Another Utah Tech O.G. has Died — Darl McBride — At One Time Referred to as "... the Most Hated Man in the Tech Industry"

Darl McBride was a technology visionary and serial entrepreneur most known for his time leading The SCO Group as he sought compensation for what was claimed as the misappropriated value for SCO's ownership of UNIX.

But in reality, he also saw significant success during his career in executive positions with firms like Novell, IKON Office Solutions, SolutionBank, and Franklin Covey, among others.

During his time as CEO of publicly traded SCO, Bride and his efforts were widely reported on in media properties ranging from CRN to WIRED; he even graced the cover of Fortune in 2004 under the headline "CORPORATE ENEMY NO. 1."

Darl McBride died this past Monday evening, 16 September 2024, less than one year after he was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's Disease (ALS).

He was 64.

Darl Charles McBride, the Utah technologist, businessman and serial entrepreneur who led the billion-dollar-plus, Quixote-like intellectual property battle against IBM, DaimlerChrysler, Novell, and many other corporations (as well as millions of open source software users and devotees around the globe), died Monday, 16 September 2024, roughly eight months after he was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), aka, Lou Gehrig's disease. McBride was 64.

Although most famously/infamously known for the multiyear, legal quest noted above, the reality is that Darl was much more than the former CEO of The SCO Group, the firm that tried to extract the underlying value of the UNIX software it claimed it owned.

In fact, Darl was a tireless businessman, a visionary technologist, an investor-backed serial entrepreneur, and a devoted family man and friend.

I first met Darl over 30 years ago when my family and his family lived in the same neighborhood in southernmost Sandy, Utah and attended and participated in religious services in the same ward (aka, congregation) of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Prior to our meeting, however, Darl had earned a bachelor's degree in Sociology (cum laude) from Brigham Young University, followed by a master's degree in Science from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, a graduate degree that saw him land a Research Fellowship with IBM.

Darl McBride: From Novell through The SCO Group

Darl began his professional career with an eight-year tenure at Novell, a journey that CRN magazine reported saw him

• Leverage his Japanese language proficiency* into a position in Japan where he helped Novell Japan reach $150 million in annual revenue, before returning back to Utah where he
• Took on the position of Vice President and General Manager of Novell's Embedded Systems Division (NEST).

It was after his Novell experience that I came to know Darl McBride as a visionary technologist and entrepreneur.

Specifically, Darl had recognized an opportunity to leverage the business approach of IKON Office Solutions, the then largest copier dealer network and service provider in the United States.

His intent was to apply the IKON acquisition/rollup approach to the computer- and networking-focused Value-Added Reseller / Systems Integrator industry.

Darl's proposition to IKON leadership was both straightforward and brilliant:

Provide me with the financial backing needed, and I will rapidly build a Technology Services division for IKON via a roll-up acquisition strategy.

And they said "Yes."

So I ended-up working side-by-side with Darl and his executive team as the public relations consultant for IKON Technology Services as it acquired over 30 VARs and SIs in roughly two years, a rollup play that created a division producing over $400 million in annual revenue for IKON.

Unfortunately,

• IKON did not deliver on the rewards promised to Darl and his team,
• IKON sued Darl,
• He sued them, and several years later,
• The legal mess was settled confidentially out of court.

Following IKON, Darl spent two years with Franklin Covey as an Executive Vice President, before being recruited to join Caldera as its CEO in mid-2002, a firm which he renamed shortly thereafter as The SCO Group.

Now, to be clear, the legal machinations between SCO, IBM, and many other major corporations officially started in 2003 and centered around the simplistic question of

"Who owns UNIX software?"

NOTE: To be clear, at the end of the day, this was anything but a simple question about software ownership and intellectual property.

It was during this multiyear legal battle that his long-time friend and business colleague, Ty Mattingly, was quoted by CRN magazine as saying of Darl:

"Congratulations. In a few short months you've dethroned Bill Gates as the most hated man in the industry."

As contained within the Wikipedia entry titled "SCO Group, Inc. v. International Business Machines Corp.," nearly 4,600 words are dedicated to detailing and unravelling this multifaceted, multilayered and often very bitter legal battle, one that eventually stretched to a final settlement in late 2021, roughly 18 years after it began.

By then, however, Darl was no longer with SCO, having been dismissed as its CEO and President in mid-October 2009, some 12 years after departing SCO.

For that matter, The SCO Group initiated Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation proceedings in 2012.

McBride's Final Years: 2009 through 2024

Following SCO's bankruptcy proceedings, Darl kept a fairly low profile for several years, although he did acquire technology from SCO post-2012 that he eventually leveraged into a fan engagement mobile application known as Shout, an app centered around sports/athletics and interested advertisers.

Then, during the last years of his life (starting in early 2021 until this year), Darl was Chief Operating Officer of VirnetX, a secure digital communications platform.

Darl is survived by his wife Andrea, their children, numerous grandchildren, and other relatives and friends.

UPDATE: Darl's official obituary, including details about funeral/memorial services, are available here.

In closing, I simply say, "Thank you, my friend."

You were truly one of the "Original Gangsters" of Utah's tech industry.

*— AUTHOR'S NOTE: McBride learned Japanese while serving a two-year volunteer mission in Kobe, Japan for The LDS Church.