Bonum Certa Men Certa

Novell News Summary - Part II: SUSE Aside from the SLE* 11 Release, Xandros and Presto Coverage

SUSE (SLES/SLED)



SLES 11 has been released (more on that later), but some sites are still writing about SLES 10 whilst vendors preinstall SLED 10. There is the following offer from H-P:

One gigabyte of DDR2 memory is standard; the system maximum of 2GB is a $50 option, and also requires a change from Win XP Home to another operating system — HP offers Windows Vista, Vista with a "downgrade" to Windows XP Professional, and SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10.


Red Hat's fantastic financial results had its GNU/Linux business compared to Novell's over in BetaNews, which covers Novell and Microsoft rather frequently.



Red Hat accomplished these feats even in the face of competition from free software from many other open source software providers -- even arch rival Novell, Whitehurst suggested.

The executives were also asked how Red Hat's pricing strategy dovetails with that of Novell.

"We compete against free all the time, and [it] doesn't get anymore aggressive or cheaper than free in the case of the Microsoft/Novell arrangement," Whitehurst replied.

Essentially, Novell is still distributing software certificates to customers which are prepaid by its partner Microsoft, according to Red Hat's CEO.


Tom Yager mentioned Novell and Red Hat very briefly as well.

Nothing prevents Microsoft, Red Hat, Novell, or anyone from attaining the Unix trademark. Yes, Microsoft could conceivably slap the Unix trademark on Windows, but for a few million lines of code.


There are those who wonder how IBM is using Red Hat and Novell to produce GNU/Linux distributions and compete against one another to make a cheaper O/S for IBM to use.

IBM has said in the past that it has no plans to become a Linux vendor, preferring to delegate that job to Novell and Red Hat. By the same token, it seems unlikely that it would want to devote much energy to maintaining Sun's also-ran Unix. Still, there are powerful technologies in Sun's code that IBM could potentially mine for use in Linux


Tectonic shares a SUSE success story from South Africa:

More than two years ago the South African Revenue Service (SARS) began a process to migrate its desktops to Linux by calling for a proof on concept. Two years on the desktop migration has not happened but the tax-collection arm of government has made some progress towards wider open source use, including wide use of Suse Linux. We take a look at exactly what has been going on.

According to Sita’s Free and Open Source Programme, although SARS’ is still working on a desktop Linux strategy - a thin-client network - the department has a number of open source deployments. Most of these are in the development and backoffice environment.


Novell's excitement about SUSE is something that did not escape the attention of OSBC 2009 attendees, either.

"I believe open source will be the largest beneficiary of the downturn. This will be driven by the customer," said Hovsepian, in an opening keynote for the Open Source Business Conference in San Francisco on Tuesday. He cited a survey conducted for Novell by IDC that found 72% of respondents either evaluating or planning an increase in their use of Linux; 49% said Linux will be their number one operating system for new server deployments in the next five years.


Xandros



We previously wrote about Presto from Xandros [1, 2, 3]. It still receives more coverage, so we include some below:



Presto is still in beta and available as a free download from Xandros, which plans to charge $20 for the full release version. The only thing daunting about it is the size of the download - almost 500mb - but I managed that in under half an hour.






More recently, Xandros Inc., a Linux and Linux-Windows cross-platform software vendor, announced Presto, which was shown at the DEMO 09 spring show.




It's also appearing in some foreign (as in not English-speaking) press, including the Russian press for example. Xandros on the Eee PC is still discussed in some Web sites such as this and this.

It comes with the option of either Xandros Linux or Windows XP, with the Linux model having a 32GB SSD hard drive, while the Windows version splits this capacity over a 16GB SSD hard disk. However with the Windows XP model you also get a 16GB SD card, so overall you get the same storage capacity either way.


 

The Mini 9 that we reviewed had Dell’s version of Ubuntu Linux installed, which we found more attractive and useful than Eee PC’s Xandros and Acer’s Linpus Linux Lite.


It is important not to forget Microsoft's manipulation of ASUS. The company is willing to lose a lot of money just to perpetuate the myth that GNU/Linux cannot win on the desktop.

"Ideally, use of the competing technology becomes associated with mental deficiency, as in, "he believes in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and OS/2." Just keep rubbing it in, via the press, analysts, newsgroups, whatever. Make the complete failure of the competition's technology part of the mythology of the computer industry. We want to place selection pressure on those companies and individuals that show a genetic weakness for competitors' technologies, to make the industry increasingly resistant to such unhealthy strains, over time."

