Novell Announces Agreement to Acquire SUSE 672
Mickey Hill writes "Novell today announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire SUSE LINUX, one of the world's leading enterprise Linux companies, expanding Novell's ability to provide enterprise-class services and support on the Linux platform. Novell expects the transaction to close by the end of its first fiscal quarter (January 2004). This latest move follows Novell's August purchase of Ximian."
Interesting (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Interesting (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm not a fan of novell really, but maybe this will change... It will be interesting to see how they handle liscensing, how proprietary they keep their software, so on and so forth.
Good old Novell (Score:3, Interesting)
Agreement details (Score:2, Funny)
It really happened - I swear.
Good. (Score:5, Funny)
Indeed (Score:3, Interesting)
Except that (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Except that (Score:4, Insightful)
Well, Novell stands to gain nothing by suing SCO now.
However:
1) Wait for SCO vs. IBM to work itself out
2) If SCO wins, sue SCO
3) PROFIT!
If SCO loses, Novell then hasn't paid large fees to lawyers and has lost nothing.
Webcast (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.novell.com/webcast [novell.com]
Novell basically acquired Suse for free... (Score:4, Insightful)
Pre-Market: 7.499 +1.449 (23.95%)
NOVL Market Cap: 2.26B
Let's do the math.
Novell will pay $210 million for Suse, but Novell's market cap goes up by $500 million upon announcing the deal.
So basically, the acquisition of Suse is FREE. Actually, Novell made an extra $300 million in stock value by announcing the deal - so it's better than free.
Gotta love the free market system.
Re:Novell basically acquired Suse for free... (Score:5, Informative)
Novell pays for SuSE, but they don't get a bunch of cash for stock going up. The stockholders do (if they sell). You're playing a shell game.
Re:Novell basically acquired Suse for free... (Score:3, Interesting)
And assumming they have plans for SUSE besides liquidating the company, it was a great bargain.
just my
jeff
The pressing issue: (Score:5, Funny)
Re:The pressing issue: (Score:3, Interesting)
This sounds interesting for two reasons. I bet that Jack Messman and Chris Stone decided to play a little hardball with IBM. Basically, back us in this or we go ahead and tell SCO to sue them without our intervention using the UNIX rights that we retained.
The second cool thing is that all of a sudden there is a viable alternative to the Red Hat evil empire. I would bet that Novell/Suse arent goin
Re:The pressing issue: (Score:5, Insightful)
IBM learned from that set of mistakes. The question is: has Novell learned? Or is this the same bunch of guys who think it is still 1993 with Netware holding 85% market share?
sPh
Re:The pressing issue: (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:The pressing issue: (Score:3)
Also, you're confusing the releases. SuSE has no runtime licenses for their desktop release. You're thinking of a previous product that bundled Crossover and some disk partitioning software and they've since pulled that one.
As for offering ISOs, you can easily mirror the RPMs from their ftp site, burn to a CD, and you're done.
I'm not saying SuSE are saints but one could argue that they've c
Re:The pressing issue: (Score:3, Insightful)
I'll take your word for it. The last time I used SuSE (which has been several years, I'll admit), YaST was closed-source. In the interest of fairness, the Red Hat up2date server is still closed-source, which I'm not a big fan of.
Also, you're confusing the releases. SuSE has no runtime licenses for their desktop release. You're thinking of a previous product that bundled Crossover and some di
Re:The pressing issue: (Score:5, Informative)
- Yast is not closed source, you get the source with every SUSE distro, you can change it, you can even redistribute the changes, as long as you mark 'your' yast version as a modified version. The restrictions are, that you are not allowed sell(!) your modified program, while on the other hand SUSE is allowed to incorporate your changes into their next version
(for reference, type 'yast license' into google, for me it was the 5th link)
- SUSE doesn't have a 100$ user licens (not even one you could put into quotations), because
(a) SUSE Professional is only $79.95
(b) you could also buy the update version for $49.95
(c) you can install for free (modulo your internet connection costs) over FTP
(d) you can legaly copy the CDs from somebody else
The fact that the ISOs are not publically available from the net is something which I don't considere as positive, but it still doesn't make you assertions true
Re:The pressing issue: (Score:3, Informative)
This product you point out is a version of SuSE that includes Codeweavers Crossover Office and a few other commercial goodies. It is *NOT* the regular SuSE that you can download and install.
