Bonum Certa Men Certa

It's Final: Novell Owns UNIX. Now, Who Will Buy Novell With UNIX?



Summary: The judge gives UNIX to Novell, but it is worth remembering that Novell is up for sale and its assets are up for grabs

THE SCO case is over, according to Groklaw. We have heard it so many times before, so is this really it? (Groklaw has just published an older transcript as well)

Judge Ted Stewart has ruled for Novell and against SCO. Novell's claim for declaratory judgment is granted; SCO's claims for specific performance and breach of the implied covenant of good fair and fair dealings are denied. Also SCO's motion for judgment as a matter of law or for a new trial: denied. SCO is entitled to waive, at its sole discretion, claims against IBM, Sequent and other SVRX licensees.

CASE CLOSED!


It's not quite "CASE CLOSED!" considering the fact that Novell is looking for an acquirer, who would also take control of UNIX. Could VMware possibly be interested in buying Novell now that they work together? From Novell's PR blog:

Today, Novell and VMware jointly announced a unique original equipment manufacturer (OEM) agreement through which VMware will distribute and support the SUSE€® Linux Enterprise Server operating system. VMware will also standardize its virtual appliance-based product offerings on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server.


A little while earlier we wrote about this deal (still in the news). Some people speculated that VMware would buy Red Hat, but Novell is much cheaper and it is close to Microsoft, which VMware's current management came from. Other potential buyers of Novell are SAP, IBM, Microsoft, and all sorts of hedge funds that are likely to sell Novell piece by piece.

Back in 2007 we warned that Novell owning UNIX possibly means that an acquirer of Novell would own UNIX within months or years. It seems as though we were right. It just took a while.

On Novell sale:

Recent Techrights' Posts

At Least 23 Days of EPO Strikes
Why does the media not deem this newsworthy?
The Energy Crisis Will Likely Carry on and Kill the Slop Industry
To the slop charlatans, "this is the end, my friend..."
SLAPP Censorship - Part 44 Out of 200: Garrett and Graveley 'Copypasta' Sunday (Copy-Paste, Add One Word, Change 'T' to 't')
recycling text
 
Microsoft Windows "Market Share" in USA Down to 40% According to Government Sites or 31% Overall
The world is changing, so do Americans
SLAPP Censorship - Part 45 Out of 200: Garrett and Graveley Cases Inherently the Same, Their Legal Team Can Barely Even Distinguish (Full Timeline)
"million-dollar men"
Gemini Links 13/04/2026: Pronouns for an LLM, Fakecoins Promotion Piggybacking Iran, "Your Face is Now a Search Query"
Links for the day
Links 13/04/2026: Higher Costs Hurt Both Rich and Poor Country, a "Landslide Win to Oust Orban"
Links for the day
Tens of Thousands of Days of Strike at Europe's Second-Largest Institution, Nobody in the Media Has Mentioned It
Since the "extraordinary general meeting"
SPAM That Mentions "AI" 16 Times (in "Security" Clothing, But Selling Back Doors), a Paid Placement in The Register MS
This will doom the reputation of the publication, The Register MS
Links 13/04/2026: Impersonating ProPublica Reporter, More Attacks on the Press (Occupation With Little and No Compensation, Only High Risk)
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, April 12, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, April 12, 2026
Gemini Links 13/04/2026: Freiburg, GUIX, and Announcing Satellite Antenna (SA)
Links for the day
Links 12/04/2026: Climate, Conflict, and Change in Hungaristan
Links for the day
Gemini Links 12/04/2026: Passports, Science, and Lateral Thinking with Withered Technology
Links for the day
EPO on Strike This Past Friday (All Major Sites), Massive Strike Continues Tomorrow
strikes have trebled, not trembled, compared to last month (in Munich)
Links 12/04/2026: SLAPPs Against Thai Journalists Who Expose High-Level Corruption, Maharlika (Philippines/Marcos) Threatens to Lawyer Up Against GAFAM to Demand Censorship of Critics
Links for the day
Racism and IBM
at IBM and Red Hat people who are hard-working and proficient are now being fired based on their ethnicity and nationality (or either)
When Cruelty is the Point (American SLAPPs in London, the United Kingdom, Europe)
Consider the following
Resistance to SLAPPs in the UK: Coalition Growing
thankfully awareness of SLAPPs in the UK is improving
Links 12/04/2026: Mass Rebellion Against Slop, UK Crackdown on Nudification by Slop
Links for the day
Gemini Links 12/04/2026: "Objective Truth" and Flutter
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, April 11, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, April 11, 2026
Red Hat: We Kill People, But Please Obey the CoC or We'll Banish You
From Red Hat's own site
SLAPP Censorship - Part 43 Out of 200: Garrett and Graveley Particulars of Claims Almost Identical and 5RB Needs to Investigate Its Barristers (Its Reputation is at Stake)
Scrolling up and down in social control media
Gemini Links 11/04/2026: Floppy Disks on Linux and Junix
Links for the day
statCounter: Microsoft Windows Falls to All-Time Low This Month in France
French government agencies are ordered to move to GNU/Linux
Disgruntled IBMers Explain Why IBM is Circling Down a Death Spiral, Gerstner (Recently Deceased) Destroyed IBM in April 1993, and IBM Now Weaponises PIPs to Attack Its Own
We've just checked if anyone has covered mass layoffs at IBM Red Hat. Nope.
The Central Staff Committee of the EPO Explains Late March Meetings Coinciding With Commencement of the Non-Stop Strikes at Europe's Second-Largest Institution
The fifth meeting report and sixth meeting report show some of the concerns leading up to the mass strikes
Gemini Links 11/04/2026: Critique of Delta Chat and Why Trying to Emulate Centralised, Addictive "Facebook" is Misguided
Links for the day
Links 11/04/2026: Scam Altman’s Trust Issues at OpenAI and EFF Quitting Twitter
Links for the day
Links 11/04/2026: Twitter Presence Considered Harmful to News Sites, "The Future of Everything is Lies"
Links for the day
thenextweb.com (TNW) Appears to Have Become a Slopfarm, Fake Articles About France and GNU/Linux Flood the Web
If you're not against slop, you're part of the problem
Almost 3 Days Later, Still Zero Press Coverage (Except One Publisher) About Mass Layoffs at Red Hat, Almost 500 People Laid Off (Over 400 for Sure)
"A document posted by FOSS advocacy site Techrights appears to be that memo and explains that Red Hat has devised a location strategy under which it has identified key sites for prioritized hiring and strategic workforce investment."
The Register MS, About 6 Million Pounds in Debt, Helps Promote Microsoft's Gartner Group and Prop Up the Ponzi Scheme of Slop Plagiarism, Fake Article Mentions "AI" About 20 Times
What was now known as The Register UK not only works against the interests of the UK; it works for charlatans and frauds
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, April 10, 2026
IRC logs for Friday, April 10, 2026