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SCO OpenServer
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SCO OpenServer, previously SCO UNIX and SCO Open Desktop (SCO ODT), is a closed source version of the Unix computer operating system developed by Santa Cruz Operation (SCO) and now maintained by the SCO Group.
HistorySCO UNIX/SCO Open DesktopSCO UNIX was the successor to SCO Xenix, derived from AT&T System V Release 3.2 with an infusion of Xenix device drivers and utilities. SCO UNIX System V/386 Release 3.2.0 was released in 1989 as the commercial successor to SCO Xenix. The base operating system did not include TCP/IP networking or X Window System graphics. Shortly after the release of this bare OS, SCO shipped an integrated product under the name of SCO Open Desktop, or ODT. 1994 saw the release of SCO MPX, an add-on SMP package.
At the same time, AT&T completed its merge of Xenix, BSD, SunOS and System V features into System V Release 4. SCO UNIX remained based on System V Release 3, but eventually added home-grown versions of most of the features of Release 4.
The 1992 releases of SCO UNIX 3.2v4.0 and Open Desktop 2.0 added support for long file names and symbolic links. 1995's rebranded OpenServer Release 5.0.0 added support for ELF executables and dynamically linked shared objects, and made many kernel structures dynamic.
SCO OpenServerSCO OpenServer 5, an AT&T UNIX System V Release 3 based operating system, was initially released by The Santa Cruz Operation in 1992. Based on SCO UNIX 3.2v4, SCO OpenServer 5 would become SCO's primary product and serve as the basis for products like PizzaNet (the first Internet based food delivery system done in partnership with Pizza Hut) and Global Access (the first commercially licensed and bundled Internet Operating System). Due to its large installed base, SCO OpenServer 5 continues to be actively maintained by SCO with major updates having occurred as recently as March of 2008.
SCO OpenServer 6, an AT&T UNIX System V Release 4.2MP based operating system, was initially released by The SCO Group in 2005. It includes support for large files, increased memory, and multi-threaded kernel (light-weight processes) and is referred to as SVR5. SCO OpenServer 6 contains the UnixWare 7 SVR5 kernel integrated with SCO OpenServer 5 application and binary compatibility, OpenServer 5 system administration, and OpenServer 5 user environments.
SCO OpenServer has primarily been sold into the Small and Medium Business market (SMB). It is widely used in small offices, point of sale systems, replicated sites, and backoffice database server deployments. Prominent SCO OpenServer customers include McDonalds, Taco Bell, Big O Tires, Pizza Hut, Costco pharmacy, NASDAQ, The Toronto Stock Exchange, Banco do Brasil, many banks in Russia and China, and the railway system of India.
SCO Skunkware / Open SourceAll versions of SCO OpenServer have included significant open source components including BIND/X11/Sendmail/DHCP/Perl/Tcl and others. Later releases are bundled with numerous additional open-source applications including Apache, Samba, MySQL, PostgreSQL, OpenSSH, Mozilla, KDE, a wide variety of graphics web and X11 libraries (gwxlibs package), and most recently OpenOffice for OpenServer 6.
All versions of SCO operating system distributions including SCO OpenServer also have an extensive set of open source packages available for free download via the SCO Skunkware site.
UnixWare mergerSCO purchased the right to distribute UnixWare system and its System V Release 4 code base from Novell in 1995. Novell retained copyrights and patents to Unix, whereas SCO maintains ownership of derivative works of Unix since the purchase. SCO was eventually able to re-use some code from that version of UnixWare in later releases of OpenServer. Until Release 6, this came primarily in the compilation system and the UDI driver framework and the USB subsystem written to it.
By the end of the 1990s, there were around 15,000 value-added resellers (VARs) around the world who provided solutions for customers of SCO's Unix systems.
SCO announced on August 2, 2000 that it would sell its Server Software and Services Divisions, as well as UnixWare and OpenServer technologies, to Caldera Systems, Inc. The purchase was completed in May 2001. The remaining part of the SCO company, the Tarantella Division, changed its name to Tarantella, Inc., while Caldera became Caldera International, and subsequently in 2002 the SCO Group.
Under the SCO GroupThe SCO Group continued the development and maintenance of OpenServer. They currently continue to maintain the now obsoleted 5.0.x branch derived from 3.2v5.0.x; the most recent of these is 5.0.7.
On June 22, 2005, OpenServer 6.0 was released, codenamed "Legend", the first release in the new 6.0.x branch. SCO OpenServer 6 is based upon the System V Release 5 UNIX kernel and features multi-threading application support for C, C++, and Java applications through the POSIX interface. OpenServer 6 features kernel-level threading (not found in 5.0.x).
Some improvements over OpenServer 5 include improved SMP support (support for up to 32 processors), support for files over 1 terabyte on a partition (larger network files supported through NFSv3), better file system performance, and support for up to 64GB of memory.
OpenServer 6.0 maintains backward-compatibility for applications developed for Xenix 286 onwards.
Copyright issuesOn Friday, August 10, 2007, a U.S. district court judge ruled in the case of SCO v. Novell that Novell holds UNIX and UnixWare copyrights for code developed before 1995, enabling Novell to claim licensing fees collected by SCO related to those copyrights. The case is not fully vetted in the legal system as there are remaining portions still awaiting findings.
See also
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