although recent versions can also be installed and run on Windows. With it, it is possible to configure operating system internals, such as users, disk quotas, services or configuration files, as well as modify and control open...
project as well as purchasing DR-DOS
DR-DOS
DR-DOS is an MS-DOS-compatible operating system for IBM PC-compatible personal computers, originally developed by Gary Kildall's Digital Research and derived from Concurrent PC DOS 6.0, which was an advanced successor of CP/M-86...
to create OpenDOS to help port DOS applications.
Caldera created a full featured GUI system administration tool called Caldera Open Administration System (COAS). The tool was a unified, easy to use administration tool with a modular design
Modular design
Modular design, or "modularity in design" is an approach that subdivides a system into smaller parts that can be independently created and then used in different systems to drive multiple functionalities...
. With its scalability
Scalability
In electronics scalability is the ability of a system, network, or process, to handle growing amount of work in a graceful manner or its ability to be enlarged to accommodate that growth...
and broad scope abilities it featured:
- PortabilityPortingIn computer science, porting is the process of adapting software so that an executable program can be created for a computing environment that is different from the one for which it was originally designed...
(specifics encapsulated in a platformPlatform (computing)A computing platform includes some sort of hardware architecture and a software framework , where the combination allows software, particularly application software, to run...
repository) - OpenOpen system (computing)Open systems are computer systems that provide some combination of interoperability, portability, and open software standards. The term was popularized in the early 1980s, mainly to describe systems based on Unix,...
development model - Flexible module licensing
- Multiple user interfaces (batch processingBatch processingBatch processing is execution of a series of programs on a computer without manual intervention.Batch jobs are set up so they can be run to completion without manual intervention, so all input data is preselected through scripts or command-line parameters...
, ncursesNcursesncurses is a programming library that provides an API which allows the programmer to write text user interfaces in a terminal-independent manner. It is a toolkit for developing "GUI-like" application software that runs under a terminal emulator...
, QTQt (toolkit)Qt is a cross-platform application framework that is widely used for developing application software with a graphical user interface , and also used for developing non-GUI programs such as command-line tools and consoles for servers...
, JavaJava (programming language)Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...
) - Scripting interface (PythonPython (programming language)Python is a general-purpose, high-level programming language whose design philosophy emphasizes code readability. Python claims to "[combine] remarkable power with very clear syntax", and its standard library is large and comprehensive...
) for rapid prototyping - Backward compatibility (works on native files, "viVivi is a screen-oriented text editor originally created for the Unix operating system. The portable subset of the behavior of vi and programs based on it, and the ex editor language supported within these programs, is described by the Single Unix Specification and POSIX.The original code for vi...
admin" friendly)
OpenLinux was not a Microsoft killer, but it showed the Linux community what would be required to create a mainstream desktop OS
Desktop environment
In graphical computing, a desktop environment commonly refers to a style of graphical user interface derived from the desktop metaphor that is seen on most modern personal computers. These GUIs help the user in easily accessing, configuring, and modifying many important and frequently accessed...
out of the Linux kernel. In many ways the last 10 years of desktop progress has been to successfully implement what Caldera was attempting to do with the tools they had available using open source software in place of the closed applications. Their technique for this was to utilize commercial software to fill in the largest gaps making their product a "value add" and thus they could charge for it. It made them the most commercial and at the same time it made them the most advanced distribution available.
Lineo and marketing
In July 1999, Caldera decided on a major refocus of the embedded systemEmbedded system
An embedded system is a computer system designed for specific control functions within a larger system. often with real-time computing constraints. It is embedded as part of a complete device often including hardware and mechanical parts. By contrast, a general-purpose computer, such as a personal...
portion, where Caldera's technologies fully owned were well ahead of competitor's products. These technologies included:
- Rt-Control provided UCLinuxUClinuxμClinux stands for "MicroController Linux," and is pronounced "you-see-Linux" as explained on the website, not the way the Greek letter mu is normally pronounced. It was a fork of the Linux kernel for microcontrollers without a memory management unit...
