Bonum Certa Men Certa

Novell's Second-Class SUSE Citizens

Speaking of Imaginary ODF 'Service Packs', Novell Has a Service Pack

As you may be aware by now, Novell has released a Service Pack for SUSE. It was not a low-key announcement, but it's truly interesting how this event was just lumped in together with announcements about Red Hat's update (version 5.2 of Enterprise Linux). Novell was somewhat of a second fiddle in the press. A reader wrote to say: "I see Novell has started to release 'Service Packs'. This I presume is what used to be called updates, patches and bug fixes only without actually using those words. I wonder, is this available to subscription-only 'customers'?"



The Service Packs are actually not new and Novell used this terminology before. It might make a convenient wording in case Novell and Microsoft ever become one (more on this later). Here are a couple of articles about Novell's latest Service Pack. Mind the headlines and be aware that we are not being selective here. These just happen to be the most prominent articles which note the update.

Red Hat debuts 5.2 version; Novell issues service pack



[...]

Novell issues Service Pack for SUSE

Meanwhile, Waltham, Mass.-based Novell Inc. just released its Service Pack 2 for SUSE Linux Enterprise 10, with improvements in interoperability, virtualization, management and hardware. Based on the Citrix Systems Inc.'s Xen virtualization engine, SUSE Linux is fully compatible with Microsoft's Hyper-V virtualization, Novell said.

Jones said neither announcement was monumental. Novell is delivering on its promises, adding interoperability and improving support for its management tool update system, he said.

"Both vendors are making progress, fixing problems and adding features to keep up with the market," he said. "There's no wow factor here."


Most of the article is just about Red Hat. Here is another.

Novell, Red Hat upgrade Linux offerings



[...]

Novell also updated its YaST (Yet another Set-up Tool) to ease boot-ups and add network module support for new devices. Red Hat also focused on improving its virtualization capabilities, which are based on the same Xen hypervisor technology Novell uses.


Returning to our reader, he had some more insights to share. He highlights this clarification which he has found:

"SMT is fully supported and available as a download to customers with an active SUSE Linux Enterprise product subscription"

On this he comments: "I guess that answer to that one is NO. From what I can gather, Novell is paying lukewarm support while acting to steer the 'best bits' to SLED. Unlike Ubuntu and a few others who release the same code under dual licenses. This, together with the Microsoft covenant, makes their commitment less than enthusiastic. Does this matter? Is Novell benefiting in any way from Open Source/Linux. Considering NetWare is moribund and Novells business is being built on SuSE, a bought in Linux distro, I do believe the answer is yes.

"I got into a discussion with one of the OpenSUSE forums moderators a while back (before I was banned). He said the only worthwhile thing in Linux was the Kernel. Let's see Novell dispense with everything else then.

“From what I can gather, Novell is paying lukewarm support while acting to steer the 'best bits' to SLED.”"Personally I feel kind of tainted when market speak starts creeping into technical documents. See also where they refer to regulatory compliance. Like, does the machine know it's in compliance and will this thwart the crooked hackers?"

Further, he points out these bits from the press release:

"Novell today announced the availability to customers worldwide of SUSE€® Linux Enterprise 10 Service Pack 2 (SP2) [...] with full support from Microsoft for Windows* Server 2008 and Windows Server 2003"

"The Subscription Management Tool (SMT) for SUSE Linux Enterprise helps customers easily manage their SUSE Linux Enterprise software updates while maintaining corporate firewall policy and regulatory compliance requirements"

His conclusion: "Of course, no one in their right minds would 'update' a live system. And getting the latest bug fix, sorry 'Service Pack', isn't so important in Linux land. As a bug won't generally lead to a total system compromise." The next post will discuss some more severe issues.

