Xinuos OpenServer, previously SCO UNIX and SCO Open Desktop (SCO ODT), is a closed source computer
operating system
An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs.
Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also i ...
developed by
Santa Cruz Operation (SCO), later acquired by
SCO Group, and now owned by
Xinuos. Early versions of OpenServer were based on
UNIX System V, while the later OpenServer 10 is based on
FreeBSD 10.
History
SCO UNIX/SCO Open Desktop
SCO UNIX was the successor to the
Santa Cruz Operation's variant of Microsoft
Xenix, derived from
UNIX System V Release 3.2 with an infusion of Xenix device drivers and utilities. SCO UNIX System V/386 Release 3.2.0 was released in 1989, as the commercial successor to SCO Xenix. The base operating system did not include
TCP/IP networking or
X Window System graphics; these were available as optional extra-cost add-on packages. Shortly after the release of this bare OS, SCO shipped an integrated product under the name of SCO Open Desktop, or ODT. 1994 saw the release of SCO MPX, an add-on
SMP package.
At the same time, AT&T completed its merge of Xenix,
BSD,
SunOS, and
UNIX System V Release 3 features into
UNIX System V Release 4
Unix System V (pronounced: "System Five") is one of the first commercial versions of the Unix operating system. It was originally developed by AT&T and first released in 1983. Four major versions of System V were released, numbered 1, 2, 3, an ...
. SCO UNIX remained based on System V Release 3, but eventually added home-grown versions of most of the features of Release 4.
The 1992 releases of SCO UNIX 3.2v4.0 and Open Desktop 2.0 added support for long
file names and
symbolic link
In computing, a symbolic link (also symlink or soft link) is a file whose purpose is to point to a file or directory (called the "target") by specifying a path thereto.
Symbolic links are supported by POSIX and by most Unix-like operating syste ...
s. The next major version, OpenServer Release 5.0.0, released in 1995, added support for
ELF
An elf () is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic mythology and folklore. Elves appear especially in North Germanic mythology. They are subsequently mentioned in Snorri Sturluson's Icelandic Prose Edda. He distinguishes "ligh ...
executables and dynamically linked
shared object
In computer science, a library is a collection of non-volatile resources used by computer programs, often for software development. These may include configuration data, documentation, help data, message templates, pre-written code and subro ...
s, and made many kernel structures dynamic.
SCO OpenServer
SCO OpenServer 5, released in 1995, would become SCO's primary product and serve as the basis for products like PizzaNet (the first Internet-based food delivery system done in partnership with
Pizza Hut) and SCO Global Access, an Internet gateway server based on Open Desktop Lite.
Due to its large installed base, SCO OpenServer 5 continues to be actively maintained by SCO with major updates having occurred as recently as April 2009.
[
]
SCO OpenServer 6, based on the merging of AT&T
UNIX
Unix (; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multiuser computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, an ...
System V
Unix System V (pronounced: "System Five") is one of the first commercial versions of the Unix operating system. It was originally developed by AT&T and first released in 1983. Four major versions of System V were released, numbered 1, 2, 3, an ...
Release 4.2MP and
UnixWare 7, was initially released by
The SCO Group in 2005. It includes support for large files, increased memory, and multi-threaded kernel (light-weight processes). This merged codebase is referred to as
UNIX System V Release 5 (SVR5) and was used only by SCO for OpenServer 6; SVR5 is not used by any other major developer or reseller. SCO OpenServer 6 contains the
UnixWare 7's SVR5 kernel integrated with SCO OpenServer 5 application and binary compatibility, OpenServer 5 system administration, and OpenServer 5 user environments.
SCO OpenServer has primarily been sold into the small and medium business (SMB) market. It is widely used in small offices,
point of sale (POS) systems, replicated sites, and backoffice
database server
A database server is a server which uses a database application that provides database services to other computer programs or to computers, as defined by the client–server model. Database management systems (DBMSs) frequently provide database-s ...
deployments. Prominent larger SCO OpenServer customers include
McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hambur ...