- a version of Linux for microcontrollers, such as the Motorola 68k68kThe Motorola 680x0/m68000/68000 is a family of 32-bit CISC microprocessors. During the 1980s and early 1990s, they were popular in personal computers and workstations and were the primary competitors of Intel's x86 microprocessors...
/ColdFireFreescale ColdFireThe Freescale ColdFire is a microprocessor that derives from the Motorola 68000 family architecture, manufactured for embedded systems development by Freescale Semiconductor .-Instruction set:...
line, i960, ARM7ARM architectureARM is a 32-bit reduced instruction set computer instruction set architecture developed by ARM Holdings. It was named the Advanced RISC Machine, and before that, the Acorn RISC Machine. The ARM architecture is the most widely used 32-bit ISA in numbers produced...
, and ETRAX CRISETRAX CRISThe ETRAX CRIS is a series of CPUs designed and manufactured by Axis Communications for use in embedded systems since 1993. The name is an acronym of the chip's features: Ethernet, Token Ring, AXis - Code Reduced Instruction Set...
chips. With these chipsMicroprocessorA microprocessor incorporates the functions of a computer's central processing unit on a single integrated circuit, or at most a few integrated circuits. It is a multipurpose, programmable device that accepts digital data as input, processes it according to instructions stored in its memory, and...
lacking MMUMemory management unitA memory management unit , sometimes called paged memory management unit , is a computer hardware component responsible for handling accesses to memory requested by the CPU...
and thus unable to provide multi-taskingComputer multitaskingIn computing, multitasking is a method where multiple tasks, also known as processes, share common processing resources such as a CPU. In the case of a computer with a single CPU, only one task is said to be running at any point in time, meaning that the CPU is actively executing instructions for...
capabilities, uClinux is able to run full-featured in as little as 150 KBKilobyteThe kilobyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. Although the prefix kilo- means 1000, the term kilobyte and symbol KB have historically been used to refer to either 1024 bytes or 1000 bytes, dependent upon context, in the fields of computer science and information...
of RAM with a 1 MB ROMRead-only memoryRead-only memory is a class of storage medium used in computers and other electronic devices. Data stored in ROM cannot be modified, or can be modified only slowly or with difficulty, so it is mainly used to distribute firmware .In its strictest sense, ROM refers only...
chip. - FirePlug - Linux-based projects, such as their Linux firewall built on the ThinLinux product, which runs in as little as 2 MBMegabyteThe megabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage or transmission with two different values depending on context: bytes generally for computer memory; and one million bytes generally for computer storage. The IEEE Standards Board has decided that "Mega will mean 1 000...
of disk/flash storage and 8 MBMegabyteThe megabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage or transmission with two different values depending on context: bytes generally for computer memory; and one million bytes generally for computer storage. The IEEE Standards Board has decided that "Mega will mean 1 000...
RAM. - Embedix - Lineo's flagship product that runs a complete multitasking, networked Linux operating system in 2 MB of ROM/flashFlash memoryFlash memory is a non-volatile computer storage chip that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. It was developed from EEPROM and must be erased in fairly large blocks before these can be rewritten with new data...
and 4 MB of RAM. - Embedix SDKSoftware development kitA software development kit is typically a set of software development tools that allows for the creation of applications for a certain software package, software framework, hardware platform, computer system, video game console, operating system, or similar platform.It may be something as simple...
and the Embedix Browser - a fully graphical internet browser for embedded systems, this was in essence the Zenotropix browser.
This combination of technologies allowed Caldera to offer a full Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
with a graphical browser that could run off a floppy disk
Floppy disk
A floppy disk is a disk storage medium composed of a disk of thin and flexible magnetic storage medium, sealed in a rectangular plastic carrier lined with fabric that removes dust particles...
. More importantly the product was unique, and this came from the fact that Caldera's view on the Linux embedded
Embedded system
An embedded system is a computer system designed for specific control functions within a larger system. often with real-time computing constraints. It is embedded as part of a complete device often including hardware and mechanical parts. By contrast, a general-purpose computer, such as a personal...
market was differed from other vendors. All the other vendors believed that Linux was heavily fragmented and that the solution was to offer Linux features for real time OSes, that is a Linux API for some other OSes. Red Hat with its EL/IX created a kernel independent framework
Software framework
In computer programming, a software framework is an abstraction in which software providing generic functionality can be selectively changed by user code, thus providing application specific software...
