R emember the US$50 million investment BayStar Capital made in SCO right about the same time SCO started making a lot of noise about owning UNIX and suing people? Back then, a lot of folks felt positive that Microsoft had somehow bankrolled the investment, and was using SCO as the proverbial attack dog against makers and users of Linux, which Microsoft perceives as a growing threat.
Last week a memo linking Microsoft to BayStar Capital and SCO was confirmed as being real. Now, CNET News reports that, not only is the memo real, BayStar Capital has confirmed that the basic content of the memo is true: Microsoft did have a hand in getting the US$50 million to SCO. From the CNet News article, Investment firm confirms Microsoft link to SCO:
"Yes, Microsoft did introduce BayStar to SCO," a BayStar representative said Thursday, declining to share further details and repeating the firmis earlier position that Microsoft did not actually invest money in the deal.
Word of the Microsoft matchmaking surfaced last week when open-source advocate Eric Raymond published a leaked memo about Microsoftis help in the BayStar investment. SCO Group confirmed the authenticity of the memo but said its author, S2 Strategic Consultingis Mike Anderer, misunderstood the situation. Open-source fans leaped on the memo as evidence that Microsoft is aiding SCOis attack on Linux.
Thereis more information in the full story from CNet News.