Gates on SUSE

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Tons of Anti-Linux 'Articles' Published by Bots (LLMs), Maybe Microsoft's
Upon closer inspection, all this FUD turned out to be LLM garbage
Ubuntu Desktop Director of Engineering Has Only One Blog Post. It Promotes Microsoft Windows.
Remember that even 15 years ago (more or less, maybe 16 years ago) Canonical appointed a a 'former' Microsoft manager (Spencer) to lead Ubuntu on the desktop
IBM Red Hat on "era of cloud computing", pushing "hey hi" (AI) hype in Microsoft Azure
LLM slop might actually be more benign than Microsoft promotion
Corruption and Rule-Breaking Prevail at the European Patent Office (EPO), Europe's Second-Largest Institution
The law does not really exist at the EPO; it can be perceived as merely a "recommendation"
404 Media Says "Workers at NASA Told to Drop Everything to Scrub Mentions of Indigenous People, Women from Its Websites" But There's Also Accessibility in the Firing Line
In the case of abandoning accessibility, everyone stands to be hurt and proprietary software can be brought in to replace standards
 
Professor Eben Moglen on How Social Control Media Metabolises Humans and Constrains Freedom of Thought
Nothing of value would be lost if all these data-harvesting giants (profiling people) vanished overnight
Social Control Media is Narcissism
Nowadays there's a lot more literature and even press coverage explaining the harms of Social Control Media
Debian Left Twitter (MElon "X"), We Think the Free Software Foundation (FSF) Should Do the Same
What would the FSF really lose if it stopped posting there?
statCounter Sees GNU/Linux Share Doubling in China Over the Past Year
It'll be interesting to see what data in the coming months shows
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, February 06, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, February 06, 2025
Richard Stallman (RMS) Confirms Next Week's Talk in Europe
He gave at least 2 talks in Europe last month
Nationalism As A Service (NaaS) by Microsoft Azure, Gutting the US Government for Profit
Will Microsoft be receiving bailouts as a reward for all this?
Rumours of IBM Layoffs Apparently Confirmed Yesterday, IBM Canada Consulting Impacted (as Rumoured)
when IBM has layoffs we must also read it as Red Hat layoffs
Gemini Links 06/02/2025: Voicemail Sucks and Night of Lights
Links for the day
Links 06/02/2025: YouTube Takedowns Out of Control, 'DOGE' Breaking Laws
Links for the day
statCounter: More Countries Where Windows is Around 1% "Market Share" (People Have Moved to Android/Linux)
in some nations Windows is already 1% or less
When BetaNews Writes Real Articles About "Linux" They Promote Windows
The Web is in a bad state. We need to at least try to correct this.
Gemini Links 06/02/2025: Cynicism and "Real Magic on the C64"
Links for the day
Links 06/02/2025: New Sanctions, Layoffs, and Executive Orders
Links for the day
Distros and Desktop Environments, Devices
GNU/Linux focused
New Rumours of IBM Layoffs in 2025, IBM Consulting Still Struggles, Based on Management
"Hey hi" (AI) has been a common excuse for business failure
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, February 05, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, February 05, 2025
Links 05/02/2025: Kessler Syndrome and News Online
Links for the day
statCounter: Monaco Now 7% GNU/Linux ("Proper")
GNU/Linux, not counting Chromebooks, is on the rise
Many Parts of Google Lose Money
It's quite apparent that many parts of Google - even some that rely on ad revenue or push ads - aren't profiting
European Internet Forum (EIF) is Dominated by American Corporations and Microsoft Lobbyists, Staff Take the Lead
Should the officials over here or the European Parliament pay attention to these people?
Links 05/02/2025: Connection without Connectivity and Unionised Grocery Workers
Links for the day
Just Because People on Top of the Microsoft Pyramid Made a Lot of Money Doesn't Mean Microsoft is Wealthy
The bigger they are the harder they fall
Gemini Links 05/02/2025: Learning, Madman Ruling a Mad Country, Back in Geminispace
Links for the day
statCounter Shows "WIntel" Chasing a Dying Market
Microsoft acts as if it's running out of money
Free Software Foundation, Inc. (FSF) Still Raising Money, Richard Stallman Contributes
total exceeding $430k
A Lot of Stuff About "Linux" in Google News is LLM Slop, Fake 'Articles'
It seems to be getting worse
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, February 04, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, February 04, 2025