Grow a clue.
Re:The pressing issue: (Score:4, Insightful)
They need to get their act together and communicate or they are going to loose lots of people because of it.
I don't care what they intended or what they are doing if I can't figure it out.
Re:The pressing issue: (Score:5, Insightful)
Err, not quite. While I am not a devotee of RedHat as a distro, I think it's a bit unfair to dub them "evil" when they have actually put a lot of manpower into products that have been released into the public domain free of charge.
While it's not precisely altruism, they have contributed a lot to the Linux user community, and to deny that is churlish.
Save the epithets for the real baddies in Redmond.
Re:The pressing issue: (Score:3, Informative)
err, not quite. i feel like i am defending a trademark so it won't disappear, but most of RH's stuff is under GPL which is not public domain.
they have contributed a lot to the Linux user community
this i agree completely.
Re:The pressing issue: (Score:5, Informative)
Suggested activities for while you wait for the alternative:
1. Go download free Red Hat
2. Go figure out why you can't download free SuSE
3. Find some more appropriate "evil empire" (I'm afraid the world sucks enough that neither Red Hat nor SuSE should be very high on your list) to redirect your indignation towards.
Re:The pressing issue: (Score:3, Informative)
You can install it through FTP just fine (and for free), so what's the problem? Does it say somewhere that they must provide ISO's?
Hmm (Score:5, Insightful)
1. Novell stuffs this up, and I'm left with no real "Free" solution for buisnesses (I dont care about support, I just want a brand name and is recognizable and usable).
2. Novell doesnt stuff it up, and SUSE takes over Redhat's market share here in north america.
Either way, linux growth is going to stop dead for a good chunk of time while these issues with Redhat and Suse settle down.
After yesterdays' article regarding Redhat's changes, I started looking at SUSE more carefully. Now we've got such serious flux in the two most important linux distributions that it'll take six months to a year before I feel comfortable pitching either of these to buisnesses.
Crazy talk. (Score:2, Insightful)
Since when did we rely on SUSE and RHat for our linux development?? Last I checked, Linux and the associated environment were Open Source/Free Software. That's what's so special about it: companies can come and go and thrive and fail, but they can only help GNU/Linux, and never hurt it.
This is why I was cheering for AOL to buy RHat last year or whenever that rumor was going around. Not because it would be good for RHat, but because AOL would
Re:Hmm (Score:3, Informative)
I believe that Mandrake has more market share in North America than SUSE (I don't have any link to back that up though).
Re:Hmm (Score:3)
Re:Hmm (Score:5, Insightful)
Puhhleeze. Please stop the
I'm running short on time, so I'm going to let the moderators mark me as Troll as I don't have 30 links to back up these statements. But, I'm pretty sure that:
1. Linux, the kernel, will see continuing development without care towards Suse or Redhat.
2. GNU is still going to develop their wonderful tools.
3. The important projects on sf.net are still moving forward.
4. There are other distros.
5. There are many independent parties packaging for Redhat and Suse; nice updates can be obtained from them.
DejaVu all over again and No need to switch (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm reminded of my reaction to Novell buying Unix System Labs in 92/93 and the sale to SCO in 1995 and the SCO rename to Caldera later. It all seemed to Rosey.
Unix appeared to be in reliable hands and was being freed into Linux, Caldera even said as much.
Then came per seat, and all the rest to the point where we are now with SCO attempting to steal Linux and claim far more in Unix than the law ever intended for.
It keeps me from getting any warm fuzzies over Novell aquireing Suse.
On the Redhat front. I find it odd being a registered adoptee of Redhat (can you really be the owner of OS software?) and a shareholder in the company that I have yet to recieve the email about the end of Redhat Linux.
Redhat's site backed up the stories.
BUT it's being misunderstood.
Yes RH9 appears to be the last in it's line BUT RH Enterprise Linux WS is actually it's repacement.
The License for RHEL WS is the same as for RH9. The only real change is that to get support from Redhat, you are going to HAVE TO PAY for the support.
Your free to get support elsewhere free or otherwise.
