I once asked SCO Group CEO Darl McBride what he does to relax from the pressure of running one of the most hated companies in the software industry–given its claims to Unix copyright violations in Linux in lawsuits against IBM and noted Linux users like Daimler Chrysler and AutoZone. He drives to Las Vegas from his home in Utah and does some gambling, he said. Not sure if he saw the irony there. Last week, his professional gambling odds improved a little. The company filed an 8k report with the SEC saying that stock options for McBride and other top executives would vest immediately and be exercisable immediately if there were “changes of control” at the company (meaning someone buys more than 50 percent of the stock in SCO). But the long-term odds remain, well, long. Last fall, SCO negotiated a deal with its law firm capping fees at $31 million in return for a 20-30 percent share of any settlement or award from a jury.But taking a bigger cut doesn’t work if the pie starts to spoil. Time could be running out for SCO in 2005. That has not so much to do with the merits of its case as its business model. Losses are mounting, and SCO’s total revenue is tumbling ($42.8 million for 2004, down about 46 percent from 2003) because it comes from a shrinking base of existing customers. New customers won’t touch SCO with a 10-foot server and Unix is getting hurt generally by Linux. Worse, its two biggest revenue sources—Microsoft and Sun—shot their wad in 2003. Together they gave SCO $25,846,000 in licensing fees to pay for their use of Unix. (OK, you say, I can see Microsoft pitching in, but why Sun? Because Linux is hurting Unix sales even more than Windows–and Sun isn’t doing much in the Linux business compared with IBM.) SCO’s licensing revenue for 2004 through the end of July was down to $829,000. Evidently, not many CIOs are convinced that they should be paying SCO license fees for the Unix code that is allegedly in Linux. This was supposed to be SCO’s cash cow. If it wins against IBM, the licensing revenue might start to flow, but this lawsuit could drag on forever. “This is a death match,” said McBride of the IBM lawsuit last Fall. “Either we win or we die.” Though the company insists it has enough money to see the case through, SCO’s business is already on life support. Related content opinion Website spoofing: risks, threats, and mitigation strategies for CIOs In this article, we take a look at how CIOs can tackle website spoofing attacks and the best ways to prevent them. By Yash Mehta Dec 01, 2023 5 mins CIO Cyberattacks Security brandpost Sponsored by Catchpoint Systems Inc. Gain full visibility across the Internet Stack with IPM (Internet Performance Monitoring) Today’s IT systems have more points of failure than ever before. Internet Performance Monitoring provides visibility over external networks and services to mitigate outages. By Neal Weinberg Dec 01, 2023 3 mins IT Operations brandpost Sponsored by Zscaler How customers can save money during periods of economic uncertainty Now is the time to overcome the challenges of perimeter-based architectures and reduce costs with zero trust. By Zscaler Dec 01, 2023 4 mins Security feature LexisNexis rises to the generative AI challenge With generative AI, the legal information services giant faces its most formidable disruptor yet. That’s why CTO Jeff Reihl is embracing and enhancing the technology swiftly to keep in front of the competition. By Paula Rooney Dec 01, 2023 6 mins Generative AI Digital Transformation Cloud Computing Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe