Bonum Certa Men Certa

Did Novell Hijack a Linux Foundation Panel?

Linux Foundation



Summary: Microsoft enters the Linux Foundation's event and Novell dominates a panel (40% of which are paid Novell employees)

Novell's influence inside the Linux Foundation [1, 2, 3, 4] is proving very problematic because Novell is a Microsoft partner and thus it provides Microsoft a ticket to enter. So it was disappointing to find that the Linux Foundation is now inviting a company that was not only found guilty of criminal behaviour a few days ago. Yes, that would be Microsoft. Microsoft is also pretending it's not suing Linux (TomTom) when obviously it is.



For those who think that they saw Microsoft's darkest of crimes, be patient. We have a lot more of Comes vs. Microsoft exhibits to publish, but time is a constraint as it would require considerable effort to organise, explain and file up to 9,000 of them (some time later this year, hopefully). We have some lists of serious crimes to share and these were never shown and annotated in public.

Speaking of the Linux Foundation and its latest summit, here is an example of a rigged panel where 40% of the panel are -- wait for it -- Novell employees. To be specific:

Panelists: Joe Brockmeier - OpenSUSE Jono Bacon - Ubuntu James Bottomley - Novell Dan Frye - IBM Karsten Wade - Fedora


Novell seems to have quietly hired James Bottomley, maybe in December, and only yesterday the following video made it into YouTube (uploaded by the Linux Foundation's account).

Ogg Theora







Microsoft would be delighted to find such a panel as it will say not a word about Microsoft's behaviour. James Bottomley spoke to the Microsoft press over a year ago.

As further proof that Microsoft likes SUSE, here is the latest post from one of our readers, Goblin:

NeoWin reporter impartial? - I SUSEpect not!



[...]

The point I made at the time (and still maintain) is that someone who has used Microsoft products only is hardly in a position to call themselves (IMO) either a tech enthusiast and/or an expert. They are Microsoft product experts in my opinion and as I recently said on another site, you wouldn't be happy taking your car to a garage that only had experience in one model of car that was different to yours, the same applies to the IT world.

I still have my doubts as to the impartiality of certain reporters from the NeoWin site. Of course this is my opinion so let me place the evidence in front of you, the reader and you can decide for yourself.

[...]

He said “Build my own Linux OS based on my needs is now few clicks away! http://susestudio.com #linux #susestudio #opensuse”

So we hit upon the subject of impartiality again. For those that don't know, it is my opinion that openSUSE is about the closest thing you can get to a Microsoft approved Linux distro (since “the deal” that Novell and Microsoft signed a few years ago) For those who are not aware of this deal you can find out more information here: http://www.novell.com/linux/microsoft/


A few days ago, someone failed to see why anyone would buy SLES 11.

I expected the SLES install to go a lot more easily than it did. There’s a few weird default settings (such as using a bridged network interface by default, which I couldn’t get to work at all) and the selections of what kind of host to build don’t seem to make a lot of sense, as they typically install the same exact things.


Can Novell still make it somehow?

Well, Novell's influence in the Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit can be seen elsewhere too, e.g.:

At last year's collaboration summit, Linux kernel contributor and Novell staffer Greg Kroah-Hartman accused Ubuntu of not having contributed enough to the Linux kernel -- a claim that the Ubuntu Linux distribution and lead commercial sponsor Canonical have refuted.

Part of the issue comes down to what actually constitutes a contribution. It's a topic that the Collaboration Summit will address this year in a panel moderated by another Novell staffer, Joe Brockmeier, who is the community manager for the openSUSE Linux distro. Brockmeier will be joined by spokespersons from Red Hat Fedora and from Ubuntu.


Oops. Sean forgot another person who is a "Novell staffer". How come?

Up until recently, the Linux Foundation's technical officer was a Novell employee and it continues to show. Here is the new press release which states "The Linux Foundation to Make the openSUSE Build Service Available Through Linux Developer Network."

This press release is also in Novell's Web site (alongside press releases about .NET and joint press releases from Redmond).

The openSUSE Project and the Linux Foundation today jointly announced that the openSUSE Build Service will be added to the Linux Developer Network (LDN). The openSUSE€® Build Service is the only development platform that enables developers to package software for all major Linux* distributions, and is used to provide transparent infrastructure for the creation of the entire openSUSE distribution. Additionally, the openSUSE Project, a Novell sponsored and community-supported open source project, announced a new release of the openSUSE Build Service with support for compiling for the ARM platform.


There's more in Trading Markets and some Linux-oriented sites, including Sean's blog at Jupitermedia, OStatic (the author always covers SUSE stuff), and eWeek.

One of the first announcements rolling out of the Linux Collaboration Summit in San Francisco this morning is the Linux Foundation's addition of the openSUSE Build Service (OBS) to its Linux Developer Network. The Foundation plans to provide an interface to the OBS via the LDN site to aid developers wishing to package their projects for all of the major Linux distributions.


 

The Linux Foundation (LF) announced that OpenSUSE's Build Service will be incorporated in its Linux Developer Network (LDN). Claimed to be the only development platform that enables software to be packaged for all major Linux distributions, the OpenSUSE Build Service was released in a 1.6 version that adds ARM support.


This is not good because Novell may be trying to turn a patents-encumbered distribution from Microsoft/Novell into a de facto standard. Its influence at the Linux Foundation must be playing a role.

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

New XBox Leaks Probably Serve to Confirm XBox's Collapse (Many More Layoffs)
It's very much consistent with what many other sites have reported lately
 
Noteworthy Claim That IBM is Firing a Lot of Lawyers This Week (RAs in the Legal Department)
A lot of what they do is patent 'trolling' or lawyering up against their own staff (e.g. HR disputes)
Links 10/10/2025: US Judge Bars Attacks by ICE On Journalists and Protesters; “We Took The Freedom of Speech Away” Says the President
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Serial Sloppers, Google News Gifting Slopfarms, and Fake News/Plagiarism About "Linux"
Google itself is a slop pusher these days
Qualcomm, the New Owner of Arduino, Blasted for Its Software Patents Tax on 'Smartphones'
A lot of Qualcomm's patents are on software. We wrote about this in prior years.
XBox Layoffs Rumours, Downtime, and Criticism From XBox Co-Founder
"everyone is ditching the xbox."
Links 10/10/2025: Honoring The Legacy Of Robert Murray-Smith, Many Articles on the Hey Hi (AI) Bubble
Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/10/2025: October Gothic and Reading Middle Earth Role Playing; C and Ada
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, October 09, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, October 09, 2025
Links 09/10/2025: Farewell to Jane Goodall, California Bans Algorithmic Price-Fixing
Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/10/2025: Lost Wages and a Saga Of Continuing To Use Palm PDAs
Links for the day
Richard Stallman's Talk in Helsinki is Done. Tomorrow Göteborg.
There are scarce details in Finnish about Dr. Stallman's talk
The Slop Song
The train wreck marches on
LLM Slop/Advanced Plagiarism Flooding the Zone With Capital That Does Not Exist
Many publishers out there still participate in this bubble instead of calling it what it is
Links 09/10/2025: Sacked Microsoft Workers Make "Sackbird", IBM Taps CockroachDB for PostgreSQL
Links for the day
"Happy Hacking Day" Richard Stallman Talk This Afternoon (From 14:00 to 16:00) at Haaga-Helia University in Pasila
Richard Stallman in Helsinki, Finland
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, October 08, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, October 08, 2025
Links 09/10/2025: Impact of Microsoft Layoffs, More Data Breaches
Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/10/2025: Autumn Blues and C IRC Bot
Links for the day
Slopwatch Appreciated by Real Authors of GNU/Linux Articles
We do try to keep on top of those things
Upgraded R.R.R.R.R.R. Today
The Web of 2025 is full of garbage, not limited to slopfarms
Freedom From Proprietary Prisons
Forking always an option
IBM's Watson Died in 1956, Now Watson Dies Again
IBM is becoming just a reseller of GAFAM and other stuff
Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, UbuntuPIT, and Google News
We've also just noticed more slop from UbuntuPIT
Microsoft Says That Constant Mass Layoffs Are Success, the Media Isn't Buying This Microsoft Narrative Anymore
If people in the media feel an obligation to repeat whatever lies Microsoft tells, what point will there be to the media?
Links 08/10/2025: "Mali Puts Free Speech on Trial" And Apple Enforces Dictatorship
Links for the day
Links 08/10/2025: ‘Death to Spotify’ and Law to Ban Loud Commercials on Streaming (Dis)Services
Links for the day
Links 08/10/2025: Real Innovation and Nina.chat is Dead
Links for the day
Links 08/10/2025: Y2K38 Bug is a Vulnerability, Chat Control in Europe a Threat
Links for the day
Microsoft Windows is No Longer an Operating System, It's Surveillance Project
Why is this even legal to preload on PCs outside the US?
How and Why Once-Legitimate Sites Turn Into Slopfarms
Many sites will go offline and many social control networks will shut down once they realise or even openly admit they spend money and time gardening a bunch of bots and slop
UbuntuPIT Became a Slopfarm and Gnoppix Tarnishes Its Own Brand With Slop
It fits all the characteristics of mildly-edited (if at all) slop
Slopwatch: Linux Journal and Other Slopfarms
GAFAM needs to go the way of the dodo
Gemini Links 08/10/2025: "Seek Seek Revolution" and Gradient Backgrounds
Links for the day
Qualcomm Arduino Takes Aim at Raspberry Pi
Qualcomm is a Microsoft partner
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, October 07, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, October 07, 2025
Stagnation of the Economy and What Free Software Can (or Could) Do For It
If your economic model is based on a pyramid of lies, it won't last very long
Social Control Media is Sinking
it would rightly seem like the era of centralised "social" sites (they're not social, they're about controlling the users) is ending, not overnight but gradually