02.21.11
Posted in Novell, Security, Servers at 8:17 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Photo by Espen Moe
Summary: A look at some of the solutions currently promoted the most by Novell
NOWADAYS, Novell actively promotes Fog Computing and proprietary software which is used for managing it or secure it (Fog Computing where both data and software are out of one’s control). Ben Goodman goes to sell Novell products at RSA, using a speech:
Ben Goodman of Novell talks about cloud security — or insecurity, as some say — as well as how WikiLeaks has made organizations reassess data leakage
The better solution is to not hide too much information. In transparent operations leaks are not even possible because all data is made publicly-available anyway. However, Novell is all about secrecy. Everything including the deal with Microsoft tends to remain secret by default, which only voids trust and makes Novell more of a pariah in the eyes of the Free/open source community. In other news about Fog Computing Novell’s proprietary software for Fog Computing is mentioned by Murdoch’s press:
Shortly before VMware, Novell Inc. launched its Cloud Manager.
And also:
GenNext, a first form factor appliance is powered by PlateSpin from Novelle and leverages the software-as-a-service model.
[...]
The appliance will be distributed by Redington. Panache will also work with its channel partner network, and Novell will utilize its large ecosystem to sell those.
Nothing to do with Free software, but then again, the above is what Novell is really about. There is this new headline which says “‘Mixed-source’ Novell on track for acquisition”. Some people still make the error of referring to Novell as an “open source” company. █
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Posted in Mail, Novell, Ron Hovsepian at 8:00 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Ron Hovsepian says there is a plan for BrainShare 2011, but judging by previous years, it could still be a dead duck (called off)
THE ANNUAL event that is all about GroupWise is not being advertised this year (at least not yet), despite the fact that GroupWise is mentioned in some new pages [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15] (although as a very secondary item, as even in news about Novell mail the impression is given that GroupWise no longer has any impact). Even if the GWAVA event vanishes with Novell’s sale (it is currently planned to take place in Torrance), the man who ruined Novell wants to assure clients that BrainShare is not dead yet and there is also a press release about it (BrainShare 2011 was mentioned here recently). A couple of years ago BrainShare was called off after it had been announced and bookings were made; so there is no guarantees that BrainShare 2011 will ever materialise. Besides, why should anyone attend given that AttachMSFT is likely to trash some of Novell’s products? BrainShare 2010 is likely to have been the last ever, but we shall see… █
Update: Richard Bliss sent us the following information by mail:
I attempted to leave a comment on your latest blog concerning Novell and GWAVACon but the site didn’t accept comments.
You state that there isn’t any information about GWAVACon 2011 and suggest that it will be cancelled. GWAVACon 2011 was held January 22-26 in Torrance California with a near record attendance.
GWAVACon Europe is already receiving registration for the first week in October during Oktoberfest. You should join us.
GWAVACon 2012 has already been announced for January in Torrance again.
The one is doubt is Novell’s.
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Posted in GNU/Linux, Mono, OpenSUSE at 7:36 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Response to weak defence of Banshee’s monetisation plans (which can help the project increase its influence inside GNOME)
In case anybody wonders about OpenSUSE, there is not much to say about it. Last night we looked at 4 months of OpenSUSE news (planet syndication) and there was nothing major there. Joe Brockmeier from the OpenSUSE project (he was the community manager) pushes this into the news because other than more OpenSUSE Weekly News (preaching to the converted), there is little going on at OpenSUSE and the current community manager of OpenSUSE now defends Mono pushers (Banshee lobby) who are also his colleagues. It’s done using an analogy which misses the point:
Needed for…
openSUSE is in the process of setting up a Foundation (or e.V. or…). Once there is a Foundation, it will be on the lookout for funding. Obviously my employer will support it, we are a stakeholder in the future of openSUSE. And provided we support the Foundation’s goals. But the Foundation will also want to explore other ways of generating income.
What doesn’t work?
