Summary: A glimpse at distributions from which Microsoft extracts revenue

SUSE (SLES/SLED)

For SLES and SLED it has been an idle week. When it comes to Zend's PHP, SLES will gain better directory services support.

PHP specialist Zend has released a new version of Zend Framework, its open-source web application framework, with support for PHP 5.3 and directory services from Microsoft and Novell.

When it comes to configuration management in SUSE, that too may improve.

According to Alan Murray, vice president of product management at Novell, “Today’s data centers are heterogeneous environments with multiple masters and stakeholders, but in order for any organization to make decisions or analyze business performance these mixed environments need to work together simply and seamlessly. Novell is a strong supporter of the Configuration Management Database Federation standard, because it facilities the interoperability of data from multiple points of view. With a comprehensive view of the entire IT environment, administrators can utilize configuration data to streamline management tasks resolve issues and most importantly effectively manage the components in their IT infrastructure.”

Novell's PR/Open Audio people have released this third part in a series of 4 which is titled "Open Source for America" and there is more about subscription management in SUSE:

Novell has released a new version of its Subscription Management Tool for SUSE Linux Enterprise 11. The Tool helps enterprises manage their SUSE Linux Enterprise updates while conforming with corporate firewall policy and regulatory compliance requirements. Integrated and synchronized with Novell Customer Center, the Subscription Management Tool is always updated, acts as a repository for all subscription information and delivers the benefits of centralized management.

The Var Guy mentions that potential relationship between Tech Data and Novell. He recently wrote about Tech Data pondering Free software and he hypothesises that it may have an impact on Red Hat.

Novell and Tech Data have inked a partnership to promote SUSE Linux and open source application appliances to VARs and channel partners. In some (but not all) ways, the partnership counters recent work by Red Hat and Synnex (co-founders of the Open Source Channel Alliance).

The Register has this webcast about Microsoft and Novell.

Regcast Join experts from The Register, Microsoft, Novell & Freeform Dynamics from 2pm BST today as they look at the benefits, costs and risks of proprietary, open source and hybrid environments - all in glorious interactive video.

[...]

# Novell and Microsoft working together

This pair continues to rely on that infamous patent deal, which has a negative impact on Lenovo's GNU/Linux offerings.

Lenovo isn't a household name when it comes to computers, but in business circles the company is well respected for its robust line of ThinkPad laptops (previously produced for IBM). Consequently, you won't find Ubuntu or Mandriva on its IdeaPad netbooks – the only option is SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop.

Lenovo's anti-Red Hat bias (or insistence on Microsoft tax) is one that we wrote about some weeks ago. As Matt Asay put it yesterday:

Microsoft may have been able to get Novell to "put a price on Linux" through intellectual property scare tactics, but it hasn't worked for the market leaders, Red Hat and Canonical (Ubuntu). Nor has it worked for the leading hardware and software vendors that depend on Linux, e.g., IBM, Oracle, SAP, etc.

Incidentally, these same vendors make up a significant ecosystem around Linux, the very same ecosystem that Ballmer suggests is won't form due to a lack of incentives. Apparently he didn't talk to his closest partner, Intel, which is now the No. 2 contributor to the Linux kernel. I guess he didn't realize that there's a lot of money to be made around Linux, and it's money that doesn't have to be shared with Microsoft.

Another partner of Novell is IBM, which puts SUSE on the large majority of its mainframes. There is now a reduction in price.

IBM, Novell to slash Linux prices for mainframes

[...]

With System z mainframe revenues down 39 per cent - and MIPS mainframe capacity shipments off 20 percent in the second quarter - IBM is keen on boosting mainframe sales. And it wants to use Linux as a lever.

Commercial Linux distributor Novell has a more than 80 per cent share of Linux revenues on IBM's mainframe platform. The company has been shipping its SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 since the end of March, and it wants to get more mainframe shops to add SLES 11 to Integrated Facility for Linux engines.

Xandros

There was very little to see here this week. There was a press release about eApps, which relates to Scalix. It says:

eApps Hosting announced the launch of an Outlook compatible Enterprise Class Email hosting service using the award winning Scalix Email server. Scalix is known to be the most field-proven Linux-based Email, calendaring and messaging software with thousands of corporate customers in 65 countries, more than one million mailboxes deployed, 6,000 active community members and 190,000 downloads.

Presto is still mentioned in the news on occasions.

It has been developed by Xandros, which developed the basic software used to start up the Asus Eee mini PC quickly. But Xandros hasn't conjured up something completely new with Presto.

All in all, nothing significant could be found. ⬆