Reasonable and overdue, it's a sign of the maturity of commercial Linux.
I'll probably step up to RH Enterprise, and now that Suse is under Novell I'll give it another cautious try, but there really isn't a reason to leave RH.
Re:DejaVu all over again and No need to switch (Score:5, Informative)
No, it's not. To purchase RHEL WS basic, you must agree to the RHEL WS Basic (x86) Subscription agreement [redhat.com], which states, among other things, that "Customer expressly grants to Red Hat the right to audit Customer's facilities and records from time to time."
Re:DejaVu all over again and No need to switch (Score:3, Informative)
Re:DejaVu all over again and No need to switch (Score:4, Insightful)
How many times is this going to come up? It seems to be standard FUD towards RH.
What you are talking about applies to the RHN SERVICE, not the software.
Check out Appendix 1 of that document, specifically:
1. The Software. Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Red Hat Applications (the "Software") are either a modular operating system or application consisting of hundreds of software components. The end user license agreement for each component is located in the component's source code. With the exception of certain image files identified in Section 2 below, the license terms for the components permit Customer to copy, modify, and redistribute the component, in both source code and binary code forms. This agreement does not limit Customer's rights under, or grant Customer rights that supersede, the license terms of any particular component.
The image files they're talking about are the Shadoman logo and Red Hat logo.
Charles
Re:DejaVu all over again and No need to switch (Score:3, Informative)
I think you've missed the very important part. RHEL is not available as a free download. No binaries. Certainly no ISOs. Simply a release of the source, to fulfill the letter of the GPL.
The most basic available RHEL product is the basic edition of "WS". This is priced at $179 and comes with ABSOLUTELY NO SUPPORT. The standard edition of
Re:Try debian (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Try debian (Score:3, Informative)
Because it wasn't released at the time of Debian Woody? Red Hat 7.3 doesn't have KDE 3 either. What's your point? If you want KDE 3 then run unstable. It's as stable as Red Hat 9 would be for example.
The Wedge Gets Deeper (Score:4, Interesting)
In short, "The plot thickens."
Great timing with respect to Red Hat moves (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Great timing with respect to Red Hat moves (Score:5, Insightful)
So, Novell I think has almost no interest in desktop, other than to use them as their "clients" to their servers. So I am sceptical how much novell will do for the desktop especially the GUI
And If my guess is right, they bought Ximian for their connector,so that they can use their mail server software to better integrate with exchange (maybe for migration, i dont know), in the process unintentionally acquiring one of the best desktops and a
What they now have is some stuff they can make money on immediatly and some which maybe they can use later. The future of desktop linux depends on what novell does with the latter.
Re:Great timing with respect to Red Hat moves (Score:4, Insightful)
Novell acquisition press releases are epitaphs.
Re:Great timing with respect to Red Hat moves (Score:5, Insightful)
RedHat are not abandoning their base!
The are opening up development to the community, this is leading to lots of excitings happening, as I said yesterday [slashdot.org].
What RedHat are doing means that anyone can duplicate and sell Fedora CDs and stuff like that, Fedora is becoming more like debian in terms of community involvement -- and this is great!
I dunno much about SuSE, but I do know that the nature of the mode of production of free software is such that it is best done in an open way -- doing it in a closed way is too expensive.
Personally I'd rather be working for RedHat than SuSE right now...
KDE? (Score:5, Interesting)
Novell apparently is more interested in the Connector than the Ximian desktop, and more interested in SuSE's servers than its desktop offerings. However, SuSE has been a huge backer of the KDE project and Ximian is the home of Gnome. It'll certainly be interesting to see how the Novell management allocates their resources going forward, won't it?
Result: best-of-breed combo of Gnome+KDE (Score:2)
What I predict is Novell telling the Ximian folks to create a best-of-breed desktop based upon freedesktop.org guidelines, by hand-picking the best ideas from Gnome and KDE, both at the API and user-experience level. The end-result will be a unified Linux desktop environment that will come to replace both Gnome and KDE, within the next 12 months, as the de-facto stan
Re:KDE? (Score:5, Interesting)
Novell wants to be an end to end solution, from desktop to server to management. He sees Novell's earlier failure stemming from two problems: no developer support and no desktop offering (DR-DOS did not compete with Windows). He sought to rectify the first problem by buying SilverStream, but that wasn't enough. Give him credit for understanding that the real movement is in Open Source and not J2EE. Thus it also made sense to buy Ximian and instantly acquire an open source development base. Next, Novell needed a Linux distro. Again, to his credit, they bought one instead of developing their own. Now, Novell has to tie all of those pieces together.
