RE: [MLUG] SuSE

["Ross, Matthew" <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.

We're realists, not optimists. The cynical version of Murphey's law applies to us very heavily, and this stands to cause us a lot of headaches.

> This should be a huge move forwards in mainstream linux. Novell have

SuSE is already mainstream linux. They're being bought by a company that brings nothing to it but what used to be the big name in the networking industry. Now they've specialized and only geeks and investors know they still exist.

> committed to keeping the full range of Linux versions from 
> desktop through
> to enterprise server solutions. 

In what way are they keeping them? SuSE releasing their old versions in toto was a great thing for the community, will Novell do the same?

> 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.

Depends on how they do it. If they open source what they do, then I'm all for this. If they play RH's game and only open source what they have to under the GPL, then this just means one distro can charge as much as Windows for what is mostly other companies and individuals work, just because their version has better file and printing services.

> 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.

Are they adding anything to development, or is it just support?

> 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.

I like the IBM angle, they've not bought SuSE, they've just used it as the distro that best fits their current needs. I'll get nervous when IBM buys its own distro though.

> 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.

Good point. In light of that, this could mean Novell is digging in and getting ready for a fight. They did send a rather scathing open letter to SCO after its original mailings.

> 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.

"Nah, they should have bought Debian!" "No, slack!!" ;-)

I'm worried that SuSE is a convenient grab that they'll let die when they no longer need to make that level of commitment. I would agree, SuSE isn't going anywhere for 2 years at least, but after that I'm not so sure.

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