05.09.09
Maureen O’Gara is Again Spinning SCO’s Defeat
Summary: Be careful of Maureen O’Gara’s reality distortion field for SCO
PEOPLE CAN TELL APART SCO boosters from actual reporters when they just read the former’s tabloids-style reporting which is skewed by agenda. Several years back, Maureen O’Gara “planted” an attack story targeted against Linux [1, 2] together with Waggener Edstrom, Microsoft's PR department. She has also been using the SCO case to attack GNU/Linux, and the GPL/GNU in particular.
A few days ago we wrote about the high likelihood that SCO will be liquidated pretty soon, but O’Gara just can’t let go because she spins it wildly, whereas Groklaw presents the testimony from an actual eyewitness.
Stuart Singer of Boies Schiller argued for SCO, and I gather he did a fabulous job with very little to work with. Considering that Boies Schiller claims it is “way into the red” on SCO, it’s interesting that they still sent one of their very best, a partner in the firm. Michael Jacobs of Morrison & Foerster argued for Novell, and he is consistently excellent. Both attorneys, Clocks says, were spectacular to watch.
There is one more update from Groklaw and some newer, sparse coverage in the press:
• SCO to fight US bankruptcy trustee’s motion to liquidate it
The Department of Justice’s Trustee program, which has finally had enough of SCO’s stalling tactics and failed reorganization attempts, has filed a motion to transition the company to Chapter 7. SCO CEO Darl McBride says that the company will oppose the motion and will present a new reorg plan to the court.
• SCO threatened with Chapter 7 destruction
SCO Group’s long-standing legal battles over its claimed Unix copyrights may finally end with US bankruptcy court forcing a Chapter 7 cyanide capsule down the company’s throat.
On Tuesday, the trustee appointed by the federal bankruptcy court in Delaware asked for permission to dissolve the ailing shell-of-a-software-company and pawn off its assets.
• SCO being pushed toward liquidation
One of the most notorious and dragged-out court cases in the technology industry may soon find a quick end.
The U.S. Department of Justice filed a motion Tuesday to convert SCO Group’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing to Chapter 7. As a result, all non-exempt property—most likely including SCO’s mobile offerings—would be sold off and the proceeds from the sale would be distributed to SCO’s creditors, among them Novell and potentially IBM and Red Hat.
• But, What Will We Do Without SCO?
The saga of SCO v. Linux, known variously as SCO v. Novell, SCO v. IBM, SCO v. Everybody and their Mother, may be coming to a close. Yes, we know this comes as a shock — if anyone needs a moment to compose themselves, or, you know, dig out a case of Dom, we’ll wait — but it may well happen faster than any of us ever expected.
• SCO vs. Linux – the end is nigh
There’s been a new twist in the dispute between the SCO Group and Novell over UNIX Intellectual Property. The end may be nigh for the SCO Group – the US Trustee’s Office official responsible for SCO has applied to have the company’s Chapter 11 protection from creditors removed, stating that there is no reasonable prospect that the SCO Group can be “rehabilitated” to the extent that a sound, debt-free business can be re-established.
SCO has not been relevant for years, but with its final burial answers may somehow arrive. Those answers are already obvious to many, but the mainstream press is more reluctant to put emphasis on them. █
“[Microsoft's] Mr. Emerson and I discussed a variety of investment structures wherein Microsoft would ‘backstop,’ or guarantee in some way, BayStar’s investment…. Microsoft assured me that it would in some way guarantee BayStar’s investment in SCO.”
–Larry Goldfarb, Baystar, key investor in SCO
