Bonum Certa Men Certa

Novell News Summary - Part I: Novell's Commitment and the OpenSUSE-SLE Question

YaST boot mode



Question of Morale



AFTER some recent setbacks and difficulties [1, 2, 3], this project has picked up the pieces and even though Novell will need to make staffing adjustments, the project's leader remains optimistic and alleviates further fears.



Addressing the layoffs



[...]

Despite the layoffs, Novell is still investing in openSUSE and it remains and important part of the company’s Linux strategy. We will continue to open our planning and decision making processes. We are going to concentrate on our strengths and focus on the areas most important to our community. We can do anything, but we can’t do everything — so we will be making choices about the areas where we invest our time and effort. And we will see to it that the community has the tools and infrastructure to take openSUSE in directions we may not focus on.


One good comment points out the outrageous:

[SUSE] not only made the biggest part of the revenue but also was the only one that increased.

The award for the people who created this? ~20% were laid of …

I really hope the “genius” who was responsible for that decision gets fired ASAP and the laid of people get new job offers. If you want to cut fat to save money do it in some fields that are a waste of money, not in the few that still earn some.


Another person points out that "Zonker had to write in favour of Novell using the most general words and not telling anything [concrete] about layoffs and the truth."

A writer who is fairly close to Microsoft argues that Novell's OpenSUSE commitment is still being tested.

Novell's OpenSuSE commitment is tested



[...]

Sources close to Novell have told us those sales went well, and coupons were redeemed - Microsoft agreed in 2006 to distribute 70,000 SuSE Linux certificates. The problem, as we saw at the time, was really big customer deals failed to drop and Novell overly relied on Microsoft rather than using the breathing space it secured in the deal to stand on its own two legs.


Technical



Linux Journal has this instructional video about CLI-based package management in OpenSUSE (distribution specific) and another person explains how to install LXDE on the latest OpenSUSE. DistroWatch walks its readers through a minimal installation of OpenSUSE 11.1, maybe because Ladislav still likes SUSE.

If you want a really light weight environment then openSUSE might not be the way to go, but if it's your favourite operating system, you don't have to give it up just yet! You can tweak the system to make it quite small, especially with the help of Zypper and its ability to lock packages. At the very least, you will learn some more about how your openSUSE system works and, if at the end you decide to just install everything, well, you can do that too!


Another shorter look at SLED suggests that it's similar to OpenSuSE 11.1.

Using SLED on the HP 2133 continued the impression that I got during the installation. It is a lot like openSuSE, but with a bit more polish. Things that I normally have to install myself are already installed - media players for audio, WMV, Sliverlight and Flash, Acrobat Reader, Citrix ICA Client, and so on. In fact, once it was booted and I was working with it, I found that I generally forgot whether I it was SLED or openSuSE that was running.


Here is another small comparison that includes SLE and OpenSUSE.

A quick look at some popular distros and what they’re up to:

SLES

SLES (SUSE Linux Enterprise Server) is Novell’s enterprise Linux distribution targeted at the business market.

It is a common mistake (which I sometimes make myself) to refer to both SLES and openSUSE as just “SUSE”, but these are different distros. See below for openSUSE.

There is also a SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop (SLED), based on the same codebase as SLES.

Current stable release: SLES 10 (SP2). ReiserFS is the default file system. ext3, XFS and JFS are also available.

Next release: SLES 11 some time in 2009. (March 2009 was mentioned but later deleted on one Novell webpage). ReiserFS will be replaced by ext3 as the default filesystem in SLES 11.

openSUSE

The openSUSE project is a community program sponsored by Novell.

Current stable release: openSUSE 11.1. Uses 256byte inodes. ext3 has been the default filesystem since this was changed from ReiserFS for openSUSE 10.2.

Next release due: openSUSE 11.2 planned for September 2009.


Heise took a look at a preview of SLE 11.

Novell is offering a sneak preview of the forthcoming Suse Linux Enterprise 11 server (SLES) and desktop (SLED) versions to download. SLE 11 contains current software, including kernel version 2.6.27, X.org 7.4, Gnome 2.24 and KDE 4.1, Apache 2.2.10 and Samba 3.2.5, PHP 5.2.6, and Python 2.6. For systems management, a new update stack has been included with a new command line tool – zypper, for managing repositories and packages. To enable use in heterogeneous environments the developers have implemented the Common Information Model (CIM) and WS-Management system management standards.


Some other new posts may appear in this belated weekly digest.

In this Week:

* Open Letter to the openSUSE Community * Andrew Wafaa: Ciao For Now And Bonne Chance Amigos * Lars Vogdt: Why the Buildservice is currently not for endusers * Miguel de Icaza: Mono Runtime Debugging * Jonathan_R: Getting YaST to read your own community repos



Next up, we shall deal with SLE, which is OpenSUSE's 'better-packaged' sibling. OpenSUSE is essential to Novell because it is the basis for SLE development (just being slightly more 'on the edge').

