McBride was fluent in Japanese and spent two years in Japan as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
[4] McBride was the president of Franklin Covey's online planning business from August 2000 until a few months prior to joining the SCO Group as CEO.
[5] McBride has been controversial in the information technology industry for his role as the CEO of SCO in asserting broad claims of intellectual property ownership of the various UNIX operating systems derivatives developed by IBM under a license originally granted by AT&T Corporation.
Open source, free software and Linux developers and supporters, and the computer industry at large have been outspoken and highly critical and skeptical of McBride and SCO's claims in these areas.
"[6] McBride claimed he received death threats as a result of the SCO-IBM lawsuits, and had a package of worms mailed to his home, prompting him to carry a firearm and to employ multiple bodyguards.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between SCO and SNCP (Stephen Norris & Co. Capital Partners) included the note that "upon the effective date of the Proposed Plan of Reorganization, the existing CEO of the Company, Darl McBride, will resign immediately."
[16] It developed a mobile app called SHOUT, a free trivia game that integrated with live sporting events and awarded winners with cash and other prizes.
[citation needed][17] According to his published obituary, Darl McBride lost his life to ALS complications on Monday, September 16, 2024.