Caldera, Inc. was a Canopy-funded software company founded in October 1994 and incorporated on 25 January 1995 by former

Novell Novell, Inc. () was an American software and services company headquartered in Provo, Utah, that existed from 1980 until 2014. Its most significant product was the multi-platform network operating system known as NetWare. Novell technolog ...

employees Bryan Wayne Sparks, Ransom H. Love and others to develop the

Caldera Network Desktop Caldera OpenLinux is a defunct Linux distribution produced by Caldera, Inc. (and its successors Caldera Systems and Caldera International) that existed from 1997 to 2002. Based on the German LST Power Linux distribution, OpenLinux was an early ...

(CND) and later create a

Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...

distribution named OpenLinux (COL). The company was originally based in Provo and later in Orem, Utah, USA.

History

Their first product in 1995 was Caldera Network Desktop, which was based on

Red Hat Linux Red Hat Linux was a widely used commercial open-source Linux distribution created by Red Hat until its discontinuation in 2004. Early releases of Red Hat Linux were called Red Hat Commercial Linux. Red Hat published the first non-beta release ...

/ref> and Novell's Corsair Internet Desktop. It also included LISA (Linux Installation and System Administration), which had been developed by the German Linux Support Team (LST) for their own Linux distribution. The newer OpenLinux distribution was based on LST Power Linux, a

Slackware Slackware is a Linux distribution created by Patrick Volkerding in 1993. Originally based on Softlanding Linux System (SLS), Slackware has been the basis for many other Linux distributions, most notably the first versions of SUSE Linux distr ...

-derived distribution that had been maintained by LST since 1993 and the first to come with a Linux 2.0 kernel. Looking for a

DOS DOS (, ) is a family of disk-based operating systems for IBM PC compatible computers. The DOS family primarily consists of IBM PC DOS and a rebranded version, Microsoft's MS-DOS, both of which were introduced in 1981. Later compatible syste ...

operating system to bundle with their OpenLinux distribution, Caldera, backed up by The Canopy Group as their largest investor, acquired Novell DOS 7 and other

Digital Research Digital Research, Inc. (DR or DRI) was a privately held American software company created by Gary Kildall to market and develop his CP/M operating system and related 8-bit, 16-bit and 32-bit systems like MP/M, Concurrent DOS, FlexOS, Multiuser ...

assets from Novell on 23 July 1996. The deal consisted of a direct payment of as well as percentual royalties for any revenues derived from DR-DOS to Novell. Caldera filed the Caldera v. Microsoft antitrust lawsuit the same day. This lawsuit related to Caldera's claims of monopolization, illegal tying,

exclusive dealing In economics and law, exclusive dealing arises when a supplier entails the buyer by placing limitations on the rights of the buyer to choose what, who and where they deal. This is against the law in most countries which include the USA, Austra ...

, and

tortious interference Tortious interference, also known as intentional interference with contractual relations, in the common law of torts, occurs when one person intentionally damages someone else's contractual or business relationships with a third party, causing ...

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

. An example was that certain beta versions of Windows 3.1 produced technically groundless "non-fatal" fake error messages when installing and running them on DR DOS 6.0 due to a check known as

AARD code The AARD code was a segment of code in a beta release of Microsoft Windows 3.1 that would issue a cryptic error message when run on the DR DOS operating system rather than the Microsoft-affiliated MS-DOS or PC DOS. Microsoft inserted th ...

in order to create

fear, uncertainty and doubt Fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) is a manipulative propaganda tactic used in technology sales, marketing, public relations, politics, polling, and cults. FUD is generally a strategy to influence perception by disseminating negative and dubio ...

(FUD) and destroy DR DOS' reputation. Another example was bundling and artificially tying MS-DOS 7 and Windows 4 into a single product (

Windows 95 Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented operating system developed by Microsoft and the first of its Windows 9x family of operating systems, released to manufacturing on July 14, 1995, and generally to retail on August 24, 1995. Windows 95 merged ...

