Well today, they have expanded on that partnership with Microsoft, buying an additional $100 Million in certificates for expanded support from Novell. This includes SUSE Linux Enterprise Server support and support for moving toward an enterprise-class Linux platform.

The two companies are working closely to make it easier for companies to enhance the interoperability of the two operating systems.

"The collaboration between Microsoft and Novell has been built on our desire to meet our customers’ real-life IT requirements as well as give our partners greater breadth in their solution offerings," said Microsoft COO Kevin Turner.

"Some customers have told us they want to be able to run Windows Server and Linux together seamlessly, but in many cases, they need help with the transition to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server from other Linux environments," he added.

Among companies who are already running Windows Server and SUSE together are BMW, Wal-Mart, and SouthWest Airlines.

The new elements of the deal between Microsoft and Novell will take effect in November, around the two-year anniversary of the partnership’s beginning.

The more Linux fans Microsoft can get on its side, the better the company will probably fare in the OS wars as it struggles with Vista discontent and Apple success.

This relationship is similar to what we see between CentOS and Red Hat already.

CentOS takes RHEL and redistributes it for free. If enough customers of Red Hat were to opt for CentOS instead of RHEL, Red Hat’s revenues would suffer. Hence, Red Hat would cut expenses, including their R&D spending. This could lead to development quality and speed on new feature addition issues inside of RHEL. This, by implication would lead to the same issues within CentOS. As a result, fewer customers would use CentOS, thereby returning the balance between Red Hat and CentOS.

The same scenario applies to Red Hat & Oracle, at least in the near term. That’s why I have a real problem with the likes of Matt Assay crying bloody murder. DISCLAIMER: I don’t like Oracle’s business practices in general. I am incredibly happy that IBM knows how to contribute and participate within the Open Source community and that this is not a move you could really see IBM making. I’m just responding to the outcry from a business and customer standpoint.

From a customer standpoint:

1] If Oracle does a terrible job providing support for RHEL, customers will go (back to) Red Hat. There will be some customer pain while they migrate (back) to Red Hat support, but at least they aren’t locked in.

[2] If Oracle does a great job at it, customers win. (Unlikely if you ask me

[2b] If Oracle wins a lot of (new) customers (from Red Hat) and inhibits the growth of Red Hat, this would cause Red Hat to spend even less on R&D than they do. Now, Oracle has a choice:

• [2b-1] Continue to base their support business on RHEL, even though the lowered R&D spending by Red Hat is resulting in a lower quality product with fewer new features. (Unlikely because this is a do nothing option and customers would lose.)
• [2b-2] Add more Oracle development resources to the Linux development community to make up for the reduced Red Hat R&D. (Likely because we have to assume Oracle will need to add some employees to the community ASAP to help support the unbreakable linux network. Hence, no net negative impact to customers.)
• [2b-3] Oracle acquires Red Hat. (Possible, but not without other large IT vendors jumping in to support Novell SUSE or Ubuntu to ensure that there is more than 1 large IT vendor endorsed/backed Linux distro. No net negative impact to customers.)
• [2b-4] Decide to fork. (Most unlikely, and this would have a negative impact to customers. But on the other hand, maybe it would increase choice for customers.)

[2c] Red Hat’s financial troubles make it an acquisition target for the likes of IBM, HP, Sun, Dell or even SAP. (Possible, but other major IT vendors would act to ensure that choice of Linux distros remains, so no net negative impact to customers).

[3] The Oracle competition just makes Red Hat work even harder at their core Linux offerings, which is where they’ve shown their ability to compete and win. (Most likely

Lots of roads this can take. Lots of possibilities, the majority of which don’t have a large negative impact on customers. It’ll be interesting to see this play out.

Tag:

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit | Furl

Bookmark WebProNews:

I am taking a semi-break from IBM life as I return to finish a PhD in Industrial Engineering. I’ve held roles in market intelligence, strategy and product management. I’m ex-product manager of IBM WAS Community Edition, and blog about enterprise open source topics.

A lot of people are wondering what Microsoft is up to, what possible motivation drove this. I’d ask the same of Novell: lying down with the lion is not usually a good strategy for smaller animals.

Novell CEO Ronald Hovsepian explained that it’s all about you: (News.com):

The impetus for the arrangement was to make it easier for software buyers to run both Windows and Linux-based systems, Hovsepian said. “We came together to focus on giving you, our customers, the choice,” he said.

Oh, sure. I hadn’t thought of that.

Bruce Perens is skeptical and so am I. I think Novell is standing at this altar after having had a long talk with someone holding a shotgun. The language in the agreement about not suing Novell is what makes me think that: I think Microsoft is doing a “divide and conquer” plan and using patents as its tool.

Bruce Perens is on that same thought and suggests that Microsoft’s next move is to:

crack down on “unlicensed Linux”, and “unlicensed Free Software”, now that it can tell the courts that there is a Microsoft-licensed path. Or they can just passively let that threat stay there as a deterrent to anyone who would use Open Source without going through the Microsoft-approved Novell path.

Quoting Bruce again:

This entire agreement hinges around software patenting – monopolies on ideas that are burying the software industry in litigation – rather than innovation. If we’ve learned one thing from the rapid rise of Open Source, it’s that intellectual property protection – the thing that Open Source dispenses with – actually impedes innovation. And the Novell-Microsoft agremeent stands as an additional impediment.

Right. Novell is selling everyone else down the river, or at least hoping to. As Hovsepian said, it’s all about you.

All about you and your money, that is.