Donations and merchandising don’t seem hugely profitable in other communities. Sure, openSUSE did well at FOSDEM, selling 16 crates of openSUSE beer and donating the money to FOSDEM. But we’re still talking about a few hundred euro’s and that’s including the t-shirts we also sold for FOSDEM. That wouldn’t keep the openSUSE Foundation running. So I understand that the $10.000 that Banshee brings the GNOME Foundation each year is interesting from a distro point of view. But ethics and common sense should play a role here too. I guess it might make sense to take a 20 or 30% cut in discussion with the projects – not 75 or 100%. So it might bring some revenue. Not enough still.
This is not a good comparison because Banshee promotes Mono and Microsoft, whereas OpenSUSE spreads GNU/Linux (there are now requests to spread it further using DVDs while there are service interruptions Pascal Bleser discloses). To suggest that making money the way Banshee does should be comparable to foundations is simply misleading. █
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Posted in IBM, Microsoft, Novell, Patents, Servers, SLES/SLED at 7:23 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: The inclusion of SLE* in some large, high-profile deployments enables Microsoft to profit from its competition
IBM’s continued SLES preference in mainframes and some supercomputers is not helpful. “Novell server powers ‘Jeopardy!’ computer” says one headline among several others (some of which we mentioned before and criticised). Tell IBM to stop stocking SUSE. It’s Microsoft-taxed, it’s Ballnux. Dell recently started doing the same thing; its new SUSE-supporting server offers more avenues from which Microsoft can raise a profit, mostly at Red Hat’s expense. Novell is rather notorious for its reliance on Red Hat’s work which it then releases prematurely and adds Microsoft tax to. Watch this new FT article that says: “The deal is quite a coup for Novell, which supplied its Suse Linux Enterprise Server product modified with a real-time “kernel” to reduce latency times.”
To many people’s surprise, it is actually Ballnux at the London Stock Exchange (LSE), not Red Hat. Among Novell’s raves about IBM’s role in SLE* deployments there is this new press release with similar text which is based on it. The bottom line is, Microsoft paid Novell a lot of money to create a precedence and a trap; thanks to Novell, Microsoft is not profiting from code it has nothing to do with. █
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Posted in Apple, Microsoft at 7:02 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: A theoretic look into the minds of people who promote Microsoft and Apple (not as a job)
THERE is something rather astounding about what Murdoch and Koch have managed to do with their billions of dollars. By using PR tactics they managed to rally millions of gullible people (e.g. Tea Party) who now do their bidding and further promote their causes — causes which are of course harmful to those who promote them. We wrote about this a couple of hours ago, also in relation to the Gates Foundation — that which has got the people cheering for an operation that robs them; it even prevents Bill and Warren from having to pay tax.
“The PR industry seems to have mastered some skills which are required for putting the abused over at the abuser’s side.”In a similar vein, there are many people out there who associate their character with some brand name/s such as Facebook, Apple, or NASCAR. For Microsoft, there is this competitive thing called the MVP programme, which is just exploiting people and not giving them anything of value in return (says a Microsoft MVP this year). The PR industry seems to have mastered some skills which are required for putting the abused over at the abuser’s side. It’s really disturbing to see this.
As new examples of this, consider the sad reality behind Vista 7 and watch how a Microsoft booster that the company compensates in all sorts of ways (the gentle bribes) spins product defects and even helps Microsoft guard its image:
As I mentioned last week, Service Pack 1 for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 is in the midst of full public release.
The reader who mailed us this pointer added: “Service Pack 1 released with defects. This show that there must be public testing 100%.” Why would anyone voluntarily test Vista 7 SP1, which only Microsoft executives will benefit from financially?
Similarly, amid the push for Apple antitrust we keep seeing that a lot of Apple customers are scrambling to defend the company. We are talking about Apple apologists like Daniel Eran Dilger and MG Siegler, who find ways to spin an abuse as benefit to the market and not just to Apple’s bottom line. CNN gives that coverage too (CNN loves promoting big American brands, just like itself). To quote part of the spin:
These new rules will put many developers between a rock and a hard place. So why is Apple doing this? There are three reasons, all related.
