11.07.11
SUSE Gets Lost in the ‘Cloud’
Summary: Some bits and pieces about SUSE, which is Microsoft’s “approved” and recommended distribution of GNU/Linux (complete with Microsoft tax)
SUSE is not about Free/open source software. Increasingly, SUSE is about Fog Computing (more suitable description for ‘cloud’) and many recent articles support this vision of the distribution, including one that says:
SuSE has released an early development snapshot of its OpenStack-powered cloud infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) solution.
SuSE Cloud is a new appliance configured to run Diablo, the latest version of the open source cloud organisation’s operating system (OS).
The Attachmate division also said its IaaS was hypervisor agnostic and OS neutral, so customers and partners can build, deploy and manage both private and public cloud infrastructure quickly and easily when it made available sometime next year.
As IDG put it, “earlier this week Attachmate’s Suse announced plans to make software for OpenStack private clouds. Suse Cloud, which won’t be available for at least nine months, will be based on the latest version of OpenStack, called Diablo.”
Zonker's spin of this has made the news in some other sites that repeated similar points and volunteer work is still sought by the company which is partly funded by Microsoft to help put a Microsoft tax on Linux. All this promotion and calls for participation even with parties are merely a vacuum. On the “open” side, OpenSUSE has not actually done much and Studio has been fairly quiet too, with only few bleeps on the radar ahead of a new release of OpenSUSE (to almost align with Fedora’s release).
Although it comes with KDE by default (ish), other flavours exist, but there is nothing in OpenSUSE which users cannot get elsewhere. With near final builds in the making we kindly remind people that those installing it or preparing applications for the release (bar packaging perils) are either employees or people whom these employees exploit for the betterment of “Microsoft Linux”.
Last week I updated the libvirt package for openSUSE12.1 RC1 / Factory to version 0.9.6. The package was also submitted for SLE11 SP2 Beta8.
One noteworthy change is this: “openSuse 12.1 will be running Linux kernel 3.1 and it is expected that openSuse 12.1 will be the first to ship Google’s new programming language Go. openSuse 12.1 has overhauled the boot procedure introducing systemd and Grub2.”
The OBS source repo has been relocated:
The OBS git repos have been moved to github.com…
Michal Hrušecký writes about help it, but as member of staff one is inclined to offer unpaid volunteers like those who bring OBS to Fedora:
Both Fedora and openSUSE use quite different packaging tools, and since I was more comfortable with openSUSE Build Service, I’ve opened a small project (home:ketheriel:fedora), added a Fedora 15 repository and kicked off. While the package built pretty much according to what I expected, OBS doesn’t run Fedora rpmlint by default on the end of the packaging process, and I’m not really sure even if that’s possible without tinkering with it for bit.
My first option was to install a Fedora 16 BETA system and check it out from the real thing (I got seduced by Verne’s wallpaper, which fits so well in GNOME3).
There are those who write HOWTOs specific to OpenSUSE and those to whom SUSE vanity is a form of advertisement [1, 2], just like a release party, of which there are a few around the company’s headquarters (thus involvement from paid employees). Some people prepare posters and the project is always looking for money from Google, even this year:
After Google Summer Of Code 2011, openSUSE plans to participate in Google Code-in. It is an excellent opportunity for openSUSE to meet young talents and introduce them to the ways of open source.
SUSE the company cannot rely on volunteers alone, so it hired yet another person to rally the troops:
SUSE, an operating unit of the Attachmate Group, has appointed Hamish Miles as regional sales director for Australia and New Zealand.
The old management of SUSE is out. Not all of it, but a lot of it. Today’s SUSE is not the same SUSE people in Germany came to know and love. In fact, SUSE is hardly about FOSS anymore. It’s about pushing Microsoft tax with Microsoft’s support. █
Michael said,
November 7, 2011 at 4:04 am
Funny how you do not lash out against Ubuntu or Google for their cloud initiatives.
FUD:
Welcome to the open source community where there are many, many distros – many of which offer very little you cannot get elsewhere. You act like this is a bad thing.
danbaragan said,
November 7, 2011 at 11:46 am
Hi,
I admit that Microsoft name associated with Suse reeks and invites to caution but does anyone have *real* arguments incriminating this alliance?
I see a lot of religious activity against OpenSuse – a dirsto that in my opinion could technically be a competitor to Ubuntu supremacy;
I hear about taxes by Microsoft? what taxes? please show me – I want to know before I switch to that distro; I see a lot of pokes or even accusations against OpenSuse that have the only target of weakening or destroying the project before it has actually done something bad.
If your *church* (free software) does not respect “not guilty until proven so” than perhaps your church is not one to adhere to…
So, pleeease, provide arguments to *all* of your accusations and act fair and unbiased.
I’m looking forward your answer as this problem really concerns me,
Best regards,
Dan Bărăgan
Dr. Roy Schestowitz Reply:
November 7th, 2011 at 12:12 pm
Hi Dan,
When you describe my arguments as “religous” do you really expect a serious response?
Michael Reply:
November 7th, 2011 at 12:25 pm
No matter how the question is asked, Roy, one should not expect a serious response from you. That is the point – you are not able to answer the questions. You cannot answer his questions about SUSE just as you cannot answer my questions about your comments about PCLOS.
So, yes, when you hold such strong beliefs (as you do) but cannot defend them with reason or logic (which you cannot), I think it is reasonable to call your views “religious”. As has been noted: your and you group act in very cult-like ways.
danbaragan said,
November 7, 2011 at 11:50 am
What could came good out of this? Well mayby microsoft does not want to isolate themselves so much as before and we’ll end up with better samba, mono, ntfs support, etc and perhaps it will take something in exchange. I don’t know, I’m just thinking another point of view, and I don’t want to kill the gecko just because M$ is staring in its eyes.
Mikko Reply:
November 8th, 2011 at 8:38 am
Mono and moonlight is a dead end
Dr. Roy Schestowitz Reply:
November 8th, 2011 at 9:53 am
And moonlight is hardly heard of anymore.