Previous rantings in this area:

Internet Access is not a right

Illegal Linux

Complacency and bravado

Licensed Operating Systems

*Originally published at APLawrence.com

A.P. Lawrence provides SCO Unix and Linux consulting services http://www.pcunix.com

After authorities moved to arrest Hans Reiser last week over the disappearance of Nina Reiser, some in the Linux world wondered about the impact the arrest would have on ReiserFS. Namesys, run by Hans Reiser, develops the filesystem.

CNet has reported Novell will replace ReiserFS in SuSE Linux with ext3 as the default filesystem option:

Issues beyond that of the allegations Reiser faces include a small development community, problems running on large systems, and ongoing funding for Namesys work, the article noted in citing a letter from SuSE’s Jeff Mahoney. Also ReiserFS version 4 has not been made part of the Linux kernel, hampering the company’s efforts to fine revenue to support continued work.

That future looks bleak, but in contrast to the criminal allegations being brought forth, and the disruption of the lives of the Reiser’s two children, losing a job at Namesys does not look quite as crucial.

—
Tag:

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg | Yahoo! My Web | Furl

Bookmark WebProNews:

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.

In 1998, the open source world was abuzz with the revelation of the Halloween documents. Penned by a product manager at the behest of management, these memos illustrated the competitive threat Microsoft perceived from the open source community, and suggested an “embrace, extend, and extinguish” approach to Linux.

Fast forward to 2006. Microsoft opened the Boston 2006 edition of LinuxWorld with announcements that, had they been suggested to Jim Allchin eight years ago, may have earned the offending Microsoftie a one-way trip to the parking lot.

Microsoft has decided to make its Virtual Server product available at no cost. The free download from the Virtual Server website for version 2005 RC2 enables multiple operating systems to run concurrently on a single machine.

Today, “multiple operating systems” includes Linux distributions too. The additions to Virtual Server for Red Hat Linux and Novell SuSE Linux have been made available to the public, according to Zane Adam, director of product marketing in the Windows Server Division at Microsoft.

He discussed the release in a Q&A statement from Microsoft, where he cited “virtualization technology as a key stepping stone toward the vision of self-managing dynamic systems.”

Adam also announced the availability of technical support options for customers who choose Virtual Server to host Linux and Linux-based applications:

To summarize this, Microsoft has essentially embraced the open source business model of offering paid support options for a free product, and extended it to Linux. Eight years ago, that would have been unthinkable.

—

Add to | DiggThis | Yahoo! My Web | PreFound.com

Drag this to your Bookmarks.

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.

Oracle announced it will deliver OCFS Release 2 with Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4, and the Linux 2.6 kernel. In a statement, Novell extolled the virtues of OCFS 2:

“Oracle Cluster File System Release 2 delivers significant cluster file management improvements that help our customers reduce IT costs without compromising quality or performance,” said David Patrick, vice president and general manager, Linux, Open Source Platforms and Services at Novell.

Oracle’s Cluster File System, like one introduced by HP, is based on the Lustre open source protocol. Lustre has a place in several of the world’s top supercomputers, including BlueGene/L, the number one machine for two years running.

Oracle highlighted one feature of OCFS 2 in its release. In a typical multi-node cluster, admins have to install a software package on each node. With OCFS 2, that install can be made one time and all the nodes can share it.

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Email him here.

Following in the footsteps of Sun Microsystems, Novell has made an open distribution of the SUSE Linux operating system available online.

Novell disclosed the project at the LinuxWorld Conference Expo in San Francisco. In a press release, the company noted that community participation in SUSE Linux version 10.0 begins with a beta release, available now for download.

The company will still deliver a shrinkwrapped version of the OS for retail sale. Those prepackaged distributions will contain the OS and extras like additional software, documentation, and installation support.

OpenSUSE will utilize BugZilla for bug tracking and reporting. Novell plans to expand access to its AutoBuild system to openSUSE developers as it rolls out new project features.

Novell cites a comparison and contrast to Fedora in the openSUSE FAQ. The project has non-technical users as its focus, and considers Fedora more aimed at savvier technical users. “Only the openSUSE project refines its Linux distribution to the point where non-technical users can have a successful Linux experience,” Novell says in the openSUSE FAQ.

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Email him here.

… from OpenOffice and Firefox to previews of Xen technology for virtualization, Beagle desktop search and Linphone for voice over IP.

The distro includes tools for some of the more exacting tasks home users face, like setting up a home network securely or deploying a web server.

Novell offers SUSE LINUX 9.3 for $99.95 USD to new purchasers, and $59.95 USD to upgraders. Students with valid identification may purchase 9.3 new at the upgrade price.

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Email him here.

SuSE Linux Enterprise Desktop, which is in beta testing now, will cost $129 per desktop, although discounts would apply to high-volume purchases, Rafael Laguna, SuSE’s marketing vice president, said yesterday.

Click below to read this article at the Computerworld website:

http://www.computerworld.com/

Unlike any other IT information source, Computerworld has a proud heritage that speaks volumes about continuous change, adaptation and brand loyalty. Thirty-five years since launching as “the newsweekly for the computer community”, Computerworld remains at the forefront of IT Leaders’ information needs. And the proof is daunting. 61 editorial awards in the last four years. More users quoted in the last year than any other IT publication. More press recognition than any other IT publication. And 58 editions published worldwide, making Computerworld the largest IT media network in the world. This kind of leadership can only happen with an unwavering focus on the information needs of IT Leaders, where Computerworld delivers a cutting-edge suite of offerings across print, online and events.