(API
Application programming interface
An application programming interface is a source code based specification intended to be used as an interface by software components to communicate with each other...
) which allowed some Linux software to run on the eCos
ECos
eCos is an open source, royalty-free, real-time operating system intended for embedded systems and applications which need only one process with multiple threads. It is designed to be customizable to precise application requirements of run-time performance and hardware needs...
kernel. Caldera did not agree with this assessment and believed the API was offered far more advantages and allowed for a fully hardened
Computer security
Computer security is a branch of computer technology known as information security as applied to computers and networks. The objective of computer security includes protection of information and property from theft, corruption, or natural disaster, while allowing the information and property to...
system, that is Caldera utilized a custom Linux kernel. Through the six companies embedded Linux company Lineo
Lineo
Lineo was a thin client and embedded systems company spun out of Caldera Thin Clients, on 20 July 1999.Caldera Thin Clients, Inc., had been created as a subsidiary of Caldera, Inc., on 2 September 1998...
acquired, they were able to extend the same Linux technology across multiple chip architectures and add real-time capabilities. The acquisitions gave broader Linux support, from very small microcontrollers, through traditional platforms like x86, and up to high end, high availability
High availability
High availability is a system design approach and associated service implementation that ensures a prearranged level of operational performance will be met during a contractual measurement period....
systems.
Lineo spin off
Lineo
Lineo was a thin client and embedded systems company spun out of Caldera Thin Clients, on 20 July 1999.Caldera Thin Clients, Inc., had been created as a subsidiary of Caldera, Inc., on 2 September 1998...
from Caldera as a technology company under his own direction. The desktop
Desktop computer
A desktop computer is a personal computer in a form intended for regular use at a single location, as opposed to a mobile laptop or portable computer. Early desktop computers are designed to lay flat on the desk, while modern towers stand upright...
company became Caldera International under the direction of Ransom Love
Ransom Love
Ransom Love has been a co-founder of the meanwhile defunct Caldera company in 1994, and was President and Chief Executive Officer of one of its subsidiaries created on 21 August 1998, Caldera Systems, a company, which reorganized in August 2000 to become Caldera International in March 2001. He...
. The focus for the desktop company became mainly marketing
Marketing
Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...
and business relationships. There were several reasons for this. The first was that Caldera had won a two hundred and fifty million dollar lawsuit
Lawsuit
A lawsuit or "suit in law" is a civil action brought in a court of law in which a plaintiff, a party who claims to have incurred loss as a result of a defendant's actions, demands a legal or equitable remedy. The defendant is required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint...
against Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
for DR-DOS
DR-DOS
DR-DOS is an MS-DOS-compatible operating system for IBM PC-compatible personal computers, originally developed by Gary Kildall's Digital Research and derived from Concurrent PC DOS 6.0, which was an advanced successor of CP/M-86...
and was flush with cash. Secondly, while the Caldera distribution was good, its primary advantages were the use of technologies not owned by Caldera and thus if Caldera were successful its success could (from a technical standpoint) be imitated, by Red Hat
Red Hat
Red Hat, Inc. is an S&P 500 company in the free and open source software sector, and a major Linux distribution vendor. Founded in 1993, Red Hat has its corporate headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina with satellite offices worldwide....
, SUSE
SUSE Linux distributions
SUSE Linux is a computer operating system. It is built on top of the open source Linux kernel and is distributed with system and application software from other open source projects. SUSE Linux is of German origin and mainly developed in Europe. The first version appeared in early 1994, making...
, TurboLinux
Turbolinux
-Linux distribution:The Turbolinux distribution was created as a rebranded Red Hat distribution by Pacific HiTech employee Scott Stone. Scott was the lead release engineer through version 3.6....