) in order to eliminate competition. Caldera later demonstrated that it would have been beneficial for DOS and Windows users to have a choice between MS-DOS and DR-DOS feature-wise, and that it was technically possible to run Windows 4 on DR-DOS 7 simply by faking some new, unnecessarily complex but functionally non-essential internal interfaces through WinGlue. See Microsoft litigation#Caldera v Microsoft. Since Digital Research's

CP/M CP/M, originally standing for Control Program/Monitor and later Control Program for Microcomputers, is a mass-market operating system created in 1974 for Intel 8080/Intel 8085, 85-based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Dig ...

and

MP/M MP/M (Multi-Programming Monitor Control Program) is a discontinued multi-user version of the CP/M operating system, created by Digital Research developer Tom Rolander in 1979. It allowed multiple users to connect to a single computer, each u ...

had no commercial value for Caldera, they offered various binaries and sources for download on their site and allowed the redistribution and modification of more collected CP/M files through Tim Olmstead's independent "The Unofficial CP/M Web site" since 1997, for as long as they did not contain any DOS technology. Caldera, Inc. supported the Linux-port of

Star Division Star Division (also written as Star-Division) was a German software company best known for developing the now discontinued StarOffice suite. It was founded in 1985 by 16-year-old Marco Börries in Lüneburg as a garage company. After a neighbou ...

's StarOffice 3.1 with ca. in order to offer the product with their OpenLinux distribution in 1997.

Subsidiaries

While active, Caldera, Inc. created a number of subsidiaries.

Caldera UK

Under the direction of Roger Alan Gross as General Manager of Caldera's Digital Research Systems Group (DSG) the UK-based development center Caldera UK Ltd. () was incorporated on 20 September 1996 to continue the development of the

DR-DOS DR-DOS is a disk operating system for IBM PC compatibles, originally developed by Gary A. Kildall's Digital Research, Inc. and derived from Concurrent PC DOS 6.0, which was an advanced successor of CP/M-86. Upon its introduction in 198 ...

operating system in a converted barn () at the periphery of Andover, Hampshire, UK. Caldera UK developed various DOS-based products including OpenDOS 7.01 (COD), DR-DOS 7.02, DR-DOS 7.03 and DR-WebSpyder. Caldera Thin Clients, Inc. closed the Caldera UK Ltd. development office in February 1999 soon after the release of DR-DOS 7.03, thereby effectively stopping any DOS development.

Caldera Deutschland

Caldera, Inc. incorporated the German Linux Support Team's (LST) configuration manager LISA into Caldera's Network Desktop in 1995. In 1996 Linux Support Team grew into Stefan Probst's and Ralf Flaxa's company

LST Software GmbH Caldera, Inc. was a Canopy-funded software company founded in October 1994 and incorporated on 25 January 1995 by former Novell employees Bryan Wayne Sparks, Ransom H. Love and others to develop the Caldera Network Desktop (CND) and later cr ...

(with LST now standing for ''Linux System Technology'') in

Erlangen Erlangen (; , ) is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the administrative district Erlangen-Höchstadt (former administrative district Erlangen), and with 119,810 inhabitants (as of 30 September 2024), it is the smalle ...

, Germany. This led to a collaboration with Caldera to develop OpenLinux. LST Software became Caldera's German development center Caldera Deutschland GmbH for Linux-based technologies since May 1997. Caldera Deutschland continued to develop Linux system software for Caldera's Linux-branch until it was closed at the end of 2001 by its US-based mother-house.

Caldera Taiwan

On 1 June 1998, Caldera, Inc. opened a sales office for its DOS-based products in

Taipei , nickname = The City of Azaleas , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Taiwan#Asia#Pacific Ocean#Earth , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country ...

, Taiwan, run by Irrana and Henry Huang.

Caldera, Caldera Systems and Caldera Thin Clients

On 2 September 1998, Caldera, Inc. announced the creation of two Utah-based wholly owned subsidiaries, Caldera Systems, Inc. and Caldera Thin Clients, Inc., in order to split up tasks and directions. Under Sparks' lead, the shell company Caldera, Inc. remained responsible for the Caldera v. Microsoft lawsuit. Microsoft lawyers tried repeatedly to have the case dismissed but without success. On 7 January 2000, immediately after the completion of the pre-trial deposition stage (where the parties list the evidence they intend to present), Microsoft settled out-of-court for an undisclosed sum, which in 2009 was revealed to be . Caldera, Inc. ceased to exist soon after.

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

Caldera Systems, Inc. (CSI), headed by Love as president and CEO since its incorporation in

Orem, Utah Orem is a city in Utah County, Utah, United States, in the northern part of the state. It is adjacent to Provo, Utah, Provo, Lindon, Utah, Lindon, and Vineyard, Utah, Vineyard and is approximately south of Salt Lake City. Orem is one of the pri ...

