re€·placed (\ri-ˈplās-d): gentle word for "dumped"

The word about Tesco stocking Linux PCs reached people's attention just a few days ago. Here is one of the latest short articles about it.

Tesco is the world's third largest grocery retailer, and also sells everything from clothes to electrical equipment.

They use a long-term support (LTS) version of Ubuntu Linux. As more details emerge (this is very new to the public), it turns out that eSys is behind this. And at eSys, you see, SUSE was used for quite a while. Has Ubuntu replaced SUSE? Ubuntu's latest newsletter seems to confirm the choice of Ubuntu.

eSys Intel Celeron PC Base Unit

Priced at 139.93 pounds, yet another PC manufacturer is offering pre-installed Ubuntu Linux computers to the public. This machine is loaded with Ubuntu version 6.06 but with the release of Gutsy Gibbon 7.10 and the growing numbers of pre-intalled Ubuntu systems hitting the market on what seems like a monthly basis, Ubuntu stands poised to make steady progress in the desktop market share.

eSys used to sell their boxes with Mandrake 9.2, then SUSE OS (that's what they called SuSE 9.3). How do I know? Because I received 2 eSys boxes. The first came with Mandrake and the second came with SUSE, which I loved at the time, even just because I had already used is elsewhere (at work). Mind the fact that all happened was before the Microsoft deal. It was also a time when I actually advocated Novell and SUSE (see proof).

The following new article was written to say that Ubuntu is a threat to Novell, which it is. It's actually a threat to a number of other Linux distributors as well, including Mandriva.

Evidently Novell should be afraid – very afraid – because Canonical with its Ubuntu distribution, Dell's little playmate, the Linux Dell's pre-loading on a few of its PCs, clearly has designs on Novell's place in line behind Red Hat, the Linux leader.

Whatever enables Linux to gain critical mass without any patent nonesense will be great. If Ubuntu is the hot distribution at the moment, then so be it. There's no reason to fear Linux monopoly because the rules of the game make this unlikely. Just as Ubuntu forked Debian and stole some of its thunder, another motivated party could pull the rug from under Canonical's feet by forking.

On the one hand, one finds that, as in the case of the Linux kernel, it required a hefty investment to fork. With exclusionary patent deals, on the other hand, that investment barrier rises significantly. If there was ever danger of a damaging Linux monopoly, it was Novell.