, etc. Third, for years Caldera had been competing directly with SCO Unix, but by 1997 Linux outperformed SCO in almost every respect. Making the choice to switch from SCO to Caldera was not a "no-brainer" for companies because that also meant a switch of vendors and support organizations. Caldera's SCO acquisition was aimed at eliminating this problem. That is Caldera International's corporate direction became to combine SCO's distribution, marketing and VAR arm with LAMP
LAMP (software bundle)
LAMP is an acronym for a solution stack of free, open source software, referring to the first letters of Linux , Apache HTTP Server, MySQL and PHP , principal components to build a viable general purpose web server.The GNU project is advocating people to use the term "GLAMP" since what is known as...
, and use Project Monterey
Project Monterey
Project Monterey was an attempt to build a single Unix operating system that ran across a variety of 32-bit and 64-bit platforms, as well as supporting multi-processing...
to develop a 64-bit
64-bit
64-bit is a word size that defines certain classes of computer architecture, buses, memory and CPUs, and by extension the software that runs on them. 64-bit CPUs have existed in supercomputers since the 1970s and in RISC-based workstations and servers since the early 1990s...
strategy. What SCO offered was:
- A strong list of business clients.
- Higher compatibilityCompatibilityCompatibility may refer to:* Astrological compatibility* Compatibilism – a philosophical position* Compatibility * Compatibility * Compatibility * Electromagnetic compatibility* Interpersonal compatibility-Computing:...
between SCO and Linux than any other Unix/Linux combination, mainly as a result of Caldera's long standing SCO focus that created products like ABI and thus resulted in ports of SCO code to Linux - A good back-office and database solution while Linux specialized in networking (LAMPLAMP (software bundle)LAMP is an acronym for a solution stack of free, open source software, referring to the first letters of Linux , Apache HTTP Server, MySQL and PHP , principal components to build a viable general purpose web server.The GNU project is advocating people to use the term "GLAMP" since what is known as...
) and clientClient (computing)A client is an application or system that accesses a service made available by a server. The server is often on another computer system, in which case the client accesses the service by way of a network....
desktop, a very appealing combination in challenging Sun and Microsoft - A global infrastructure (presence in about 80 countries), Caldera was domestic
- Thousands of business applications targeted to vertical marketVertical marketA vertical market is a group of similar businesses and customers that engage in trade based on specific and specialized needs. Often, participants in a vertical market are very limited to a subset of a larger industry...
s - Some of the 3rd party components needed to get HP-UXHP-UXHP-UX is Hewlett-Packard's proprietary implementation of the Unix operating system, based on UNIX System V and first released in 1984...
, AIXAIX operating systemAIX AIX AIX (Advanced Interactive eXecutive, pronounced "a i ex" is a series of proprietary Unix operating systems developed and sold by IBM for several of its computer platforms...
, Solaris 3rd party JavaJava (programming language)Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...
applicationsApplication softwareApplication software, also known as an application or an "app", is computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks. Examples include enterprise software, accounting software, office suites, graphics software and media players. Many application programs deal principally with...
ported to Linux
From a technical standpoint however Caldera Open Linux really shone during the Ransom Love years. Their commercial
Commercial software
Commercial software, or less commonly, payware, is computer software that is produced for sale or that serves commercial purposes.Commercial software is most often proprietary software, but free software packages may also be commercial software....
bundling
Product bundling
Product bundling is a marketing strategy that involves offering several products for sale as one combined product. This strategy is very common in the software business , in the cable television industry Product bundling is a marketing strategy that involves offering several products for sale as...
solution continued to work. They had a powerful low bug
Software bug
A software bug is the common term used to describe an error, flaw, mistake, failure, or fault in a computer program or system that produces an incorrect or unexpected result, or causes it to behave in unintended ways. Most bugs arise from mistakes and errors made by people in either a program's...
(by Linux standards) distribution
Linux distribution
A Linux distribution is a member of the family of Unix-like operating systems built on top of the Linux kernel. Such distributions are operating systems including a large collection of software applications such as word processors, spreadsheets, media players, and database applications...
that worked well on a wide range of hardware. They charged a great deal relative to other distribution and were able to generate a very strong profit. Red Hat pulled way ahead of them in terms of US sales and on the global sales front they trailed SUSE and TurboLinux as well, but financially due to the DR-DOS settlement they were the strongest of all the Linux distributions.