What does Novell bring to open source/Linux/etc? A large support, developmnent, and sales organization. Despite the declining marketshare of Netware, there are still many, many enterprises running on Netware and/or using Novell products. Novell's products are not as visible, simply because they're mostly infrastructure. How many people run eDirectory on their desktops? But, how many companies use it for authentication? Novell's taking a different course than IBM and, thus, stands a chance.
Re:KDE? (Score:3, Interesting)
With the combined experience of Ximian and SUSE, Novell could create a very cool desktop.
But even if they dump the desktop offerings (as you suggest they might do) there would still be a bright side. With SUSE and Red Hat finally out of the desktop niche, Mandrake would have an opportunity to fill their shoes.
Of course, I'm assuming there's money in it.
Suse on the Desktop, RedHat on the Server? (Score:2, Interesting)
funnily enough, i was thinking "oh, interesting. that leaves someone to pickup and seriously evolve the desktop platform if they decided not to concentrate on the server environment". then i refreshed slashdot and saw this SUSE news!
personally i think this is terrific. novell have excellent experience in the enterprise market from N
Looks like the war is over (Score:5, Interesting)
While this move is good for Novell, and good for the community, it has taken way to long in coming. This is partly due to the fact that if Novell HAD gone with Linux three years ago, they would have been the major supplier of the OS right off the bat for IBM, with IBM offering Linux based servers and caching boxes. When Novell dropped the ball, IBM pulled out.
Another point to make here is what this will do in relationship to SCO. You may well remember the piece a few weeks ago that talked about a statement that Novell made, quietly at the time, that the license that SCO had to sell licenses to UNIX came from them. I would expect a major blowup from SCO in the next few weeks, though do not be suppressed if Canopy decides to kill SCO outright and take the tech into Netware Linux. Canopy waffles more then Clinton at a beach party.
One other point...I have NEVER seen a machine serve as fast as a Linux box controlling files that are on Netware partitions. Say what you want about Netware being owned, but with the 2.4 kernel and multi-threading issues resolved (another reason why Novell was very hesitant to go with a 2.2 kernel based system) I would expect to see something really good from them in near future.
Serious misgivings. (Score:5, Interesting)
Somehow, I do not think that we are seeing the big picture.
Re:Serious misgivings. (Score:4, Interesting)
2) To say that the Novell - SCO relations are "frosty" now would understate the picture
3) I don't see that Ray "lost control" over Novell, but rather that he gave it up so that the company could grow up and move along. Novell has certainly had a bad few years, but that cash-flow from NetWare 3.x, 4.x, 5.x and 6.x licenses has lasted a LOT longer than I imagined it would back in '95.
The company is pretty transparent, right now...we're doing Linux because that's where we see the business opportunity, and where we can leverage our deep, deep skills and experience running global customer support operations, among other things.
Scorecard (Score:5, Interesting)
Perhaps a review of previous Novell acquisitions is in order...
None of these is currently a market leader. Perhaps RedHat ought not to shut the doors just yet.
Kind of hard to interpret (Score:3, Informative)
Pretty well, it seems. (Score:5, Informative)
From the press release:
Novell today also announced that IBM intends to make a $50 million investment in Novell convertible preferred stock. In addition, Novell and IBM are negotiating extensions to the current commercial agreements between IBM and SUSE LINUX for the continued support of SUSE LINUX on IBM's eServer products and middleware products to provide for product and marketing support arrangements related to SUSE LINUX. Both of these agreements will be effective when the acquisition of SUSE LINUX by Novell is completed. zWill the EU let it happen? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Will the EU let it happen? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Will the EU let it happen? (Score:3, Informative)
But you're right, the EU won't do anything. Their market (Linux) isn't big enough and their market share isn't big enough. (But public vs. private company doesn't matter; when two private companies that will have a market share of 80% after the merger the EU will intervene).