,
Taco Bell,
Big O Tires,
Pizza Hut,
Costco pharmacy,
NASDAQ, The
Toronto Stock Exchange
The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX; french: Bourse de Toronto) is a stock exchange located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the 10th largest exchange in the world and the third largest in North America based on market capitalization. Based in the ...
,
Banco do Brasil
Banco do Brasil S.A. ( en, Bank of Brazil) is a Brazilian financial services company headquartered in Brasília, Brazil. The oldest bank in Brazil, and among the oldest banks in continuous operation in the world, it was founded by John VI, King ...
, many banks in
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
and
China, and the railway system of
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
.
[
]
UnixWare merger
SCO purchased the right to distribute the
UnixWare system and its System V Release 4 code base from
Novell in 1995. SCO was eventually able to re-use some code from that version of UnixWare in later releases of OpenServer. Until Release 6, this came primarily in the compilation system and the
UDI driver framework and the
USB subsystem written to it.
By the end of the 1990s, there were around 15,000
value-added reseller A value-added reseller (VAR) is a company that adds features or services to an existing product, then resells it (usually to end-users) as an integrated product or complete "turn-key" solution. This practice occurs commonly in the electronics or IT ...
s (VARs) around the world who provided solutions for customers of SCO's Unix systems.
SCO announced on August 2, 2000, that it would sell its Server Software and Services Divisions, as well as UnixWare and OpenServer technologies, to
Caldera Systems, Inc. The purchase was completed in May 2001. The remaining part of the SCO company, the Tarantella Division, changed its name to
Tarantella, Inc., while Caldera Systems became
Caldera International, and subsequently in 2002, the
SCO Group.
Under The SCO Group
The SCO Group continued the development and maintenance of OpenServer. On June 22, 2005, OpenServer 6.0 was released, codenamed "Legend", the first release in the new 6.0.x branch. SCO OpenServer 6 is based on the UNIX
System V Release 5 kernel, a merged codebase of
UNIX System V Release 4.2MP and
UnixWare 7. OpenServer 6.0 features multi-threading application support for C, C++, and Java applications through the POSIX interface. OpenServer 6 features kernel-level threading (not found in 5.0.x).
Some improvements over OpenServer 5 include improved SMP support (support for up to 32 processors), support for files over a terabyte on a partition (larger network files supported through NFSv3), better file system performance, and support for up to 64GB of memory.
OpenServer 6.0 maintains backward-compatibility for applications developed for Xenix 286 onwards.
[
]
The SCO Group went bankrupt in 2011, after a long
series of legal battles.
UnXis / Xinuos (2011–present)
The rights to OpenServer, as well as UnixWare, were acquired by UnXis in 2011, which was later renamed
Xinuos.
In June 2015, Xinuos announced OpenServer 10, which is based on the
FreeBSD 10 operating system. Simultaneously, Xinuos introduced a migration path for existing customers using older OS products. In December 2015, Xinuos released "definitive" versions of OpenServer 5, OpenServer 6, and UnixWare 7.
In December 2017, Xinuos released "Definitive 2018" versions of OpenServer 6 and UnixWare 7, and in October 2018 OpenServer 5 Definitive 2018 was released. The "Definitive 2018" releases were a commitment by Xinuos to keep the legacy OS's updated and supported protecting the applications that customers need to continue to run. The Definitive 2018 products contain major updates over the Definitive releases and a soon to be announced updated development kit which will make it easier to compile current packages for the Definitive 2018 products.
Xinuos has continued to provide updates for the new flagship operating system OpenServer 10.
Versions
See also
*
Santa Cruz Operation
*
SCO v. Novell
''SCO v. Novell'' was a United States lawsuit in which the software company The SCO Group (SCO), claimed ownership of the source code for the Unix operating system. SCO sought to have the court declare that SCO owned the rights to the Unix code, ...
References
External links
SCO OpenServer 6.0 (deprecated) home pageSCO OpenServer 5.0.7 (deprecated) home pageSCO OS FAQ (3.2v4.2 and 3.2v5.0.x)Reviewin Linux Journal
{{DEFAULTSORT:Openserver
FreeBSD
UNIX System V