What did you think when SCO filed the lawsuit against IBM?
I wasn't surprised about the lawsuit against IBM because there were longstanding issues we weren't able to resolve with IBM. But I lived through the Microsoft suit at Caldera (in which Caldera sued Microsoft over the DOS operating system), and those things take on a life of their own. They consume a business. When it first came out my biggest concern -- we had done work to get SCO to a position where it was profitable, then they got themselves embroiled in this major lawsuit, and I just new it was going to go south. That's when we -- my wife and I -- sold our shares.
Presumably, you think Linux still has a chance, given your new post at Progeny?
Absolutely. I think a lot of this stuff will take its course. For example, I'm almost certain that Novell has existing rights for using Unix products, so they may very well be indemnified. When they sold Unix to SCO, they kept a lot of stuff themselves. That could provide a buffer between SCO and the industry. It'll be fun to watch what happens.
Why did you join the Progeny board?
I'd been away from Linux a little bit and had been watching from the sidelines. I felt like now is a good time -- with the Novell purchase. It could be an ideal opportunity to jump back in and see what I can do to help. Progeny is in a pretty interesting position; they have some real opportunities with their relationship with the open-source community, with Debian. It depends on what Novell will do. If they don't try to take a "let's make a whole lot of money off Linux" approach but rather a "Let's make Linux a viable platform," they could provide a whole alternative to Red Hat.
I think where this could work is in the area of standards. It comes back to the Linux Standard Base. Maybe Novell can expand that so it doesn't care what's underneath. As long as applications can install and function, then Linux can truly be a platform.
I think there's enough room in the maturing market for everyone to play. But the key is standards.
Talkback
"When we introduced Linux seven or eight years ago..."
"Novell had everything when we were there. They could have owned Linux"
I think those two quotes speak for themselves. This guy is not only in need of a reality pill, he's in need of a good, swift kick in the arse.
I've got two words for all you avaricious business creeps out there:
Linus Torvalds