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part IX: Minimum Wages For You (Experienced Scientist), Alicante/EU Paydays For Me (Unproductive, Corrupt Official)
Does UPRP maladministration extend to the false belief that qualified and experienced scientists can play the role of circus clowns?
"The Liberating Power of Simply Telling People the Truth."
'polite' bullying
Who Imitates Who? Plagiarist as Client (From Microsoft), 'Plagiarism' at the Law Firm?
let's revisit the subject
EPO's Central Staff Committee (CSC) Scrutinises the Man Who Illegally Grants (and Forces Others to Illegally Participate in Granting) Software Patents in Europe
EPO compels examiners to break the law in the name of obeying illegal "rules" or "orders"
The Latest Rumour Says The Next (as Correctly Predicted Before) Wave of Layoffs at Microsoft is 3 Weeks Away, "Larger Than the First Wave"
Step 2
TV Licensing Used to SPAM Your Postbox, Now It Does the Same to E-mail
First they ask for your E-mail address; then they start nagging you via E-mail
Our Priority is Still Tackling Software Patents and Corruption in Patent Offices
Meanwhile we got compliments on our recent articles, which means that they are effective
Slopwatch: Another Day, Another Slopfest, LLM Slop Scrapers Slow Down Our Site
We too have some slop issues; this past day this site and the sister site had to answer about 2.5 million requests (not counting Gemini Protocol) and it's slowing things down for everybody
 
Links 12/06/2025: Portland Homeless Deaths Quadruple, COVID Cases Surge in Asia
Links for the day
EPO's Gareth Lord Asked About "Quality and Productivity" or, Put Another Way, Why the EPO Keeps Granting So Many Invalid/Illegal Patents
letter to Lord
The Toxic Playbook
Either you support Prince Mohammed bin Salman or you're a nazi
It's Possible That BetaNews Got Cracked, But Nobody Talks About It, The Site Contains an Outdated Old Image, No Activity
It's possible that they will never explain what happened to the site and users' accounts
Links 12/06/2025: Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson Dies
Links for the day
Gemini Links 12/06/2025: Video Game Diegesis and Steam Next Fest
Links for the day
Why the Militants Have Lost Every Battle Since 2022 (When Attacking My Wife and I in Various Ways, Even Attacking Our Employers)
This takes patience, sure, but at the end most evildoers face the consequences for their actions
Politics Will Impact Software Choices
Will those systems respect users' freedom?
EPO: Neglecting Children to Promote American Monopolies by Shielding Them From European Competition
Yesterday the Central Staff Committee at the EPO spoke about another "reform" at the Office
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, June 11, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, June 11, 2025
Links 11/06/2025: More Vulnerabilities Found in 'Smart' Phones, China Extends Reach in the Pacific
Links for the day
Gemini Links 11/06/2025: Grain and Steam Next Fest
Links for the day
Links 11/06/2025: "Quantum" Hype From IBM, US Closer to Martial Law, and “The Nation” Celebrates Milestone
Links for the day
IBM's CEO Roasted, Sizzled and Grilled for Dumb and Inconsistent Vapourware Promises
It looks like being a chronic liar is what it takes to lead the company once synonymous with computing
IBM's Goal Is Not (and Never Was) Computer Users' Freedom
More than 1.5 decades ago I found IBM to be an "ally of convenience" because of OpenDocument Format (ODF)
Wayland Shows the IBM/Red Hat Way of Doing Things
IBM is trying to 'kill' X
GitHub is Proprietary, Controlled by Microsoft, and GPL Violation Warehouse
"IRS tax filing software [will be] released to the people as free software" ... In general this is good news
Slopfarm Catastrophe
Seems like BetaNews (or BetaNoise) has just suffered a major data loss and restored the site from a week-old backup
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part VIII: Illegal Working Conditions
How many people need to die for these people to get their massive salaries?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, June 10, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, June 10, 2025
Links 10/06/2025: Apple Hype and Physical Attacks on Bloggers
Links for the day
Gemini Links 10/06/2025: Loon Lake, Farming, and Forth
Links for the day
Links 10/06/2025: Jaws at 50 and US Democracy Crushed Very Rapidly (Martial Law Seems Imminent)
Links for the day
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part VII: Washing Their Hands After Corruption and Abuse
"Tragedy or comedy?"
Culling Bad RSS Feeds of Bad Sites
Not throwing out the baby with the bathwater
If 'Microsoft v Techrights' is Dealt With by a 'Microsoft Court' (or a Court Outsourced to Microsoft)
More on that later
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, June 09, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, June 09, 2025
Gemini Protocol Turns Six in 10 Days From Now
If you haven't tried it yet, then give it a go today
Live as You Preach
technology is fast becoming dysphoric