United Linux
SCO OpenServer
SCO OpenServer, previously SCO UNIX and SCO Open Desktop , is, misleadingly, a closed source version of the Unix computer operating system developed by Santa Cruz Operation and now maintained by the SCO Group....
was a much larger company than Caldera International had been (the DR-DOS
DR-DOS
DR-DOS is an MS-DOS-compatible operating system for IBM PC-compatible personal computers, originally developed by Gary Kildall's Digital Research and derived from Concurrent PC DOS 6.0, which was an advanced successor of CP/M-86...
settlement had been what made the buyout possible), and in fact of the $71 million of revenue 90% was from the SCO side of the business. Moreover, Caldera costs $4 in marketing to generate a $1 in sales, SCO was mature and sold itself (mainly to repeat customers). The VAR
Value-added reseller
A value-added reseller is a company that adds features or services to an existing product, then resells it as an integrated product or complete "turn-key" solution...
relationship was even more problematic. Caldera had always sold the "Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
is SCO but better" model and had done everything possible to make the transition from SCO to Caldera relatively seamless. Each of the 14,000 SCO resellers made much more from each SCO sale than from sales of Caldera so they were not anxious to move existing customers from SCO to Linux; and even those that were supportive of Linux saw no strong value add for Caldera and often sold Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Red Hat Enterprise Linux is a Linux-based operating system developed by Red Hat and targeted toward the commercial market. Red Hat Enterprise Linux is released in server versions for x86, x86-64, Itanium, PowerPC and IBM System z, and desktop versions for x86 and x86-64...
. Caldera had two businesses in direct competition one which was a shrinking but still profitable Unix business, the other a rapidly growing business that was still hemorrhaging money.
The most logical solution was to establish Caldera as the premier Linux brand
Linux distribution
A Linux distribution is a member of the family of Unix-like operating systems built on top of the Linux kernel. Such distributions are operating systems including a large collection of software applications such as word processors, spreadsheets, media players, and database applications...
. Without the threat from Red Hat
Red Hat
Red Hat, Inc. is an S&P 500 company in the free and open source software sector, and a major Linux distribution vendor. Founded in 1993, Red Hat has its corporate headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina with satellite offices worldwide....
, transitioning resellers from SCO to Caldera would be much easier. With this in mind Ransom Love
Ransom Love
Ransom Love has been a co-founder of the meanwhile defunct Caldera company in 1994, and was President and Chief Executive Officer of one of its subsidiaries created on 21 August 1998, Caldera Systems, a company, which reorganized in August 2000 to become Caldera International in March 2001. He...
formed an alliance of large business oriented Linux distributions which utilized the KDE
KDE
KDE is an international free software community producing an integrated set of cross-platform applications designed to run on Linux, FreeBSD, Microsoft Windows, Solaris and Mac OS X systems...
desktop, called United Linux
United Linux
United Linux was an attempt by a consortium of Linux distributors to create a common base distribution for enterprise use, so as to minimize duplication of engineering effort and form an effective competitor to Red Hat...
. The alliance comprised Caldera, SUSE Linux
SUSE Linux distributions
SUSE Linux is a computer operating system. It is built on top of the open source Linux kernel and is distributed with system and application software from other open source projects. SUSE Linux is of German origin and mainly developed in Europe. The first version appeared in early 1994, making...
, Turbolinux
Turbolinux
-Linux distribution:The Turbolinux distribution was created as a rebranded Red Hat distribution by Pacific HiTech employee Scott Stone. Scott was the lead release engineer through version 3.6....
, and Conectiva
Conectiva
Conectiva was a company founded on August 28, 1995, in Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil, by a group of friends, among them Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo, who was a pioneer in the distribution of Linux and open source software in Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish and English for all of Latin America...
. Filings from Novell
Novell
Novell, Inc. is a multinational software and services company. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Attachmate Group. It specializes in network operating systems, such as Novell NetWare; systems management solutions, such as Novell ZENworks; and collaboration solutions, such as Novell Groupwise...
in the SCO Group SCO v. Novell
SCO v. Novell
SCO v. Novell was a United States lawsuit in which the The SCO Group claimed ownership of the source code for the Unix operating system, including portions of Linux...
lawsuit showed that this was more than simply a marketing gimmick, and was a real alliance.