Bye egghat.
Can anyone answer this for me: (Score:3, Interesting)
I can only remember seeing Novell products in less than a handful of places-- and it was in the process of being removed in those places.
SO-- Does anybody know where is Novell getting the capital to keep gobbling up companies? It seems like every time I turn around there's a story about Novell buying X...
If Novell's doing so well, maybe there's an investment opportunity hiding somewhere in there...
Re:Can anyone answer this for me: (Score:5, Informative)
That's because most people only think of Netware (the server OS) when they hear Novell's name. Take a look at eDirectory (if you use Yahoo's portal, you use eDirectory), DirXML (an amazing XML based directory synchronization tool), ZENworks (client management) and many other products.
I almost dread every time I see an article on Slashdot about Novell because inevitably people talk about Novell as a dying company.
Your question about Novell's capital is easy. They are a cash positive company and have remained so during most of their existence. Last I heard about a year ago, they had about $600 million cash in the bank.
I recommend people who aren't familiar with Novell's product line just go take a look at it. Decide for yourself. I think you will be impressed with what they offer.
What about hardware vendors? (Score:2)
Anyway it is a bad day for desktop linux and an extremely good one for redhat servers.
Also what is
Another try at the desktop (Score:2, Insightful)
I hope they succeed, NDS is a great back end platform, so they can offer a end-to-end solution for business on Linux. They just need to learn to market it!
Linux Consolidation Begins (Score:2, Interesting)
Another Novell screw-up coming? (Score:5, Interesting)
Vs. Microsoft this is a tricky move, because I think even the Bush Justice Dept would look very hard at Microsoft entering the Linux market.
But historically, Novell has thrown away every technology and market advantage they have ever held, and handed their business on a silver platter to Microsoft (and maybe Sun). So does this mean Novell will now screw up SuSE, whose distribution I like a lot?
sPh
Is Novell the new CA (Score:3, Insightful)
WEll now its time. (Score:3, Interesting)
It might be time for all of you to jump back on RH's bandwagon after you realize they're the only ones you cant buy out.
forgive my pessimism, I should give Novell a shot but they appear to be a company evolving to stay alive in the free software movement, but is thier goal a GPL world while making money, or trying to make money in a GPL world? Personally i think redhat is the former, Novell the latter.
branding (Score:3, Interesting)
IBM announced it will invest 50 Million in Novell (Score:2, Informative)
Check out the third paragraph too... (Score:4, Interesting)
Now that is a very interesting [sco.com] number indeed!
And I think it sends a very powerful message to all those businesses out there that are succumbing to the SCO FUD (hey can we shorten that to SCUD!). IBM are basically putting their money where they're mouth is to show their confidence in the future of Linux. Nice one.
Novell, tread very carefully, please. (Score:5, Interesting)
I've been using SuSE in the office since v7, and for my money it's the only distro I'll touch because it's easily the most advanced one on the market and I can get excellent technical support for it any time I need it (which isn't often, but in business you absolutely must have the security blanket). I'm going to be quite pissed off (and switching vendors) if this changes because of Novell's influence.
Don't be dense and stop offering it for free like Redhat did, either (Fedora is not RedHat, different discussion entirely, see Redhat thread for discussion ad nauseum about this). It's a boneheaded move on so many levels. Nobody's saying you need to support the downloaded version (or even host it for free, people will mirror it after all), as long as you continue to release it so folks can get their hands dirty and get comfortable on the product without having to pay for it first. Using it for free for a time was the only way I could convince folks here to pay for it, and they did gladly once they saw how good SuSE is at doing its job.
Keep the Novell-ized components optional, please. Some of us aren't using Novell technology, and it's going to be very annoying if we have to install NDS and Novell client software even though we have no intention of using them. Keep the Novell additions optional, not mandatory. You'll need to lure us into using them by quality. I still remember the days when Novell had a good product. Hopefully that can happen again.
First Redhat... now SuSE. Tomorrow, Debian and Slackware will anounce a merger citing similar goals. I'm sure Thursday Mandrake will be bought out by Microsoft, followed by Linus selling the Linux trademark to SCO on Friday. Saturday we'll see Apple acquire all the rights to FreeBSD, and Sunday the world will simply end. After a week like that, most of us probably wouldn't mind.
