IBM and Novell have piled on the bankruptcy trustee's move last week to put SCO into liquidation, a move made the day before the 10th Circuit heard SCO's appeal asking for the summary judgment awarding ownership of Unix to Novell to be overturned.

Timing is everything but it's unclear why IBM and Novell waited so long unless they didn't want to look like bullies and give SCO something else to complain about.

Anyway, they argue in separate but similar motions that SCO's management should be ousted and what's left of the company turned over to a trustee who's not married to the idea of sacrificing everything to chase the dream of a pot of gold at the end of its litigation.

They say that SCO has had 19 months and three extensions to come up with a reorganization plan, has flubbed two attempts to sell assets or reconstruct itself, has racked up $11.3 million in losses during that time, is now simply squandering cash, has little to no chance of getting back on its feet and should be put into Chapter 7 to preserve what little value is left for creditors like themselves.

If SCO was liquidated, then IBM could conceivably buy its IP and put an end to any cloud hanging over Linux, though one has to wonder if a gambler would come forward to outbid IBM and how far those trumps could go.

Interestingly, it was IBM who ran up an order for the bankruptcy judge to sign. A hearing on the motions is set for June 12 but with IBM and Novell coming in now that'll get delayed a bit.

SCO can still come up with the financing to get itself out of this fix. It wouldn't even need that if the 10th Circuit rules in its favor soon.