The reasoning is so weak that one may easily assume that it’s repetition of Apple’s PR staff. Talking points. Why are people promoting abusive companies? Are they basing their own image on the image of those whom they buy from? Affiliating oneself with ideas (or even a political party) would make far more sense, although both political parties and corporations now use the same tactics and often the very same PR agencies. They turn companies into some kind of sects or sets of ideology, at least perceptually, adding concepts like “loyalty” (to a brand, not a person), “love” (e.g. T-shirts with the trademarks alongside hearts in them), and social status (see Apple’s advertisements). █
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Posted in Deception, Free/Libre Software, Marketing, Novell at 6:30 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Novell is disseminating proprietary software under the proposition that it’s “free”
This new press release from Novell uses the word “free” to mean gratis, not libre, and merely a sort of trial version. Accompanying coverage [1, 2] pretty much repeats Novell. Is this what Novell calls “free” now? Proprietary software? █
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Posted in Microsoft, Novell, Patents at 6:19 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Weeks before its death (as a public company), Novell announces continued plans that favour MPEG-LA and Microsoft, not software freedom
THE DIMINISHING presence of Novell does not prevent the company from promoting Microsoft, which funnelled perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars into Novell in order to receive this kind of treatment. It’s a bit like a bribe — somewhat like the money Microsoft gave to Nokia, which then decided sell out without being acquired [1, 2, 3, 4].
The usual suspect is making some noise about Moonlight, which brings Mono and proprietary codecs with it (hello, MPEG-LA). The FSF’s new call for a boycott against MPEG-LA supporters is another subject we’ll deal with shortly. Moonlight is just a surrogate of Silver Lie, which would never support WebM. Microsoft is in complete control.
“Moonlight is just a surrogate of Silver Lie, which would never support WebM.”The ‘Microsoft press’ is of course promoting this, but it’s not alone [1, 2]. An entity called Telerik, which we mentioned in [1, 2, 3], is also helping this promotion, which is of course invaluable to the monopolist. Some Linux sites fail to highlight the drawbacks [1, 2] and also give coverage to future releases of Mono, which include Microsoft code and patent traps. Novell has been actively trying to pollute Android with Mono, using a product called MonoDroid [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15]. It is speculated that Moonlight too will try to pollute Android, not just with Microsoft patents but also with MPEG-LA patents (Google is currently the main opponent of MPEG-LA and Microsoft is trying to increase the cost of Android, using lawsuits and extortion a la MPEG-LA).
Based on comments that we found in Identi.ca over the weekend, the Mono bullies or Mono lobby continue to act like Scientology. The usual suspects are harassing anyone who dare to say a negative thing about Mono and/or Moonlight, as always. Among the bullies in these discussions we find some Novell employees like this gentleman (who also hangs out in Reddit, smearing Techrights). Hypocritically enough, Mono bullies like to say that they are the victims; they should take a look at their own behaviour. Mono boosters must come grips with the fact that merely naming those who do the pro-Microsoft coding is reasonable for the same reason an attacked party often blames the attacking troop if not the general (people like Microsoft MVP de Icaza) who start this attack, sometimes embodied by a project with the funding of the ‘state’ (Novell or Microsoft in this case). To quote the Novell/Ximian trooper:
Attacking someone’s project often results in that person feeling personally attacked. I should know this as well or better than anyone because I’m one of the authors of the most widely attacked projects in the Free Software community: Evolution, Mono, and Moonlight.
Mono and Moonlight are ‘attacked’ because they are harmful. They help Microsoft, not Free software. The ‘attacks’ on them are not personal attacks, unless Mono and Moonlight are two people with feelings to be hurt. Trying to personify them is missing the point. █
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Posted in Novell at 5:47 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Will the last person to leave switch off the lights?
Summary: Novell’s JP Rosevear is leaving, which puts the company’s Ballnux operations at greater risk
WHAT we occasionally call the Novell exodus is an ongoing process which we carry on covering. Rosevear is the latest major departure. From the blog (Friday):
Today is my last day at Novell which I arrived at by way of Helixcode and then Ximian in 2003. Both these companies enabled me to work in and around open source first as a hacker and then later as a manager and director. Perhaps future posts will have some more reflections on this time. It has been a great and I learned so much over the years, but it is now time to move on.
Wafaa may be tired of the suggestions that Novell, SUSE & OpenSUSE are in a bit of a mess, but it is true. We will show this in some of today’s remaining posts. █
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