Submitted by Darl McBride. It’s the guy everybody hates. Well, he is no longer in charge of SCO, the UNIX vendor who relentlessly litigated against Linux vendors: he has been fired as part of the Chapter 11 restructuring plans for the company. Sadly, the litigation does not end with him, as SCO’s new leadership has said in a statement they will continue the litigation.
As we all know, SCO claimed that a lot of UNIX System V code ended up in the Linux kernel. The company threatened to sue a whole lot of Linux vendors, trying to get them to pay licensing fees; the litigation was a massive failure, and even internal memos from SCO showed that even in their own investigations they couldn’t find any evidence to support their claims.
Darl McBride, then-CEO, was the face of the company during that time. Even after being more or less pounded to pulp by the courts, McBride insisted Linux included code from UNIX System V.
In an SEC filing published today it was revealed that McBride has been fired from the company as part of the reconstruction plans suggested by Chapter 11 trustee assigned to SCO by the US Department of Justice. COO Jeff Hunsaker and CFO Ken Nielsen will now lead the company together with the trustee. Several others will be fired too.
“These actions, while difficult, are essential to SCO becoming a more agile and efficient company, not just for this year, but for years to come,” said Hunsaker, “This restructuring plan reinforces SCO’s ability to continue to sell and support its products while servicing the needs of our customers and partners on a worldwide basis through the stabilization of our financial situation.”
In a statement, the company’s new leadership also stated that they plan to continue the litigation, and that they will continue the appeal process currently under way. They also plan to keep supporting their UNIX products.
So, Darl McBride off stage, but the Ï„Ïαγῳδία continues.
SCO just won’t die!
This is what’s wrong with the judicial system in America and elsewhere…
‘Tis the season. Rumor has it that Darl has left to launch a new career:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/05/Jasonf.jpg
Wish him luck?
Edited 2009-10-20 01:06 UTC
I think you missed the part where all the legal fighting now is happening in SCO’s bankruptcy resolution. Notwithstanding SCO’s usual claim that they’re going to keep on truckin’ (they’ve always said that), the lawsuits they started are dead, this is now the end-game that we’re in.
They are a ‘dead man walking’, all thats left is to figure out how their assets will be divvied up to all the companies they owe… and thats whats happening right now.
Yea, it took a long time, but the final correct outcome is now just around the corner.
See the article for the bankruptcy judge’s sarcastic comment about ‘Waiting for Godot’. That spoke volumes to me… cue the fat lady, SCO is done and cooked.
SCO is in Chapter 11 bankrupcy. Although Chapter 11 can lead to liquidation in some cases (Circuit City), it’s commonly known as “Reorganization Bankruptcy” and is a method used to weasel out of paying creditors – getting a fresh start as a ‘new’ company. If reorganization is successful SCO could cancel the old stock, issue new stock to raise capital, and continue business as usual. Northwest Airlines, KMart, and many other companies have emerged from Chapter 11 and continue business today.
I know the difference. If you’ve been following this story (like on Groklaw) you’d know that SCO has tried everything they could to avoid liquidation (multiple reorg plans, buyout from a friendly), and all of the former have been shot down by the judge, and the latter fell through. The judge is now getting annoyed (the Godot sarcasm wasn’t the first).
Dead man walking. Bank it.
Here in New Zealand, the legal system has the concept of a “vexatious litigant”. This is a person (or, I believe, a company) that files legal proceedings (and I quote) – “habitually, persistently and without reasonable grounds”. I think that the US legal system **desperately** needs to adopt this concept as well.
This document gives some background –
http://www.iombudsman.org.nz/pdfs/Attachment%2010.pdf
I am sure that in New Zealand, this farcical situation would have been thrown out YEARS ago, due to this “vexatious litigant” concept.
Not necessarily… the SCO case has mostly been characterised by just a few lawsuits, but ones which have just gone on and on, constant delays and endless appeals. It’s certainly been a ridiculous affair, but I don’t think it’s not all that good a match for the concept you’re talking about.
“Vexatious Litigant” orders usually apply to individuals who initiate suits over trivia, get shot down quickly in court, and then go and start a new one. Not so much to this kind of war of endless appeal.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vexatious_litigation
clearly such an advanced concept must only exist in more enlightened nations.
And as was mentioned before, it applies to frequency of litigation, not duration
Perhaps, Mr. McBride will file a lawsuit pleading wrongful termination and be the straw that breaks the camel’s back, as the saying goes.