, on 21 August 1998, targeted the Linux-based software business including OpenLinux, with Caldera Deutschland as their German Linux development center. The company reincorporated in Delaware on 2 March 2000 and completed an

IPO An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

of its common stock as CALD. On the first day of trading Caldera's shares doubled in value, briefly touching , and by the end of the first day the company had a market capitalisation of . However, at a time when technology IPOs were attracting extremely high valuations, Caldera Systems's performance was generally perceived as a disappointment. The company reorganized in August 2000 and became Caldera International, Inc. (CII) in March 2001. In May 2001, Caldera International, with investments of Fujitsu and

Hitachi () is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1910 and headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo. The company is active in various industries, including digital systems, power and renewable ener ...

, opened the Caldera K.K. () subsidiary, directed by Makoto Asoh, in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, Japan. In August 2002, Caldera International renamed itself into

The SCO Group The SCO Group (often referred to SCO and later called The TSG Group) was an American software company in existence from 2002 to 2012 that became known for owning Unix operating system assets that had belonged to the Santa Cruz Operation (the o ...

, Inc. under the lead of Darl McBride.

Caldera UK, Caldera Thin Clients, Lineo, and Embedix

Caldera Thin Clients, Inc. (CTC), incorporated in August 1998 and originally led by Gross as president and CEO, instead developed

- and Linux-based thin clients and solutions for embedded systems. Originally located in Orem and later in Lindon, it was meant to become the US-based "parent" company for Caldera UK Ltd. When Gross resigned and Caldera UK Ltd. was disbanded in February 1999, and when the attempt to relocate the DR-DOS development into the US failed, Caldera Thin Clients, under the new lead of Sparks, soon refocused on Linux. In April 1999, Caldera Thin Clients released the no longer needed sources to GEM and

ViewMAX ViewMAX is a Common User Access, CUA-compliant file manager supplied with DR DOS versions DR DOS 5.0, 5.0 and DR DOS 6.0, 6.0. It is based on a cut-down runtime system, runtime version of Digital Research's GEM/3 graphical user interface mo ...

under the

GNU General Public License The GNU General Public Licenses (GNU GPL or simply GPL) are a series of widely used free software licenses, or ''copyleft'' licenses, that guarantee end users the freedom to run, study, share, or modify the software. The GPL was the first ...

(GPL). On 20 July 1999, Caldera Thin Clients was renamed into Lineo, Inc. Lineo licensed a stripped down OpenLinux distribution from Caldera Systems and named it Embedix. They continued to maintain the former Caldera Thin Clients sales office in Taipei in 1999. In January 2000, Lineo reincorporated in Delaware. In October 2001, Lineo refreshed and expanded the free CP/M redistribution license after Olmstead's death. By July 2002, the company had reformed as Embedix, Inc. under the lead of Matthew R. Harris, formerly a Summit Law attorney for Caldera, Inc. Embedix ceased to exist later that year. Some DR-DOS assets fell to the Canopy Group and were acquired by DRDOS, Inc. aka

DeviceLogics DeviceLogics was a company in Lindon, Utah, USA, founded in November 2002. Originally doing business mostly under the DeviceLogics name, the company was incorporated as DRDOS, Inc. for legal reasons. The DeviceLogics name was later dropped. Br ...

in 2002. Key parts of the Linux-based Embedix assets were acquired by

Motorola Motorola, Inc. () was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois. It was founded by brothers Paul and Joseph Galvin in 1928 and had been named Motorola since 1947. Many of Motorola's products had been ...

's Metrowerks on 17 December 2002.

References

(archived web site caldera.com fro
2002-09-14
t
2004-09-01
and sco.com fro
2001-05-08
* LST Software GmbH (archived web site lst.de fro
1997-01-11
t
1997-12-11
, Caldera Deutschland GmbH (archived web site lst.de fro
1998-12-01
t
2000-01-02
and caldera.de fro
2000-04-13
to 2001) and LST - Verein zur Förderung freier Software (archived web site lst.de fro
2001-03-31
* Caldera Graphics (archived web site caldera.fr fro
1996-12-23
t
2007-03-04
caldera.eu fro
2007-03-27
t
2011-06-14
and caldera.com fro
2011-07-17
t
2012-01-07
and fro
2012-05-02
!-- t
2018-03-08
-->) {{DEFAULTSORT:Caldera 1994 establishments in Utah 2002 disestablishments in Utah Defunct software companies of the United States American companies established in 1994 American companies disestablished in 2002 Defunct companies based in Utah Linux companies Software companies established in 1994 Software companies disestablished in 2002 de:Caldera (Unternehmen)