Business responded favorably to the movement as IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
and AMD
Advanced Micro Devices
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. or AMD is an American multinational semiconductor company based in Sunnyvale, California, that develops computer processors and related technologies for commercial and consumer markets...
quickly formed partnerships. The Linux Professional Institute
Linux Professional Institute
The Linux Professional Institute Inc. is a non-profit organization that provides vendor-independent professional certification for Linux system administrators and programmers....
adopted United Linux as their standard distribution for training. For the first time there was a Linux distribution with:
- Global scope
- Global support at the VAR, OEMOriginal Equipment ManufacturerAn original equipment manufacturer, or OEM, manufactures products or components that are purchased by a company and retailed under that purchasing company's brand name. OEM refers to the company that originally manufactured the product. When referring to automotive parts, OEM designates a...
and distribution level - A full training organization
- Some governmental buy-in
- Support from major corporations
- Enterprise applications like OracleOracle databaseThe Oracle Database is an object-relational database management system produced and marketed by Oracle Corporation....
supported out of the boxOut of the boxOut of the box is the term used to denote items, functionalities, or features that do not require any additional installation. In addition to being used for tangible products, the phrase is often used in a less literal sense for software, which may not be distributed in an actual box but offer... - An actual production GUIGraphical user interfaceIn computing, a graphical user interface is a type of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices with images rather than text commands. GUIs can be used in computers, hand-held devices such as MP3 players, portable media players or gaming devices, household appliances and...
that ran well on a variety of hardware
SUSE Linux had the engineering as it had continued to maintain a large technical staff, Caldera had the global support organization and Turbo Linux and Conectiva brought with growth potential into less flooded markets. This merger was so successful that Love and Sparks could claim vindication that year when Novell reversed the Frankenberg decision and brought United Linux engineering talent back into the fold with the acquisition of SUSE.
United Linux was rejected by the broader Linux community; the use of per seat licensing was their most highly controversial decision. More importantly by the time United Linux was released Caldera was already dead. Darl McBride
Darl McBride
Darl Charles McBride is the former CEO of The SCO Group. He became the CEO of Caldera International on June 28, 2002.On March 7, 2003, during McBride's tenure as CEO of the company, The SCO Group initiated litigation against IBM, alleging breach of contract and copyright infringement claims...
had become CEO of Caldera International and the focus had shifted away from Linux.
As an incidental Caldera at this point released a Caldera "Linux distribution" with the OpenUNIX 8
UnixWare
UnixWare is a Unix operating system maintained by The SCO Group . UnixWare is typically deployed as a server rather than desktop. Binary distributions of UnixWare are available for x86 architecture computers. It was originally released by Univel, a jointly owned venture of AT&T's Unix System...
kernel instead of the Linux kernel
Linux kernel
The Linux kernel is an operating system kernel used by the Linux family of Unix-like operating systems. It is one of the most prominent examples of free and open source software....
. Unix
Unix
Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...
has TLI and STREAMS
STREAMS
In computer networking, STREAMS is the native framework in Unix System V for implementing character devices.STREAMS was designed as a modular architecture for implementing full-duplex I/O between kernel or user space processes and device drivers. Its most frequent uses have been in developing...
support which makes writing drivers easier. Caldera proved this by replacing the kernel and yet not having to change much else on a full featured desktop and server "Linux."
Copyright infringement allegations
In 2002, the Caldera board of directorsBoard of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
, including Ralph Yarro
Ralph Yarro III
Ralph J. Yarro III is chairman of the board and the largest shareholder in The SCO Group, Inc. Previously, he was CEO of The Canopy Group, Inc....
, brought in the CEO of Franklin-Covey
Franklin-Covey
FranklinCovey , based in West Valley City, Utah, is a provider of time management training and assessment services for organizations and individuals. The company was formed on May 30, 1997, as a result of an acquisition by Franklin Quest of Stephen R. Covey's Covey Leadership Center...
Darl McBride
Darl McBride
Darl Charles McBride is the former CEO of The SCO Group. He became the CEO of Caldera International on June 28, 2002.On March 7, 2003, during McBride's tenure as CEO of the company, The SCO Group initiated litigation against IBM, alleging breach of contract and copyright infringement claims...