I had some respect for Ray Noorda and his chutzpah taking on Microsoft (as Caldera then) but this has gone way too far. They need to take whatever they have remaining and close the doors before they’re kicked out of the building.
I was stuck in the waiting room at Midas for a couple of hours today having an inner tie rod replaced. And of course, it was equipped with a TV. Now… I absolutely hate TV. Being in the same room with one that is playing the sorts of trash that people watch today makes me feel like the Witch of the West must have after Dorothy threw the water on her. They were playing those “Judge Wapner meets Jerry Springer” trash “courtroom” adjudication programs. And yeah, the other customers were completely absorbed, making their opinions known about what should be done about the 23 year old girl suing her alcoholic mother for stealing her credit card(s) and maxing it (them) out. (There was some heated disagreement about the number of cards.) Etc. Etc. Etc. The trash TV droned on. And I retreated into an autistic cocoon as best I could, trying to ignore it.
But… looking at how the “judge” handled the situations, I have to wonder if I would not have preferred that these cases been handled by Judge Judy or whomever in one of their fake courtroom soundstages.
Typically, the “judge” sizes the situation up like you or I would. Not in some dry and abstract legal way that takes years and doesn’t seem to mean much by the time the case is “resolved”. But in a very practical, timely, and human way.
Let me tell you… Judge Perrino (or whatever her name was) would have taken Darl to task and sent him in for compulsory psychiatric treatment, pronto. (Pierce the corporate veil? I’m sure she keeps a box knife handy just for the purpose of cutting it to shreds.) She would have liquidated SCO in about 15 minutes. She would have awarded IBM, Novell, and Red Hat the proceeds. She would have indulged herself with a short soliloquy on the importance of integrity in business. And bemoaned the fact that she couldn’t do anything about Chris Sontag and the others.
And the audience would have given her a standing ovation.
For that matter, so would I. In fact, I’d probably even buy the DVD. And for me, that’s saying something.
But that didn’t happen today. Just an endless parade of distasteful trash that doesn’t matter to me. As opposed to the SCO-related parade of distasteful trash that does, of course.
Edited 2009-10-20 02:04 UTC
Karma has got into your way.
Your own insecurity and debility/incompetence has killed you.
You were a nice troll, we will miss you… well, not really.
Edited 2009-10-20 07:11 UTC
Hardly. Bruce Perens hit the nail on the head in a comment over at lwn.net:
“The news I’d like to hear is that he and Ralph Yarro (SCO owner) are investigated, tried, stripped of their wealth, and incarcerated. What you have heard today is that a guy rich from kiting SCO’s stock doesn’t have to work any longer.”
Edited 2009-10-20 14:19 UTC
I can almost hear Novell’s company ROFL-copter starting it’s engine.
So now that Chief MORON, darl mcbride has been voted off of sco island. The rest of the village idiots can continue re-construction of HQ… At the bottom of THE GREAT HOLE that mcbride built.
Sco is what happens when you put too many paranoid lunatics in the same room.
Village Idiots indeed…
http://www.gnu.org/
Open-Source Software Promotes And Creates Innovation.
Patent-Trolls Destroy It.
😉
Hah Hah HAH HAH HAH!
Funny that many people here consider GNU to be also what happens when you put too many paranoid lunatics in the same room.
Village Idiots indeed…
😉
Extremists are bad, regardless of their “religion”…
The “Chief Moron” likely made more money from SCO’s maneuvers than most people make in their lifetimes. As likely did a number of the “village idiots”. Caldera, Inc. (what we should really be calling the company) was scuttled in the process, of course. But that’s how it goes with eggs and omelettes.
Darl and the gang may be amoral. They may lack the basic ethical fiber that most of us take for granted. But if you really think of them as idiots and morons, you haven’t been keeping your eye on the ball.
One could, however, argue that sacrificing ethics and self-respect for money is unwise, and a bad bargain. What value and purpose is left after sacrificing integrity? What’s the price tag on self respect?
Somehow, I doubt that Darl spends much time worrying about that, though. Which makes him a tragic character, of sorts. Not that I’m wasting any tears, understand.
“Somehow, I doubt that Darl spends much time worrying about that, though.”
Whenever people ask me how some amoral person or another looks in the mirror or how they can sleep at night, I always reply: “Most likely very easily.”
Please let the door hit him on the way out. =D
SCO without Darl McBride
is like Apple without Steve Jobs
They better take the NeXT step..
[Wish it were a haiku]