--Microsoft, internal document [PDF]



Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Speed of GNU/Linux
The media seldom speaks of the dangers of "proprietary software"
Proprietary Windows Versus "Linux" News (Trying to Keep People on Windows, Never Exploring GNU/Linux)
Good editors know better how to recognise threats and not give them lip service
Ensuring That Every Computer User Anywhere in the World Can Take Control of All His or Her Computers
We must fight the people who attack general-purpose computing, in particular those who push this agenda very aggressively inside Linux
Gemini Links 28/04/2025: Autism and Structural Navigation
Links for the day
What Happened to the Open Source Initiative (OSI) Elections: The Purge, the Cover-up, and the Witch-hunts
OSI has gone "full Microsoft"
 
If Tesla Shares (and Alleged Value) Fell 55% (From $489 to $222) in a Few Months Maybe It's Not Worth Anything At All (It's Just Gambling)
Tesla swasticars have turned from a "status symbol" into a "public embarrassment" and cause for casual humiliation
Coming Soon: Microsoft Fake Results, Mass Layoffs, and Silence About All the People Microsoft Pressured to "Quit" (So That They Don't Get Counted as Layoffs)
there will be more mass layoffs
Chromebooks' Adoption in Sweden No Longer Depends on Schools
School breaks are when classrooms are shut
No, IBM is Not Investing $150 Billion in the US and It Doesn't Even Have That Kind of Money
Here we go again... media as a vehicle of lobbying and misinformation
Leak: The EPO's General Consultative Committee (GCC) Does Not Consult Staff on Crucial Matters and Bypasses the Administrative Council (AC) to Do Illegal Things
violations against the EPO's very staff
New Leaks Coming Soon, We Maintain 100% Record of Successful Resistance to Censorship
We won't be told what we can and cannot say (especially when it's true)
Central African Republic (CAR): Vista 11 is Only ~0.2% Market Share
99.8% to go!
BSD and GNU/Linux Replaced Microsoft in Secure Servers, All Microsoft Has Left is LLM Slop for Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt (FUD)
the FUD machine never rests
Gemini Links 28/04/2025: A Simple Task Tracking and Auto-Prioritization Tool and Other Programs
Links for the day
Links 28/04/2025: Canada's Election, Pakistan-India Conflict
Links for the day
Glue Inside Your Pizza (or Why People Will Get Fed Up With Slop)
People are given "answers" from non-intelligence word dumpsters
Links 28/04/2025: Cyberattacks Happening, Chatbots Disappointing, and "Free Speech Under Fire"
Links for the day
Phone Adoption Very Low in Vatican, Windows Usage Fell Nonetheless
Even in places where people still use desktops/laptops most of the time (and have access to these) Windows is gradually losing ground
GNU/Linux 9% in Cuba, Vista 11 Waning, Android Dominant
Microsoft has pretty much lost Cuba
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, April 27, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, April 27, 2025
In 24 Countries Observed by statCounter Vista 11 is Still Less Than a Quarter of Windows Users Despite All Other Versions Being 'Expired'
They ought to move to GNU/Linux
Links 27/04/2025: Pope Goodbyes, "Politics of Fear", Slop Redux and More Google Shutdowns (Google Debt Had Grown This Year)
Links for the day
Links 27/04/2025: Serenity Dialectics, Hockey Jersey Ethics, and More
Links for the day
Links 27/04/2025: Death of Nest Thermostats, Death of Metaverse
Links for the day
Links 27/04/2025: Projects Workflow and Discovering Technology
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, April 26, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, April 26, 2025
Microsoft Isn't on the Map in USSR
To them, it's either Google or Yandex
In Central America Windows Became a Small Force
These are countries where Windows used to have well over 95% of the "market"
What's Very Vexing to GAFAM, EPO and Others Is That It's Incredibly Hard to Censor Us (and Nobody Ever Successfully Did That Before)
resist, do not capitulate
Site May be Even Faster Now
It basically takes less than a tenth of a second to serve the page
Receiving SLAPPs and Collecting Them Like Trophies (the SLAPPs Always Fail)
People who file lawsuits bring even more attention to themselves (or to embarrassing statements about them)
Year of GNU/Linux on the Laptop?
It's not happening only in Lenovo
What People Must Understand About the Open Source Initiative (OSI)
some facts about the Open Source Initiative (OSI)
Many of the Scandals Are Interconnected (Overlapping People and Corporations)
We're only getting started
More Copyright Lawsuits Against LLM Slop Providers and Suppliers of LLM Slopfarms Would Benefit Society
It's not just bad for the Web and for society; it's also legally dangerous
Links 26/04/2025: General Assassinated in the Town of Balashikha, US Promoting Seafloor Mining
Links for the day
Links 26/04/2025: Facebook Layoffs Again, Remembering What's Real, and Say No to Mass Surveillance
Links for the day
Links 26/04/2025: NOAA Budget Cuts and "Dog Days Ahead"
Links for the day
In defence of JD Vance, death of Pope Francis
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Three Years in Prison for Disney Employee’s ‘Menu Hacking’: The Economic Fallout of Digital Menus
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, April 25, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, April 25, 2025