1991–1993: Univel After the
SVR4 effort to merge
SunOS and
System V,
AT&T's
Unix System Laboratories (USL) formed the
Univel partnership with
Novell to develop a desktop version of Unix for
i386 and
i486 machines, codenamed "Destiny". Destiny is based on the
Unix System V release 4.2 kernel. The
MoOLIT toolkit is used for the
windowing system, allowing the user to choose between an
OPEN LOOK or
MOTIF-like look and feel at runtime. In order to make the system more robust on commodity desktop hardware, the
Veritas VXFS journaling file system is used in place of the
UFS file system used in SVR4. Networking support in UnixWare includes both
TCP/IP and interoperability with Novell's
NetWare protocols (
IPX/SPX); the former were the standard among Unix users at the time of development, while PC networking was much more commonly based on NetWare. Destiny was released in 1992 as UnixWare 1.0, with the intention of unifying the fragmented PC Unix market behind this single variant of the operating system. The system was earlier to reach the corporate computing market than Microsoft's
Windows NT, but observers of the period remarked that UnixWare was "just another flavor of Unix", Novell's involvement being more a marketing ploy than a significant influx of technology. There two editions of Destiny: a
Personal Edition, which includes Novell
IPX networking but not
TCP/IP, and an
Advanced Server Edition with TCP/IP and other server software. The personal edition is limited to two active users, while the server edition includes an unlimited user license. Around 35,000 copies of UnixWare 1.0 were sold. In 1992, UnixWare 1.0 Personal Edition came with
DOS Merge 3.0 and Novell's
DR DOS 6.0. In 1993, Novell purchased USL from AT&T and merged USL and Univel into a new
Unix Systems Group.
1993–1995: Novell In 1994 Novell released UnixWare 1.1, which includes TCP/IP in both the personal and advanced server editions. The MOTIF 1.2 runtime libraries are included for
COSE compliance. NUC (NetWare Unix Client) software is included for integration with Novell
NetWare servers. The
Advanced Merge application is installed on both the server and personal editions to allow running
DOS and
Windows 3.1 applications. Novell later released bug-fix versions 1.1.1, 1.1.2, 1.1.3 and finally 1.1.4 on 19 June 1995. UnixWare 2.0, based on the
Unix System V release 4.2MP kernel, which added support for
multiprocessing, began shipping to
OEMs and developers in December 1994, and to the consumer market in March 1995. Both the personal and server editions support two processor systems, with the possibility of buying extra
Processor Upgrade licenses for the server edition. Supported multiprocessor systems include standard
Intel MP 1.1 SMP machines and
Corollary C-bus systems. The system supports
NetWare ODI network drivers in an effort to increase the number of supported network interfaces. Other new features in the release include a
POSIX Threads library in addition to the older
UI threads library. This never materialized. Instead, a NetWare 4.10 server on Linux was offered as
Caldera NetWare for Linux for
OpenLinux since 1998, and Novell's
Open Enterprise Server finally came in 2005.
1995–2001: Santa Cruz Operation In 1995, the
Santa Cruz Operation (SCO) acquired UnixWare from Novell. The exact terms of this transaction were disputed (see
SCO vs Novell); courts have subsequently determined that Novell retained the ownership of Unix. When the transfer was made public SCO announced that it would work towards merging UnixWare with its
OpenServer SVR3.2 based OS, but the first release of UnixWare from SCO was version 2.1 in 1996. At the release of UnixWare 2.1 it was announced that the proposed UnixWare/OpenServer merger was known as project
Gemini, to be available in 1997 and a 64-bit version of UnixWare was to be developed for 1998. One controversial change was the adoption of an OpenServer-like user licensing policy. The Univel and Novell releases of UnixWare allow 2 users on the personal edition or unlimited numbers of users on the server edition. With UnixWare 2.1 the server edition includes a license for up to 5 users. Customers wanting more users could purchase 10, 25, 100, 500 or unlimited user license extensions. SCO released three updates to UnixWare 2.1. UnixWare 2.1.1, released in 1996 achieved
Unix 95 branding. UnixWare 2.1.2 and 2.1.3, available in 1998, are largely bug fix releases. In 1998
Compaq released a package known as the Integrity XC consisting of a
single-system image cluster of
Proliant servers with a version of UnixWare 2.1,
UnixWare NonStop Clusters. The first results of the Gemini project were made available in early 1998 as UnixWare 7. SCO named the kernel version
Unix System V release 5. The system is largely based on UnixWare 2.1, with features for driver compatibility with OpenServer, allowing use of OpenServer network drivers. System administration utilities from OpenServer,
scoadmin, replace the original UnixWare
sysadm utility. Major new features of UnixWare 7 include multi-path I/O, large files and file systems and support for large memory systems. UnixWare 7 lacks the
Xenix compatibility features of both its ancestors. This was due to SCO wishing to no longer pay Microsoft more royalties on Xenix. For those wanting Xenix compatibility, an optional SCO
OpenServer Kernel Personality would later be created. In 1999 SCO released the UnixWare 7.1 update which increased the number of editions; the
Business (5-user),
Department (25 user) and
Enterprise (50 user) editions replace the earlier personal and server editions. The WebTop application from
Tarantella, Inc. is included. In 2000 SCO released the UnixWare 7.1.1 update. Simultaneously the
UnixWare NonStop Clusters 7.1.1+IP
single-system image cluster package was released. This new package allows
commodity hardware to be used as well as the proprietary Compaq hardware supported by the earlier Integrity XC product, and was directly available from SCO.
2000–2011: Caldera and The SCO Group On 2 August 2000,
Santa Cruz Operation (SCO) announced that it would sell its Server Software and Services Divisions, as well as rights to the OpenServer and UnixWare products, to
Caldera Systems. In March 2001, Caldera Systems announced they would become
Caldera International (CII), and the SCO purchase was completed in May 2001. The remaining part of the Santa Cruz Operation company, the Tarantella Division, changed its name to
Tarantella, Inc. Caldera International's initial release of UnixWare was renamed Open UNIX 8. The name change was intended to highlight the addition of the "
Linux Kernel Personality" compatibility layer to the operating system. This release is what would have been UnixWare 7.1.2. Caldera International renamed itself to
The SCO Group in August 2002, after broadening its product line to include mobile products and services. Later, the newly renamed The SCO Group reverted to the previous UnixWare brand and version release numbering, releasing UnixWare 7.1.3 and 7.1.4. No further releases were made under the Open UNIX name. The SCO Group continued to maintain UnixWare and issues periodic maintenance updates and support. Between 2007 and 2011, The SCO Group engaged in a series of
legal battles. In September 2007, The SCO Group filed for
Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. On 11 April 2011,
UnXis bought The SCO Group operating assets and intellectual property rights after having been approved by the bankruptcy court in Delaware. The SCO Group, Inc. then renamed itself TSG Group, Inc., and SCO Operations, Inc. became TSG Operations, Inc., and in August 2012 filed to convert from Chapter 11 to
Chapter 7.
2011–present: UnXis and Xinuos The rights to Unixware, as well as OpenServer, were acquired by UnXis in 2011. In June 2013 UnXis was renamed as
Xinuos and announced product and availability for SCO UnixWare 7.1.4+, now supporting both physical and virtual machines. == Version history ==