UnixWare is actually a fairly decent OS that's the direct descendent of SVR4 by ATT. Novell bought ATT's UNIX division, which was named Univel.
The decision to buy Univel was Ray Noorda's. He wanted an application server to compete with Windows NT because he saw that Microsoft meant to squash Novell.
Eventually, after Ray Noorda left, they sold it to SCO because the new CEO had no clue what kind of beast Microsoft is.