Caldera (company)

Caldera, Inc.
Company type	Private
Industry	Software
Founded	October 1994; 32 years ago
Founder	Bryan Wayne Sparks, Ransom H. Love
Defunct	2000
Fate	Operations discontinued after settlement of Caldera v. Microsoft lawsuit
Headquarters	Orem, Utah, United States
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Ransom H. "Randy" Sparks (CEO)
Products	Caldera Network Desktop, OpenLinux, DR-DOS
Owner	The Canopy Group (principal investor)

Caldera, Inc. was a software firm funded by Canopy, established in October 1994 and officially incorporated on January 25, 1995, by former Novell staff members including Bryan Wayne Sparks and Ransom H. Love. The company created the Caldera Network Desktop (CND) and subsequently introduced a Linux distribution known as OpenLinux (COL). Initially based in Provo, Utah, Caldera later relocated its headquarters to Orem, Utah.

History

Caldera's inaugural product, released in 1995, was the Caldera Network Desktop, which combined elements from Red Hat Linux and Novell's Corsair Internet Desktop. This product featured LISA (Linux Installation and System Administration), a tool developed by the German Linux Support Team (LST) specifically for their own Linux distribution.

The OpenLinux distribution was announced in 1996 and became available in 1997. It was built upon LST Power Linux, a Slackware-based distribution maintained by LST since 1993, and notably was the first to incorporate the Linux 2.0 kernel.

In pursuit of a DOS operating system to bundle with OpenLinux, Caldera—supported financially by The Canopy Group as its principal investor—purchased Novell DOS 7 along with other Digital Research assets from Novell on July 23, 1996. This transaction involved a $400,000 upfront payment plus ongoing royalties from DR-DOS sales paid to Novell. Concurrently, Caldera initiated the Caldera v. Microsoft antitrust lawsuit, accusing Microsoft of monopolistic practices, illegal tying arrangements, exclusive dealing contracts, and tortious interference. For instance, certain beta versions of Windows 3.1 generated misleading "non-fatal" error messages when executed on DR DOS 6.0, intended to undermine DR-DOS's credibility. Caldera also contested Microsoft's bundling of MS-DOS 7 with Windows 4 as part of Windows 95 to suppress competitors, demonstrating through their WinGlue technology that Windows 4 could operate on DR-DOS 7.

Since Digital Research’s legacy products CP/M and MP/M held no commercial interest for Caldera, the company released their binaries and source code for public download and authorized redistribution via Tim Olmstead’s "The Unofficial CP/M Web site," provided that no DOS-related technology was included.

In 1997, Caldera invested approximately to support the Linux port of Star Division's StarOffice 3.1, enabling it to be bundled with their OpenLinux distribution.

Subsidiaries

Throughout its existence, Caldera established multiple subsidiary companies.

Caldera UK

Under the leadership of Roger Alan Gross as General Manager of Caldera's Digital Research Systems Group (DSG), the UK-based development entity Caldera UK Ltd. was formed on September 20, 1996, to continue work on the DR-DOS operating system. Situated near Andover in Hampshire, Caldera UK developed several DOS-based products such as OpenDOS 7.01 (COD), DR-DOS versions 7.02 and 7.03, along with DR-WebSpyder. The UK development facility ceased operations in February 1999 after releasing DR-DOS 7.03, marking the conclusion of Caldera's DOS product development.

Caldera Deutschland

Caldera incorporated the German Linux Support Team’s configuration manager LISA into its Network Desktop release in 1995. By 1996, this team had evolved into LST Software GmbH based in Erlangen, Germany, partnering with Caldera on OpenLinux development. In May 1997, LST Software transitioned into Caldera Deutschland GmbH, serving as Caldera's German development hub for Linux-related technologies until its closure at the end of 2001 by the US parent company.

Caldera Taiwan

Caldera inaugurated a sales office in Taipei, Taiwan, on 1 June 1998, concentrating on distributing DOS-based products under the direction of Irrana and Henry Huang.

Caldera, Caldera Systems and Caldera Thin Clients

On 2 September 1998, Caldera, Inc. established two fully owned subsidiaries in Utah—Caldera Systems, Inc. and Caldera Thin Clients, Inc.—to optimize operational efficiency and refine its business focus.

Caldera, Inc. remained responsible for the notable Caldera v. Microsoft litigation under CEO Ransom H. "Randy" Sparks. Despite Microsoft's efforts to dismiss the lawsuit, it advanced to the pre-trial deposition phase before reaching an out-of-court settlement on 7 January 2000 for an undisclosed amount later reported as $280 million USD. Soon after this resolution, Caldera, Inc. discontinued its operations.

Caldera Systems, Caldera Holdings, Caldera International, Caldera K.K., and The SCO Group

Caldera Systems, Inc. (CSI), founded and led by CEO Ransom Love since its inception in 1998 in Orem, Utah, targeted the Linux software sector with offerings such as OpenLinux and operated Caldera Deutschland as its German development hub. The company reincorporated in Delaware in March 2000 and completed an IPO under the symbol CALD. Shares doubled on opening day, briefly hitting $33 and valuing the firm at $1.1 billion; however, this performance was considered modest compared to other tech IPOs at that time.

In August 2000, Caldera restructured and was renamed Caldera International, Inc. (CII) by March 2001. Supported by investments from Fujitsu and Hitachi, it launched a Tokyo-based subsidiary called Caldera K.K. in May 2001, headed by Makoto Asoh. By August 2002, under CEO Darl McBride, Caldera International rebranded as The SCO Group, Inc., signaling a strategic realignment.

Caldera UK, Caldera Thin Clients, Lineo, and Embedix

Caldera Thin Clients, Inc. (CTC), founded in August 1998 with Gross as its initial CEO, developed thin client and embedded solutions based on DOS and Linux. Initially operating from Orem and later Lindon, Utah, it was designed to serve as the US parent company for Caldera UK Ltd. After leadership changes and the dissolution of Caldera UK in early 1999, CTC shifted its focus toward Linux under CEO Sparks.

In April 1999, CTC released the source code for Graphics Environment Manager (GEM) and ViewMAX under the GNU General Public License (GPL). On 20 July 1999, CTC changed its name to Lineo, Inc., licensing a compact version of OpenLinux from Caldera Systems known as Embedix. Lineo maintained a sales office in Taipei throughout 1999 and reincorporated in Delaware by January 2000.

Following the passing of founder Olmstead, Lineo expanded its free CP/M licensing program in October 2001. By July 2002, Lineo had reorganized as Embedix, Inc., with Matthew R. Harris—formerly legal counsel for Caldera—serving as CEO. Embedix ceased operations later that year; DR-DOS assets were transferred to the Canopy Group before being acquired by DRDOS, Inc. (DeviceLogics) in late 2002. Meanwhile, key Linux-related Embedix assets were purchased by Motorola's Metrowerks division in December 2002.

External links

Archived web pages for Caldera, Inc., Caldera Systems, Inc., Caldera Holdings, Caldera International, Inc., The SCO Group, and their subsidiaries such as Caldera UK Ltd., Caldera Thin Clients, Inc., Lineo, Inc., LST Software GmbH, Caldera Deutschland GmbH, and Caldera Graphics, documenting significant periods between 1996 and 2018.