. Almost immediately he saw the value of Caldera as being primarily the value of SCO. The company was renamed The SCO Group. Ransom Love
Ransom Love
Ransom Love has been a co-founder of the meanwhile defunct Caldera company in 1994, and was President and Chief Executive Officer of one of its subsidiaries created on 21 August 1998, Caldera Systems, a company, which reorganized in August 2000 to become Caldera International in March 2001. He...
was reassigned to work exclusively on United Linux. After he completed this, he left the company to join Progeny Linux Systems
Progeny Linux Systems
Progeny Linux Systems is a defunct company which provided Linux platform technology. Their Platform Services technology supported both Debian and RPM-based distributions for Linux platforms. Progeny Linux Systems was based in Indianapolis. Its CTO was John H. Hartman...
which was aiming to create a professional Debian
Debian
Debian is a computer operating system composed of software packages released as free and open source software primarily under the GNU General Public License along with other free software licenses. Debian GNU/Linux, which includes the GNU OS tools and Linux kernel, is a popular and influential...
. He remained there in the capacity of a board
Board of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
member and advisor until April 30, 2007 when Progeny ceased operations.
McBride began to focus on SCO's copyrights. One of McBride's first acts as CEO was to collect $600,000 in back licensing fees that were owed due to Caldera. He cleaned up various Linux-related licensing issues allowing for a new round of financing. Soon thereafter he made strong accusations
SCO v. IBM
SCO v. IBM is a civil lawsuit in the United States District Court of Utah. The SCO Group asserted that there are legal uncertainties regarding the use of the Linux operating system due to alleged violations of IBM's Unix licenses in the development of Linux code at IBM.-Summary:On March 6, 2003,...
that Linux had infringed copyrights SCO held on Unix; they claimed to have purchased these copyrights from Novell
Novell
Novell, Inc. is a multinational software and services company. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Attachmate Group. It specializes in network operating systems, such as Novell NetWare; systems management solutions, such as Novell ZENworks; and collaboration solutions, such as Novell Groupwise...
. Novell denied selling them Unix, prompting them to sue for slander of title
Slander of title
In law, slander of title is normally a claim involving real estate in which one entity falsely claims to own another entity's property. Alternatively, it is casting aspersion on someone else's property, business or goods, e.g. claiming a house is infested with termites , or falsely claiming you own...
. SCO also initiated lawsuits against IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
and AutoZone
AutoZone
AutoZone is a retailer and distributor of aftermarket automotive parts and accessories. based in Memphis, Tennessee.-History:Originally a division of Memphis-based wholesale grocer Malone & Hyde, the company went under the name Auto Shack...
, alleging copyright infringements through the use or distribution of Linux; none of these lawsuits have been resolved. SCO has created a division, SCOSource
SCOsource
SCOsource is a business division of The SCO Group that manages its Unix intellectual property. The term SCOsource is often used for SCO's licensing program that allows corporate users of Linux to buy licenses to proprietary Unix technology that SCO claims exists in the Linux operating system...
, that owns and licenses their intellectual property; a desktop license is $699.
Further reading
- Ransom Love on the SCO merger
- More on finances of the SCO merger
- Darl McBride's early successes in the IP battles
- Ransom Love editorial on the value of the Linux Standard Base
- In addition to the litigation SCO initiated Red Hat has sued SCORed Hat v. SCOThe Red Hat v. SCO lawsuit - Red Hat filed suit against The SCO Group on August 4, 2003. Red Hat is asking for a permanent injunction against SCO's Linux campaign and a number of declaratory judgments that Red Hat has not violated SCO's copyrights....
- Dec 1995 review of Caldera Desktop Linux
- A comparative review from seven months later
External links
- Groklaw has an extended discussion of the Linux ABI
- The Japanese subsidiary of Lineo (United System Engineers) is still alive.
- An advertisement white-paper from March 2001 Red Hat to Caldera. This pushes the "product not a distribution" philosophy.
- Ralf Flaxa's LST was a major contributor for the original Caldera Desktop