Re:Novell, tread very carefully, please. (Score:4, Interesting)
SuSE's whole distro is currently set up like a massive warehouse of goodies, and you just tag the ones you want during install and that's it. The packages are all fairly current (even bleeding edge for some of KDE), and they've all been tested to work together, and there are precious few things that aren't included. The documentation included with the packages is also excellent. I don't mind Novell adding things to the warehouse, I'm concerned they'll want to change the whole warehouse concept into something worse, or excise any competeing technology that's already in the warehouse.
Canny timing... (Score:3, Interesting)
Plus, Novell is another company with a lot of "history" with Microsoft, so I don't know which is going to be more enjoyable; watching Novell's posturing with Microsoft, or watching them kick SCO from here to the SEC's offices. Either way, I'm sure it is going to be "entertaining, in a Jerry Springer kind of way." ;)
This will play out to be very interesting. (Score:4, Interesting)
Now Novell has also acquired SuSE, the number two vendor and alternative to the now defuct Red Hat Linux, which is also an RPM distribution but, uses a different update service.
Novell, looking to increase revenue, is unlikely to offer much in the arena of free services and is also unlikely to expend much effort supporting a distribution that is not their own, as SuSE now is. So, one is left wondering what the landscape will look like in the coming months.
Will Ximian's Red Carpet survive at all and if so, will it support the Red Hat distro or the SuSE distro or both? Will Novell/SuSE continue to develop using the KDE desktop or will they more likely shift SuSE to use the Ximian Desktop? Will SuSE, who had historically been somewhat "less free" than Red Hat, become even more "less free" with its acquisition by Novell?
Any which way it goes, the Linux landscape will change dramatically in the next few months, as it has in the past few weeks. One can't help but wonder if there will be a truely free Linux left with all of the commercial activity of late. Fortunately, Debian continues as it always has, at least for now.
Re:This will play out to be very interesting. (Score:3, Interesting)
Suse or Red Hat? (Score:3, Interesting)
Is Novell in a better position to float a free, prosumer/hobbyist version of Linux to support their paying enterprise Linux product than was Red Hat?
Does this mean that we are now more likely to see SUSE on the hobbyist desktop vs. Red Hat? I guess it depends if Novell plans to release a consumer grade version of SUSE for free--and it's too early to tell if that's going to be the case. But there's now a "hobbyist/prosumer" niche to be filled, and IMHO whoever fills that position is much more likely to be recommended for server grade Linux, also. You recommend what you're familiar with--and if we can bang against SUSE for free on our closet boxes, when a PHB asks for a Linux recommendation, I think we are much more likely to recommend SUSE. Regardless of the technical differences/advantages, since it's always better to go with "the devil you know."
Sounds like we have another standard bearer, folks, which actually underscores the strength of Linux--any number of companies can offer the product, since it's owned-at-large, regardless of the travails of a company in particular. If Red Hat had been the sole proprietor of Linux, their stopping support for the consumer version could very well have been the end of the line of Linux on the desktop--but inasmuch as it's open source, another company is able to fill the breach.
What this means for SCO is better left to other threads, I think. But I would've liked to see their faces--and I'm glad I'm not a SCO customer (or distributor). Can Novell revoke SCO's license to UNIX? hehee.
It's about time! (Score:4, Interesting)
As a long time Novell admirer and CNE (installed my first NetWare LAN in 1986/87, certified in 1992, sigh), I've watched them struggle for years, most times in dismay.
First it was Ray Noorda's determination to beat Microsoft by buying Wordperfect Corporation, DRI and USL. The potential was there, but Microsoft was far too entrenched by that point.
Then it was their poor marketing (renaming NetWare to IntranetWare for a short time, for example), and nearly 10 years of "wandering" around the networking landscape as Microsoft's marketing machine went into high gear and its networking became "good enough" for business use.
Now it seems as though they are back on track. They started awhile ago, by emphasizing network services over the NOS.
With NDS, a stable and mature cross-platform directory service (yeah, yeah, it has its problems - tell me Active Directory doesn't?)and a good Linux distribution obtained through this purchase, they have the potential to challenge Microsoft's dominance in the desktop arena, and slow or even stop their encroachment upon the server space as well.
