SCO pursues Linux users globally

By Matt Whipp

Posted on 14 Jan 2004 at 16:51

SCO says it is extending its invitation to Linux end users to sign up to its IP licence for Linux to a global platform.

Previously, the company had targeted top Fortune companies, but now the licence, and the associated litigation against those that resist, will extend worldwide. Chris Sontag, Senior VP at SCOsource, told us: 'Appropriate action will be taken worldwide to enforce our IP rights'. However, Sontag would not comment on whether SCO's legal team, Boies, Schiller and Flexner, would be privy to the same 20 per cent cut of settlement monies it enjoys in the US.

Indeed, the company is advertising for a sales manager to handle 'selling IP licensing' in the US, and SCO has asked its resellers to offer the Unix IP licence for Linux, too.

Sontag said that resellers should inform users of the licence and by not doing so could find themselves embroiled in the affair. 'All resellers should make end users aware of this SCO licence,' he said. 'It is much better value than the HP or Novell indemnification offerings and there is liability on resellers not passing the information on, as by not disclosing it could be considered as warranting the product.'

The licence will continue to be priced at SCO's introductory offer of $199 per desktop and $699 per server processor as it has since July, but this is now standard pricing. An annual licence has also been introduced. '$699 dollars is now the fixed one off price for a single CPU server,' Sontag told us. 'However, there has been a new pricing structure introduced whereby users can purchase an annual licence for $149 dollars for a single CPU server.'

Sontag is confident of a good reception for the licence outside the US - possibly a greater than 50 per cent take-up. He told us: 'To date there has been limited and selected availability with a 30 to 50 per cent adoption rate. We can't name names at this stage, but would expect this figure to rise now the licence is available worldwide.'