RE: [MLUG] SuSE

["Russell Horn" <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

I'm really quite surprised at the reaction here to the Novell/SuSE
announcement, especially given that reactions elsewhere have been much more
positive.

This should be a huge move forwards in mainstream linux. Novell have
committed to keeping the full range of Linux versions from desktop through
to enterprise server solutions. Novell make probably the best
file/print/directory server solutions and will now offer them on linux at a
lower total cost than on Win2k3. That means more enterprises switching from
Windows to Linux. Surely a good thing.

Novell have trained more than 600 staff to support their linux offerings -
that's double the number of people SuSE employ - that shows some long term
commitment to linux. SuSE's 300 strong team of staff are joining an
operation that has more than four times that many working in tech support
alone.

We should also take note that IBM contributed $50m to Novell - IBM are
hugely committed to linux and open source, and use SuSE as their in house
distro. Another huge partnership towards linux and SuSE.

We shouldn't forget the implications of this in the SCO affair either. SuSE
were a major partner in United Linux - as were SCO. SuSE is now owned by
Novell, and IBM have taken a big share in Novell. Novell sold SCO their
right to sell Unix. IBM have placed their thumbs into two more pies both of
which will have contractual agreements with SCO that could be very useful in
their court case.

All in all, Novell have been around for a long time and have a huge presence
in the enterprise. They needed an OS to replace the aging Netware and linux
was the obvious choice. That left two possible candidates, RedHat or SuSE.
Now RedHat would have cost a couple of billion in a takeover, so they got
SuSE for a fraction of that. I bet Novell are delighted, SuSE has its future
secured and linux can only benefit long term.

Russell.

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