SUSE (SLES/SLED)

SLES 11 has been released (more on that later), but some sites are still writing about SLES 10 whilst vendors preinstall SLED 10. There is the following offer from H-P:

One gigabyte of DDR2 memory is standard; the system maximum of 2GB is a $50 option, and also requires a change from Win XP Home to another operating system — HP offers Windows Vista, Vista with a "downgrade" to Windows XP Professional, and SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10.

Red Hat's fantastic financial results had its GNU/Linux business compared to Novell's over in BetaNews, which covers Novell and Microsoft rather frequently.

Red Hat accomplished these feats even in the face of competition from free software from many other open source software providers -- even arch rival Novell, Whitehurst suggested.

The executives were also asked how Red Hat's pricing strategy dovetails with that of Novell.

"We compete against free all the time, and [it] doesn't get anymore aggressive or cheaper than free in the case of the Microsoft/Novell arrangement," Whitehurst replied.

Essentially, Novell is still distributing software certificates to customers which are prepaid by its partner Microsoft, according to Red Hat's CEO.

Tom Yager mentioned Novell and Red Hat very briefly as well.

Nothing prevents Microsoft, Red Hat, Novell, or anyone from attaining the Unix trademark. Yes, Microsoft could conceivably slap the Unix trademark on Windows, but for a few million lines of code.

There are those who wonder how IBM is using Red Hat and Novell to produce GNU/Linux distributions and compete against one another to make a cheaper O/S for IBM to use.

IBM has said in the past that it has no plans to become a Linux vendor, preferring to delegate that job to Novell and Red Hat. By the same token, it seems unlikely that it would want to devote much energy to maintaining Sun's also-ran Unix. Still, there are powerful technologies in Sun's code that IBM could potentially mine for use in Linux

Tectonic shares a SUSE success story from South Africa:

More than two years ago the South African Revenue Service (SARS) began a process to migrate its desktops to Linux by calling for a proof on concept. Two years on the desktop migration has not happened but the tax-collection arm of government has made some progress towards wider open source use, including wide use of Suse Linux. We take a look at exactly what has been going on.

According to Sita’s Free and Open Source Programme, although SARS’ is still working on a desktop Linux strategy - a thin-client network - the department has a number of open source deployments. Most of these are in the development and backoffice environment.

Novell's excitement about SUSE is something that did not escape the attention of OSBC 2009 attendees, either.

"I believe open source will be the largest beneficiary of the downturn. This will be driven by the customer," said Hovsepian, in an opening keynote for the Open Source Business Conference in San Francisco on Tuesday. He cited a survey conducted for Novell by IDC that found 72% of respondents either evaluating or planning an increase in their use of Linux; 49% said Linux will be their number one operating system for new server deployments in the next five years.

Xandros

We previously wrote about Presto from Xandros [1, 2, 3]. It still receives more coverage, so we include some below:

• Hey Presto! Aging laptop turned into speed machine

Presto is still in beta and available as a free download from Xandros, which plans to charge $20 for the full release version. The only thing daunting about it is the size of the download - almost 500mb - but I managed that in under half an hour.

• HyperSpace, Splashtop help users boot Windows



• Presto Loads a Streamlined Desktop in 15 Seconds



• Xandros' instant-on Presto Linux distro now available for download-o



• Little Notes



• Presto ‘instant-on’ operating system enters beta



• Tired of waiting for Windows to boot? HyperSpace and Splashtop can help

• Two super-fast operating systems that are great alternatives to Windows

More recently, Xandros Inc., a Linux and Linux-Windows cross-platform software vendor, announced Presto, which was shown at the DEMO 09 spring show.

• Linux & Open Source Slideshow: Xandros Presto Beta Brings Linux Instant-Boot Capability to Windows-Based Systems, eWEEK Labs Finds

It's also appearing in some foreign (as in not English-speaking) press, including the Russian press for example. Xandros on the Eee PC is still discussed in some Web sites such as this and this.

It comes with the option of either Xandros Linux or Windows XP, with the Linux model having a 32GB SSD hard drive, while the Windows version splits this capacity over a 16GB SSD hard disk. However with the Windows XP model you also get a 16GB SD card, so overall you get the same storage capacity either way.

 

The Mini 9 that we reviewed had Dell’s version of Ubuntu Linux installed, which we found more attractive and useful than Eee PC’s Xandros and Acer’s Linpus Linux Lite.

It is important not to forget Microsoft's manipulation of ASUS. The company is willing to lose a lot of money just to perpetuate the myth that GNU/Linux cannot win on the desktop. ⬆

"Ideally, use of the competing technology becomes associated with mental deficiency, as in, "he believes in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and OS/2." Just keep rubbing it in, via the press, analysts, newsgroups, whatever. Make the complete failure of the competition's technology part of the mythology of the computer industry. We want to place selection pressure on those companies and individuals that show a genetic weakness for competitors' technologies, to make the industry increasingly resistant to such unhealthy strains, over time."

--Microsoft, internal document [PDF]