SCO's mobile service to talk to the masses

The SCO Group unveiled on Monday a mobile digital service that lets handheld devices distribute voice and text messages to groups and individuals, as well as record and display real-time research data.

The service, branded Me Inc., works with smart phones and other mobile devices to integrate them with back-end resources. SCO's new service comes at a time when shipments of personal digital assistants are reaching record levels.

With a Me Inc. subscription, the Unix software maker lets people share voice or text messages with individuals or groups of any size, as well as plan projects, delegate tasks and track the progress of work.

The service is also designed to let people record and display real-time research data for projects such as opinion polls. In addition, it lets people create groups with multimedia profiles from existing directories or from their mobile service.

SCO expects to begin selling the service next month via resellers and through its own Web site. Prices have not been released yet.

The service is designed to work with smart handheld devices, such as the Palm Treo. SCO expects in the near future to add devices such as Research In Motion's BlackBerry and ones that run on the Microsoft Windows Mobile and the Symbian operating systems.

Utah State University recently used a Me Inc. multimedia feature called Shout to alert the school's sports booster organization to a game cancellation when Hurricane Katrina prevented the Louisiana-based Nicholls State University team from coming to Utah.

"Using Shout, I was able to inform hundreds of USU boosters of our game cancellation with a simple 12-second audio message from my Treo," Tom Hale, executive director of Utah State's Big Blue booster program, said in SCO's statement.

Market researcher Gartner recently issued a report that PDA shipments reached 3.6 million units in the second quarter, up 32 percent from the same period a year ago. Gartner forecasts that a total of 15 million units are on track to ship by year's end, surpassing a previous record of 13.2 million in 2001.

[Earl Benser]

What do you know....

...SCO is trying to find legitimate business opportunity. I wouldn't
have thought that SCO management knew how - and maybe they
don't. And maybe SCO will be busted before this pipe dream has a
chance

One would hope so....

[System Tyrant]

SCO'd

Personally I wouldn't buy or use anything SCO has at the moment. Not because they produce bad software, but because of the lawsuit that is probably going to bankrupt the company and leave many people in limbo.

However, if SCO tossed Dayrl McBride and dropped the lawsuit with appologies then I would put them back on my consideration list.

[Earl Benser]

What do you know....

...SCO is trying to find legitimate business opportunity. I wouldn't
have thought that SCO management knew how - and maybe they
don't. And maybe SCO will be busted before this pipe dream has a
chance

One would hope so....

[System Tyrant]

SCO'd

Personally I wouldn't buy or use anything SCO has at the moment. Not because they produce bad software, but because of the lawsuit that is probably going to bankrupt the company and leave many people in limbo.

However, if SCO tossed Dayrl McBride and dropped the lawsuit with appologies then I would put them back on my consideration list.

[M C]

Companies have been failing to find this profitable for years

SCO is showing how inept they are at becoming a real business.

The market for cell phone/PDA services boomed and busted five years ago, when every dot-com refugee decided that it was the new, sexy land of cash.

But SCO had to figure out a way to get some more investment and keep its executives in Porsches, I guess.

[John Kuzak]

becoming a real business

http://www.analogstereo.com/honda_integra_owners_manual.htm

[M C]

Companies have been failing to find this profitable for years

SCO is showing how inept they are at becoming a real business.

The market for cell phone/PDA services boomed and busted five years ago, when every dot-com refugee decided that it was the new, sexy land of cash.

But SCO had to figure out a way to get some more investment and keep its executives in Porsches, I guess.

[John Kuzak]

becoming a real business

http://www.analogstereo.com/honda_integra_owners_manual.htm

[BillTheCat]

Probably Not

The SCO Group is wrapped up in major legal battles and is facing a major financial whammy if Novell should get their way. Novell has asked the court to place ALL of SCO's money into a trust because Novell claims that the royalties for their SCO Source licenses to Sun and Microsoft should have been paid to Novell. If the court agrees, this would basically bankrupt SCOX.

Where is SCOX going to get the funds to ramp this up, productize it, market it with expensive advertising, support it, etc.?

They're bleeding cash as it is. They've lost most of their people. They're credibility is zilch after suing their own customers (AutoZone, Daimler, et. al.)

If this ever makes it to the streets, it's doubtful that anybody would want to buy it.

[BillTheCat]

Probably Not

The SCO Group is wrapped up in major legal battles and is facing a major financial whammy if Novell should get their way. Novell has asked the court to place ALL of SCO's money into a trust because Novell claims that the royalties for their SCO Source licenses to Sun and Microsoft should have been paid to Novell. If the court agrees, this would basically bankrupt SCOX.

Where is SCOX going to get the funds to ramp this up, productize it, market it with expensive advertising, support it, etc.?

They're bleeding cash as it is. They've lost most of their people. They're credibility is zilch after suing their own customers (AutoZone, Daimler, et. al.)

If this ever makes it to the streets, it's doubtful that anybody would want to buy it.