Bonum Certa Men Certa

What Red Hat and Novell Have in Common and What They Do Not

Summary: Remarks on takeover possibilities and interoperability with Microsoft Exchange Server

Investopedia is not a Web site whose name comes up quite so often. It seems to stick to conventions rather than question or challenge them. For example, it uses the Microsoft-based IDC numbers to belittle GNU/Linux (notice the "ASPX" in Investopedia), but either way, there is this new short report regarding Red Hat, Novell, and takeovers.



Novell Takeover Talk Overplayed (NOVL,RHT)



Despite reporting earnings beating expectations, shares of network software provider Novell (NYSE:NOVL) failed to rally on the news, as uncertainty regarding the company's ability to successfully transition to a new business model based on so-called "open source" Linux software appears to remain a significant concern for investors.


According to this, Red Hat and Novell are similar in the sense that neither will be acquired any time soon (by the way, both companies are symbolised by red colours too). It has been weeks since Egbert's prediction that Red Hat will be acquired -- potentially by IBM -- and even months since she spoke about Oracle. She just never gets it right. It is worth pointing out that Red Hat and Novell are in very different positions. Novell's revenue keeps declining because it carries a baggage from the past, whereas Red Hat is the type of company Novell wishes to be.

Meanwhile, Paula Rooney writes about OpenChange and she makes it sound very much like it's only a Red Hat thing which bears resemblance to a Novell deal.

Red Hat is not going to let the Microsoft-Novell partnership dim its own prospects for interoperability.

That seems to be the case with the Red Hat-sponsored open source Fedora project, which plans to release on June 9 a major upgrade of its free Linux that offers robust integration with Microsoft Exchange via a new feature called OpenChange.


As one of the commenters points out:

Is this particular to Redhat? My understanding is that OpenChange is being implemented by Gnome Evolution and KDE Akonadi. (It would be nice if the Mozilla Messaging also supported it.) I think OpenChange is already available in some form on OpenSuse, SLED and maybe other recent Linux distro releases and will be available on others soon.

And, yes, it is a big deal, a bigger deal than just Exchange. The European Commission forced Microsoft to cough up the details of all their server protocols. Microsoft are of course doing it to "foster innovation and interoperability". Ha, ha! http://www.microsoft.com/protocols/default.mspx


So patent deals are not required for interoperability after all. What was Novell thinking at the time? Speaking of Exchange, Google Wave renders it obsolete (if adopted) and to a large extent the same goes for SharePoint and Outlook (even the whole of Office, by extension). Google terrifies Microsoft for this reason. It puts together a lot of pieces like video (YouTube), spreadsheets editor (Apps), image viewer/album sharing (Picasa), E-mail (GMail), and so on. But that's another story.

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Sven Luther, Lucy Wayland & Debian's toxic culture
Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
 
Links 19/04/2024: Israel Fires Back at Iran and Many Layoffs in the US
Links for the day
Russell Coker & Debian: September 11 Islamist sympathy
Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
Sven Luther, Thomas Bushnell & Debian's September 11 discussion
Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
G.A.I./Hey Hi (AI) Bubble Bursting With More Mass Layoffs
it's happening already
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, April 18, 2024
IRC logs for Thursday, April 18, 2024
Coroner's Report: Lucy Wayland & Debian Abuse Culture
Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
Links 18/04/2024: Misuse of COVID Stimulus Money, Governments Buying Your Data
Links for the day
Gemini Links 18/04/2024: GemText Pain and Web 1.0
Links for the day
Gemini Links 18/04/2024: Google Layoffs Again, ByteDance Scandals Return
Links for the day
Gemini Links 18/04/2024: Trying OpenBSD and War on Links Continues
Links for the day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, April 17, 2024
IRC logs for Wednesday, April 17, 2024
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
North America, Home of Microsoft and of Windows, is Moving to GNU/Linux
Can it top 5% by year's end?
[Meme] The Heart of Staff Rep
Rowan heartily grateful
Management-Friendly Staff Representatives at the EPO Voted Out (or Simply Did Not Run Anymore)
The good news is that they're no longer in a position of authority
Microsofters in 'Linux Foundation' Clothing Continue to Shift Security Scrutiny to 'Linux'
Pay closer attention to the latest Microsoft breach and security catastrophes
Links 17/04/2024: Free-Market Policies Wane, China Marks Economic Recovery
Links for the day
Gemini Links 17/04/2024: "Failure Is An Option", Profectus Alpha 0.5 From a Microsofter Trying to Dethrone Gemini
Links for the day
How does unpaid Debian work impact our families?
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Microsoft's Windows Falls to All-Time Low and Layoffs Reported by Managers in the Windows Division
One manager probably broke an NDA or two when he spoke about it in social control media
When you give money to Debian, where does it go?
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
How do teams work in Debian?
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Joint Authors & Debian Family Legitimate Interests
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Bad faith: Debian logo and theme use authorized
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 17/04/2024: TikTok Killing Youth, More Layoff Rounds
Links for the day
Jack Wallen Has Been Assigned by ZDNet to Write Fake (Sponsored) 'Reviews'
Wallen is selling out. Shilling for the corporations, not the community.
Links 17/04/2024: SAP, Kwalee, and Take-Two Layoffs
Links for the day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, April 16, 2024
IRC logs for Tuesday, April 16, 2024
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day