They have the tools already (NDS and ZENWorks among others); if they can create a transparent network management environment that doesn't depend on any particular OS/NOS, but allows them all to be centrally managed, and encompasses the desktop as well, they will have accomplished something
unique, and will be the first company to do so.
It's about large networks, and the ability to choose best-of breed products regardless of OS and be able to integrate them, and support them, to provide services to the users.
In short, it *is* about the network, and it is all connected.
Desktop PC hardware is already a commodity. Server class hardware is rapidly becoming so - the next step in the evolution of networking isn't at the "nuts and bolts" level, it is "above" the network.
Just my opinion.
dj
I see three scenarios: (Score:4, Insightful)
All in all that would stall Linux brand recognition but probably be good news for Mandrake, the last one left.
2.) Novell has actually seen the light and plans way ahead into the future, were software won't make a buck anymore, but free software will reign and the business is in services.
3.) Novell/SuSE twitches here and there, barely surviving, taking shares from Mandrake, they all die eventually, Mickeysoft prevails and there is a 5 year setback for OSS, with only Gentoo and Debian to the rescue in the far future, when the OSS model has consumed everything.
Bottom line:
I don't like this news. Sound bad. Chances are to high that this once o-so big company Novell is gonna screw up. And SuSE is my first recomendation to n00bs right now. It would be a real shame for them to go down the drain.
Healthy Skeptisism (Score:4, Insightful)
Also, SuSE is doing remarkably well in Europe, where the German government has been giving it a lot of support. Once it's seen as "tainted" by US corporate interests (trust me, Europeans are not happy with the US), it might impact how well SuSE is received by Governments in Europe.
(Especially as SuSE is perceived as being a safe way to avoid backdoors imposed by foreign Governments.)
On the flip-side, development work costs money, and Novell probably has more of that than SuSE. If Novell gets this right, and puts in some serious cash, Linux could get some badly-needed investment in the ease-of-use arena. IBM and SGI have done wonders for filesystems, high-end architectures, etc, but they're not known for producing software for Joe Average. Novell's networking products were popular in schools, at one point, precicely because they were easy for idiots to use.
Since that fits in nicely with SuSE's reputation of easy-to-use, easy-to-install distros, that offers some excellent opportunities.
That's where the skeptisism must come in, unfortunately. An opportunity is not the same thing as a reality. Unless Novell makes use of this, and brings Linux to the masses, this move will do nothing for anyone, SuSE included.
If Novell do bring Linux to the masses... well, that's a different kettle of fish. Then this will be the greatest move imaginable, and everyone will benefit signigicantly.
Continuation of Novell's pattern (Score:5, Insightful)
1. Buying the AT&T source, then announcing plans to merge NetWare and UNIX into a hybrid called "SuperNOS"
2. Buying Wordperfect, Quattro Pro and creating WordPerfect Office.
3. Java-on-NetWare. Anyone remember "the world's fastest Java execution environment"?
Every one of these failed, and was quietly abandoned. Now it's Linux. Hopefully they actually stick with this initiative long enough for it to bear some fruit.
Re:Continuation of Novell's pattern (Score:3, Informative)
2) this did not fail - they took the best parts of WPOffice and created GroupWise, which, IMO, is way better than Exchange or Notes for most environments. GW has over 10% mkt share in the groupware arena now, making it #3 in the world.
3) Still there. It is fast. exteNd uses this (formerly silverstream) but so do TOMCAT & APACHE which are installed by default with Netware 6. iFolder, for one, uses this extensively.
Bad news for Europe? Bad news for everyone? (Score:5, Insightful)
This makes Mandrake the only even moderately high profile commercial Linux distribution left in European hands, and as is well known Mandrake's finances are seriously wobbly. And this matters for everyone just now, because the future of Linux in the US is being played out in just that same murky Salt Lake City slime-pool. Fall out from the SCO case will affect all US-owned Linux distributions.
Kiss of Death (Score:4, Insightful)
Why? Because Novell Aquired it. If there's anything that has been proven over the last couple of years is that Novell buying a company out is basicially the Kiss of Death.
