“Linux: A new balance of power” an analysis at ZDNet is titled, while eWEEK has a report on Novell, SuSE execs detailing their plans.
Novell, SuSE Execs Detail Linux Plans
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Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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“This is not about competing with Microsoft, this is about addressing any impediments that might have been holding Linux back”
I call BS! I don’t believe for one second Novell is doing this out of the goodness of their heart for the greater good of Linux. Novell is a business, and as a stockholder, I’d want to see some value. So does IBM. This isn’t about Linux, it’s about capturing back the enterprise. Plain and simple.
I still just can’t see them keeping KDE as the default SUSE GUI *AND* continuing to put their Ximian resources into Gnome. It doesn’t seem to make sense.
They still havent said what will happen to their retail arm for SuSE Linux, I hope they dont abandon it but IMO it doesnt look good. They know already that there are alot of question on that issue and they are not commenting on it or making any public statement on where retail stands. My contact at SuSE has no idea either but he told me he would find out for me. As soon as I find out something I will let everyone know.
“Please make it easy for North Americans to get a copy. I want one really bad!”
Have you tried one of those obscure places? Like say CompUSA? For SUSE 9 anyway…..
Actually I can get it from http://www.suse.com, but amazon says that it only ships SUSE in the USA.
Novell will be exhibiting at the Southern California Linux Expo on November 22nd at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, California. Other exhibitors include Real Networks, IBM, and Pogo Linux. Some of the speakers include Seth Nickell, Chris Dibona, and Patrick Mochel. Full and student tickets are still available for this event as well as free exhibition only passes using the FREE promotional code.
More information at http://www.socallinuxexpo.com
Actually, I sure hope they focus on Gnome + the cool Ximian and dropping KDE. A OS needs and must have only one desktop environment.
The only plans I see is getting rid of desktop linux, like what Redhat did. Then comming out and stating to just use ‘Windows’ on the desktop.
I keep wondering what this will mean for Sun if Novell makes Suse, would that mean Novell would still want Sun to use Suse for Java Desktop? I don’t know if I can believe wanting that to happen.
The raelians must have crossed over from the SCO and possessed the Redhat people who are now waiting to join Doti on the Neil Bob space craft.
How much difference is there between Ximian Desktop and Gnome?
Lots of differences for businesses because Ximian is easier to deploy as an Enterprise offering. It will probably mean a better desktop as well, let’s face it, the programmers at Ximian have done good work, they are on a war path.
Novell is not going after the desktop market. They want enterprise market, pure and simple. So does Red Hat. It’s where the money is at.
One of the biggest questions that I think that has not been properly resolved and that has gotten Linux users all in up in a twist is what will Novell do with KDE and Gnome development. I personally think that they will support both but only for a short time. They will look at their userbase and find out which Desktop Environment is the most used(under the 1st incarnate of a unified product line). They will in the end support one Desktop Environment. It’s the Darwinism theory applied to the desktop.
If I a gambling man and placed a bet on one Desktop Environment or the other it would be Gnome. Why, it has the most corporate support(Sun, SGI, Red Hat, Novell’s assets(Ximian)and maybe IBM–not sure of this one). By having the most corporate support(i.e. money being spent on development) it would be more logical to use it as a default Desktop Environment. This doesn’t mean KDE won’t be found in Novell Linux, it’s that Novell would be putting its resources into developing Gnome. Those who use KDE on a Gnome-centric Novell system may have to do some hoop and dances to get it to work. Another reason is a company even as big as Novell is can’t split its few resources into developing 2 different desktop environments.
Overall I think Novell’s actions bode well for Linux in the enterprise market which may get Linux a solid foothold in the home market 5-10 years from now(look how long it took for Microsoft to get so ubiquitous).
I still wonder when will the Linux Distros join together and buy the assets(source) of BeOS from PalmSource and start rolling(leveraging) that OS’s technologies(especially the DE) into Linux.
KDE is the best, it sucks that they aren’t getting more commercials upport.
I only heard them say that on the desktop they don’t have a strategy (Redhat) and Microsoft has more resources and is able to win the market. It has nothing to do with ‘where the money is at’.
I imagine that, long term, this will place a lot of pressure in the direction of seamless interoperability between the GNOME and KDE platforms. It’s quite possible that they can offer both, though I agree that they must standardise on one of the two as the ‘main’ desktop. On the other hand, writin g one of the two out of the picture will alienate a large number of potential customers. They must tread carefully (and I hope they do.)
Long term, the OO foundations of GNOME and KDE need a good deal of merging*. It needs to be possible for a KDE program to emit a signal with some intended meaning (e.g. ‘this object has changed: take another look’) and for GNOME applications to hear it.
Furthermore, like e.g. the freedesktop.org people are doing with their HAL, how the foundations of the desktop mesh with the foundations of the entire operating system are important. People are already doing this, but Novell/Suse could play a large part in backing and improving this (which will in turn improve Linux’s prospects for deployment across the enterprise (at the foundation level more than anything else.))
* by merging, I mean that the underlying signal/slot messaging architecture needs to be abstracted away from MOC and the lower levels of the Qt library into an underlying library that does not rely on C++. (In short, a fast, very lightweight middleware sort of thing: think about what you’d want to implement if you wanted a small object oriented system built upon something like the L4 microkernel.)
Planning this means looking long and hard at the various object programming paradigms and how and where they are used, what is needed and how easily things can be implemented upon a good implementation of the various OO paradigms…. but I’m wittering again.
John.