McBride: SCO is Not Done Yet

In a letter sent to SCO (Quote) customers, SCO President and CEO Darl McBride assured his customers that the company is still doing all right. In the letter, written in advance of SCO's Jan. 17 fourth-quarter earnings report, McBride assures customers that SCO is not done yet.

"Although we have had a few setbacks in the court proceedings, important and significant claims remain in the case," McBride wrote. "In other words, to paraphrase a line from Mr. Twain, the rumors of our death have been greatly exaggerated." This week Novell alleged in a court filing that SCO was going bankrupt.

McBride reiterated his position that SCO is protecting its intellectual property and that cases against Novell and IBM still have merit. While the financial cost of the legal proceedings against Novell and IBM have been high, McBride noted that in 2007 the expenses will be less than before.

"Some of the larger expenses related to IBM discovery, expert witness and technical expert reports are now behind us," McBride wrote. "With these expenditures behind us, the outlook for the company's cash expenditures for the upcoming fiscal year is in a very manageable position."

Beyond just success in the courtroom, McBride also expects that SCO is committed to running a cash-flow-positive Unix business.

To that end, he touted certification of SCO's Unix operating systems on hardware from a variety of vendors, including Acer, Dell, Fujitsu-Siemens, HP and Intel.

SCO is also now active in the mobile space with its Me Inc platform, which McBride also expects will contribute positively to SCO's financial position.

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