Summary: Novell's renewed relationships with HP, MSI; Samsung moves to Moblin for sub-notebooks and LG uses Moblin for smartphones

THE BIGGEST story is still the MSI-Novell collaboration (announced in CES), which puts SUSE on some more sub-notebooks.

Ben Kevan caught up with this news and so did some of the press. More in:

• MSI and Novell team up for U135 netbook



• MSI to Ship SUSE Moblin Netbook in February



• Novell introducing Moblin netbook



• Novell, MSI team on first SUSE Moblin-based netbook



• Where the Netbook is Going This Year

MSI is currently working with multiple software vendors to try and see which product will best enhance the mobile user experience. Along with using Windows 7 for their current line, they are also partnering with Novell Linux using their Moblin netbook operating system. Trying it out first hand, the netbook seemed fast and very user friendly. This type of interface offers a different look when compared to the Microsoft counterpart, the Linux variant actually seems to be more integrated with the social portal experien

Similarly, HP puts SUSE on sub-notebooks (it also uses a home-grown Ubuntu derivative) and this continues to receive coverage:

The HP Mini 5102 Netbook offers a 10.1 inch touchscreen display with multitouch support, 1GB of RAM, and the Intel Atom N450 processor. The touch-enabled HP Netbook ships with Windows 7 Starter Edition (including face recognition) or SUSE Linux Enterprise 11.

 

It seems like a good plan with HP as the backbone.

So Var Guy is pleased and SJVN is happy with two forms of Ballnux (Samsung and SUSE) just because these contain Linux. He writes:

Shame on me, I missed that during last week's CES (Consumer Electronics Show), MSI wasn't the only company to announce the release of a SUSE/Moblin Linux-powered netbook. Samsung also announced that they'll be releasing this Linux mix on its N127 netbook.

Separately, SJVN wrote about Novell Linux Certified Engineers in this new article:

Beyond the Red Hat certifications, I've also heard good things about Novell's NLCE (Novell Linux Certified Engineer). The other Novell certifications can also land you a job.

Both the Novell and the Red Hat certification families are for more advanced system and network administrators. If you want to get an entry-level Linux job, you should look into the Linux Professional Institute's entry-level LPIC-1. This vendor-neutral certification probably delivers the best bang for the buck for someone's who new to Linux.

Here is a desktop GNU/Linux comparison involving Novell.

While you can still download many free versions of Linux online, for convenience sake, several vendors offer user-friendly versions and charge a fee for support. Red Hat and Novell are the primary desktop Linux vendors, accounting for nearly 95 percent of the operating system revenue in 2008, according to IDC.

Revenue is not the way to measure share. This is why IDC statistics tend to be a load of nonsense, also on the server side. More expensive products get more "share".

Linux.com (Foundation/Development Network) has this new article which focuses on SUSE success stories in terminals/registers.

Of course, it doesn't hurt that Novell has a fully ready enterprise-level POS flavor in their product line: SUSE Linux Enterprise Point of Service. Novell has recently been talking up the fact that SLE POS has been deployed at Office Depot, National Vision, and Sherman-Williams.

Is Linux the magic bullet for POS machines? There may be a little work to go, but not much. If these POS applications can be easily connected to accounting databases for small- to medium-sized business owners, then the sky's the limit. We may already be at that point.

So when you're checking out that shiny new Linux device, take a look at the cash register screen: you may just see a familiar penguin looking back at you.

Here is another advertisement for SUSE, with only SUSE stories. Not surprisingly, it was put there by a Novell marketer:

Meike Chabowski is a Product Marketing Manager for Enterprise Linux Servers at Novell. Her responsibilities include Linux for Retail and Linux on the Mainframe.

The headline talks about "Linux", but the content/body is focused on SUSE, which the author is trying to sell.

Samsung

Samsung was mentioned a little earlier. Despite its proximity to Linux, it is trouble in the sense that it enables Microsoft to charge for the use of Linux (a lot of people still don't know this). Samsung is entering the sub-notebooks market with Moblin:

Samsung aren’t the only ones toying with Moblin on netbooks. MSI is planning a U135 netbook with SUSE Linux and the Moblin UI. Novell has worked hard to get boot times down to 30 seconds. This particular model is planned to launch in February. Liliputing spotted one of these at CES and shot a quick hands-on video that we’ve attached below.

Samsung is no longer just about phones when it comes to GNU/Linux.

LG

LG -- like Samsung -- is not just Korea based but it will also make use of an Intel-controlled distribution (in the hands of the Linux Foundation, but guided by Intel). Smartphones from LG will make use of Moblin:

Yesterday, at the Consumer Electronics Show, LG surprised everyone by taking the wraps off its latest smartphone, the GW990, the first ever device designed to run on Intel's Moorestown platform, which makes the use of Intel's Moblin Linux operating system.

Also see:

● LG GW990 Announced at CES 2010

● LG uncovers Atom-powered GW990 smartphone

● LG employs Intel for powerhouse smartphone

● Intel Powerhouse LG GW990 Seen at CES, But Can it be Called a Phone?

● LG shows Moorestown phone running Moblin

● LG unveils slew of new handsets

● LG GW990 Intel Powered Smartphone

Intel and LG have teamed up to release a new smartphone which is powered by Intel’s Moorestown processor, and will run Intel’s Moblin 2.1 Linux based OS.

● LG GW990 Preview

The 4.8" 1024 x 480 pixel display is the most immediately obvious feature of the LG GW990, and a consequence this is a really big device, by our reckoning it has a footprint of around 140 x 60mm.

[...]

The LG GW990 runs the Moblin operating system, a product of the Linux Foundation. Moblin is pitched at products from netbooks to what they call "mobile internet devices", so it is aimed at that market segment between (say) Android on smartphones and Ubuntu on full-blown PCs.

LG pays Microsoft for Linux and the Korea Times says that "LG [is] to Keep Partnership With Microsoft":

LG Electronics will keep the strategic partnership with Microsoft though its U.S. partner has recently been struggling due to the skyrocketing consumer demand for Google-powered Android phones, a company executive said.

Ahn Seung-kwon, president of LG's mobile communications division, said the world's third-biggest handset vendor after Nokia and Samsung, however, will heavily bet on phones with Google's Android operating system.

"MS Windows Mobile operating system is rather unqualified in mobile interfaces. Despite such worries, the partnership with Microsoft is still safe," Ahn said at a press conference in Seoul.

LG is one of the companies that lost Linux focus after signing a Microsoft patent deal. Many Asian companies are using Linux for mobile devices nonetheless. ⬆