In a deal that brings together companies that Linux backers consider bogeymen, The SCO Group Inc. announced today that it has signed a licensing agreement with Microsoft Corp. over SCO’s Unix operating system.
Through the deal, SCO has licensed Unix technology, including source code and patents, to Microsoft, said Chris Sontag, senior vice president and general manager of the company’s SCOsource, a division in charge of managing and protecting SCO’s Unix intellectual property.
The deal ensures that Microsoft is in compliance with SCO’s Unix intellectual property and will help Microsoft improve the Unix compatibility of its products, specifically Microsoft Windows Services for Unix, Sontag said.
News of the agreement first appeared earlier today on The Wall Street Journal‘s Web site (see story).
Windows Services for Unix, now in Version 3.0, consists of different components that bridge the gap between Windows- and Unix-based systems running in the same network, according to information on Microsoft’s Web site. The product’s services include file sharing, remote access and administration, password synchronization, common directory management, a common set of utilities and a shell, according to Microsoft’s Web site.
Microsoft didn’t immediately return calls seeking comment on the deal. But in an e-mail statement, Brad Smith, the company’s general counsel and senior vice president, said the agreement “is representative of Microsoft’s ongoing commitment to respecting intellectual property [IP] and the IT community’s healthy exchange of IP through licensing. This helps to ensure IP compliance across Microsoft solutions and supports our efforts around existing products like Services for UNIX that further UNIX interoperability.”
https://www.computerworld.com/article/1727355/sco-confirms-microsoft-has-licensed-its-unix-technology.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCO_Group
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenServer