Caldera OpenLinux: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 00:20, 6 February 2022

Revision as of 01:56, 14 March 2022

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{{Short description|Defunct Linux distribution}}

{{Essay-like|2=an opinionated essay, or "case study" per [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=United_Linux&diff=50824238&oldid=50824002 this statement] by the original editor,|date=November 2019}}

{{Redir|Caldera (operating system)|the DOS operating system|OpenDOS}}

{{Short description|Defunct Linux distribution}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2019|cs1-dates=y}}

{{Use list-defined references|date=December 2021}}

{{SCO Controversy}}

'''Caldera OpenLinux''' ('''COL''') is a defunct [[Linux distribution]]. [[Caldera, Inc.|Caldera]] originally introduced it in 1997<!-- or was it 1996? OpenLinux 1.1 came in 1997, when was OpenLinux 1.0 released? --> based on the German [[LST Power Linux]] distribution, and then taken over and further developed by [[Caldera Systems, Inc.|Caldera Systems]] (now [[SCO Group]]) since 1998. A successor to the Caldera Network Desktop put together by Caldera since 1995, OpenLinux was an early "business-oriented distribution" and foreshadowed the direction of developments that came to most other distributions and the [[Linux]] community generally.{{cncitation needed|reason=Sweeping assertion|date=November 2019}}

=={{anchor|Corsair|Ferret|Expose|Internet Desktop}}Novell Corsair==

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* [[WordPerfect]], a then cross-platform [[word processing]] [[Application software|application]] bought by Novell in June 1994

On 5 April 1994, the Board of Novell hired [[Robert Frankenberg]], the general manager of [[Hewlett-Packard]] Personal Information Products Group to replace [[Raymond John Noorda]] as [[Chief executive officer|CEO]] of Novell. Novell's [[stock price]] had performed poorly recently due to flagging growth. At Novell, the Network division ([[NetWare Systems Group (Novell)|NSG]]) was growing at a pace of 19% per year, the Unix business division ([[Unix Systems Group (Novell)|USG]]) was flat, and the Desktop Applications division ([[Desktop Systems Group (Novell)|DSG]]) was shrinking at a rate of $400 million per year.{{cncitation needed|reason=Specific figures like this need a source|date=November 2019}}

Frankenberg's initiative was to refocus the company on networking and networking services. In terms of Corsair, that meant shedding most of the pieces. The Advanced Technology Group was disbanded, which shut down Willows and the OS project. Negotiations started which would eventually lead to WordPerfect being sold off to [[Corel]] in January 1996. Ferret was in line with the new direction and this component was kept within Novell.

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Through his [[Noorda Family Trust]] (NFT), Ray Noorda had founded a [[venture capital]] investment group called the [[Canopy Group]] two years earlier in 1992. He thought there was substantial promise in both the OS project and the Willows project. He created two companies, to continue the work started at Novell. The "API company" was called [[Willows Software, Inc.]] (founded 1993{{citation needed|reason=Company origins and founding year unclear. Any connection with Multiport, Inc.?|date=May 2014}}) and the "OS company" became [[Caldera, Inc.]] (founded in October 1994 and incorporated in January 1995).

Noorda's early vision for Caldera was to create an [[IPX]]-based version of Linux which would license the key components, and resell this technology back to Novell to continue the '''Internet Desktop'''. In effect, in 1994 Caldera started life as kind of an [[outsourcing]] project for Novell,{{citation needed|date=May 2014|reason=But apparently not driven by Novell after Noorda left the company and without Novell being interested in it? Clarification needed.}} based on a technology demo named '''Exposé'''.<ref name="Novell_1994_Exposé"/><ref name="CBR_1994_Corsair"/> Caldera started with ten employees and most were from Novell: [[Bryan Wayne Sparks]], founder/president (Novell); Bryce J. Burns, chief operations officer (Novell); [[Ransom Love|Ransom H. Love]], VP marketing (Novell); Greg Page, VP engineering (Bell Labs, AT&T); and Craig Bradley, VP Sales (Lotus, Word Perfect).{{cncitation needed|reason=Specific names like this need a source|date=November 2019}}

=={{anchor|OS|CND|CND1.0PI|CND1.0PII|CND1.0|CNDB}}Caldera Network Desktop==

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* Caldera also incorporated LISA (Linux Installation and System Administration),<ref name="Hughes_1996_CND"/> which had been developed by the German [[Linux Support Team]] (LST) for their own Linux distribution.<ref name="LST_1997"/>

More than just a [[Software componentry|component]] for Novell, Caldera had assembled the components needed to create a [[Value-added reseller|VAR]] platform. However, Caldera faced a [[bootstrapping]] problem. OEM VAR applications often depended crucially on other companies' [[business software|commercial]] [[Application software|applications]]. Since these other applications hadn't been ported to [[Linux]] yet, they couldn't meaningfully port their own applications. Caldera responded by creating a [[Object file|binary applications package]], which allowed Linux to run [[UnixWare]] and [[OpenServer]] applications, the Linux [[Application Binary Interface]] (ABI) project,{{cncitation needed|date=November 2019}} and by assisting [[Santa Cruz Operation]] (SCO) in creating the Linux Kernel Personalities.<ref name="SCO_UW7"/>{{disputed inline|for=LKP did not arrive until years later|date=November 2019}} Linux Kernel Personalities was worked on to bring Linux application compatibility to [[SCO Unix]] (formerly UnixWare) and OpenServer. "''The idea was to enable [[Software developer|developers]] to write for both, Unix and Linux, with a common Application Programming Interface (API) and common Application Binary Interface (ABI). That way, developers didn't have to work so hard, and Unix users, the client base we inherited from SCO, could run Linux applications.''"<ref name="Vaughan-Nichols_2003"/>{{disputed inline|for=Cited source is talking about post-SCO acquisition Caldera International, not Caldera Network Desktop era|date=November 2019}}

Caldera also supported [[Alan Cox]] in his work on [[Symmetric multiprocessing|SMP]].{{when|date=May 2014}}<ref name="Cox_BKL"/> If Linux displaced Unix on the Intel x86 platform, then [[Sun Microsystems]] wouldn't have a low-end Unix path. This point becomes more interesting in light of SCO's litigation eight years later [[SCO v. IBM|against IBM]] in 2003.{{Relevance inline|paragraph|date=November 2019}} That is, [[IBM]] was not the company involved in the SMP work, and moreover, the company most directly involved is the company that later became the [[SCO Group]], essentially SCO suing IBM for work it itself did.{{citation needed|date=May 2014|reason=When did they support Alan Cox? Caldera, Inc. was not the same company as Caldera Systems, Inc. (and its successors). Caldera Systems, Inc. was not the successor of Caldera, Inc., but a spin-out. Therefore it is important to sort out the dates and names.}}

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<!-- In 1996 or early 1997-->Caldera supported the Linux-port of [[StarOffice 3.1]] with ca. 800.000&nbsp;DM in order to offer the product with their forthcoming OpenLinux distribution in 1997.<ref name="Brors_1997"/><ref name="CW_1997"/><ref name="Strobl_2003"/><ref name="Bantle_2017"/>

By 1997, when the OpenLinux distribution was first released, Caldera had taken on the form that it would be most remembered for. Caldera had switched over to the high end Linux product. The "business" [[Linux distribution]] became more rich with features with bundled [[proprietary software]]. However, it became less community oriented and was released less frequently than other Linuxes did.{{cncitation needed|reason=Looked but didn't see a source for either of these assertions|date=November 2019}} Other differences included automated configuration for [[System administrator|administration]] tools, paid [[technical support]] staff, built-in consistent default [[Graphical user interface|GUI]], and a range of supported [[Application software|applications]].

Over the next{{when|date=May 2014}} five years, <!-- Caldera and then -->Caldera Systems offered additional commercial extensions to Linux. They licensed [[Sun Microsystems|Sun]]'s [[Wabi (software)|Wabi]] to allow people to run Windows applications under Linux. Additionally, they shipped with Linux versions of [[WordPerfect]] (from [[Novell]] and later [[Corel]]) and [[CorelDRAW]]. Since many of their customers used a [[dual boot]] setup and [[FIPS (computer program)|FIPS]] was unreliable, they shipped with [[PowerQuest]]'s [[PartitionMagic]] to allow their customers to non-destructively [[Partition (computing)|repartition]] their [[hard disk]]s.

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In partnership with [[IBM]] they produced the first Linux distribution which was [[IBM DB2|DB2]] compatible. With the [[Oracle Corporation]] they became the target platform for the Linux port of the [[Oracle database]].

Other ventures included starting the [[Blackdown Java]] project,{{cncitation needed|reason=Caldera definitely supported Blackdown Java, but haven't seen a source that they started it|date=November 2019}} and creating [[professional certification]].

They also formed strong partnerships with SCO's [[value-added reseller]] market{{when|reason=timeline here is unclear|date=November 2019}} and started laying the groundwork for [[Original equipment manufacturer|OEM]] sales of [[Unix]]-based [[vertical application]]s.

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The [[Desktop computer|desktop]] company became [[Caldera International]] under the direction of [[Ransom Love]].{{dubious|for=they were already shifting from desktop to business server as Caldera Systems|date=November 2019}}

The focus for the desktop company became mainly [[marketing]] and business relationships. There were several reasons for this. The first was that Caldera had won a $280 million<ref name="Groklaw_2009_NovellWP"/> [[lawsuit]] against [[Microsoft]] for [[DR-DOS]] and was flush with cash.{{cncitation needed|reason=Caldera, Inc. received the $280M; did any of it go to Caldera Systems, and if so, how much, when, and for what purposes?|date=November 2019}} Secondly, while the Caldera distribution was good, its primary advantages were the use of technologies not owned by Caldera and thus if Caldera were successful its success could (from a technical standpoint) be imitated, by [[Red Hat]], [[SUSE Linux|SUSE]], [[TurboLinux]], etc. Third, for years Caldera had been competing directly with [[SCO Unix]], but by 1997 Linux outperformed SCO in almost every respect.{{cncitation needed|reason=broad claim, especially when high-end systems are considered|date=November 2019}} {{close paraphrase|sentence|source=https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=364517|date=November 2019}} Making the choice to switch from SCO to Caldera was not a "no-brainer" for companies because that also meant a switch of vendors and support organizations. Caldera's SCO acquisition was aimed at eliminating this problem. That is Caldera International's corporate direction became to combine SCO's distribution, marketing and VAR arm with [[LAMP (software bundle)|LAMP]], and use [[Project Monterey]] to develop a [[64-bit]] strategy. What SCO offered was:<ref name="LWN_2000"/>

* A strong list of business clients.

* Higher compatibility between SCO and Linux than any other Unix/Linux combination, mainly as a result of Caldera's long standing SCO focus that created products like ABI and thus resulted in ports of SCO code to Linux

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==Copyright infringement allegations==

{{relevance inline|Caldera OpenLinux played no role in the SCO-Linux controversies; this material does not belong here|date=November 2019}}

{{update|section|date=November 2015}}

{{further|SCO-Linux controversies}}

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<ref name="LWN_2000">{{cite web |url=https://lwn.net/2000/features/Comdex/RansomLove.php3 |title=Ransom Love Interview and Caldera Systems, Inc at Comdex Fall 2000 |publisher=LWN.net |access-date=2008-09-24}}</ref>

<ref name="CalderaSystems_OL13">{{cite web |url=http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/caldera-systems-inc-releases-openlinux-13-with-kde-and-sybase-ase-156356425.html |title=CALDERA SYSTEMS INC. RELEASES OPENLINUX 1.3 WITH KDE AND SYBASE ASE |website=www.prnewswire.co.uk |access-date=2017-09-21}}</ref>

<ref name="Linux_1998">[http://www.linux.cz/pipermail/linux/1998-July/022254.html]</ref>

<ref name="Wired">{{cite magazine |url=https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.07/linux.html |title=The Linux Killer |magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]] |date=July 2004 |author-first=Brad |author-last=Stone |access-date=2006-11-13}}</ref>

<ref name="NovellStay">{{cite web |url=http://www.groklaw.net/pdf/NovellMotStay.pdf |title=Novell's, Inc.'s Motion to Stay |date=2006-04-10 |publisher=[[Groklaw]] |access-date=2008-09-24}}</ref>