Look at Wordperfect (pratcially dead), Quattro Pro (dead) and Caldara (Now SCO. - Suing anything that Produces code for money)
Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe their aquiring it in order to expand their networking capability beyond Netware futher, or do away with the netware OS altogether and replace it with a Linux based network server.
Re:Kiss of Death (Score:3, Insightful)
Back in the early 90's when Novell thought they were the shit with the only major file/print server for LANs, they went and spent like $6 billion acquiring Wordperfect, Quattro Pro and I think Dbase or Paradox... anyway a whole suite of applications.
They were going to take on Microsoft, defeat the behemoth using their mighty Utah wisdom!
A few years later, they sold the lot of 'em to Corel for about $20 in canadian currency.
Then
Strategic Vision? (Score:3, Insightful)
wisely.
To crack MS's lock on the desktops I can see them doing a couple of things
1. Offering SUSE ISO's for DL
2. Offering SUSE to Dell, gateway etc with a minimal or no license fee.
They now have the option of an end to end software solution, tied to a global directory
that works and is easy to admin. They will need to push the desktop to gain acceptance, which is why I think we'll see SUSE ISOs. Now if only they'd start spamming those CD's like AOL does....
the real question is... (Score:3, Funny)
sorry...
Comment removed (Score:3, Informative)
This is huge. (Score:4, Interesting)
I'll paraphrase a post someone made on another website, "What company is going to think twice about their Linux suppliers viability when that company is Novell (with a touch of IBM thrown in)?". I think this will work out very, very, well for Novell as Linux makes it's way out from the server room onto the desktop.
Re:First p0st! (Score:3, Funny)
GNOME FOREVER!
Re: I'm not sure why they'd buy SuSE then... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:First p0st! (Score:3, Interesting)
Maybe they will combine Ximian and SuSE into 2 different product offerings: SuSE, and SuSE Plus (for example). Regardless, it's clear that Novell is trying to realign themselves under Linux.
Directory Services? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Directory Services? (Score:3)
Re:Directory Services? (Score:3, Insightful)
"a company with no future" (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Heh (Score:2)
Re:Holy shit! (Score:5, Insightful)
Novell is perceived by most of my customers as a (fairly kick ass) file-print-directory services server only system. but file-print-directory services are only part of what companies need these days. they need groupware/email (groupwise is a joke), they need SQL servers, and they need "Micro Vertical App Server" for Their Tiny Industry that somebody in a garage is addressing. And they want it all on the same platform, with integrated authentication.
small vertical apps is a big one, but it seems to be too much of a bitch to write these VBesque vertical apps on novell, so nobody does. "Small Dentist Office Accounting Pro" gets cooked up on windows by a small software company and not on novell. (incidentally this is a bit of a problem for linux on the desktop front: the crazy apps like "BeeKeeper Ranching and Honey Tracking" are what keep most businesses from switching on the desktop).
looks like Novell is trying to do what they failed to do with the original Unix license they pissed away: create a Novell branded viable app server platform. they screwed up the first time with proprietary unix. maybe a more open system will succeed, but knowing Novell, probably not.
Re:Holy shit! (Score:3, Informative)
Or you could do what I did and buy a Qt programming book from orielly and just start using kdevelop. You can a
Re:Holy shit! (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:No RedHat 10 and now SuSE aquired by Novell? (Score:5, Funny)
RedHat Linux. Even though it is under the hood,
the PHB's of the world won't see it that way
without massive re-education.
That's an easy one to overcome. "Oh, Fedora is the new name for RedHat Linux. You know, just like how it was Windows NT, then 2000, then XP, and now Longhorn? Yea..."
Re:Congrats... Linux is now Dead. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:I wander... (Score:5, Insightful)
Lots of people will want to deny this because they know that it would be a huge blow to the KDE project. I really can't blame them. But Sun and RedHat are both using GNOME now, and Novell seems to be apt to move in that direction, too. Desktop consolidation arrives in the corporate market. We'll see if this changes anything...
-Erwos
High-quality hardware supplier = IBM or Sun ? (Score:3, Interesting)
1. Buy the Linux desktop company with the Outlook replacement solution.
2. Buy the world's second leading Linux distro with its excellent LSB-compliant base and its Exchange replacement solution.
3. Add own directory service, networking and workgroup products.
4. Buy fo