04.12.08
Posted in Asia, Fraud, ISO, Microsoft, Open XML, Standard at 9:34 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
“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]
As we showed before, all those who voted in favour of OOXML in India were either from Microsoft or from Microsoft allies. Later on, other reporters made similar (and probably independent) observations. At least 3 of Microsoft’s business partners which are responsible for this mess will have seen the following open letter at some point in the future.
This letter is to express our deep disappointment over your open support to the OOXML format forced through ISO by Microsoft. Being the top IT giants and thus the representatives of the IT industry in the country, it is a great shock to us that you do not stand with academia of the country and its representatives like the IITs, IIMs and IISc in supporting the Open Document Format (ODF) which is a true Free and Open Standard already recognised as an ISO Standard. Considering that a major portion of your employees come from such institutions, it is a wonder to us that you have decided to go ahead with this decisions.
The letter addresses Wipro, Infosys and TCS, but it neglects to mention NASSCOM. We actually wrote about it here and the key bits are as follows, captured only a week before the vote back in September. Added highlights are ours, for the sake of selective emphasis.
Microsoft to Boost Charity in India
The software donation will be routed through a technology assistance program that India’s NASSCOM Foundation is offering in partnership with TechSoup, a San Francisco-based group that partners in charity work with companies like Microsoft, Cisco Systems and Symantec.
[...]
Nearly 35,000 nonprofit groups in India will be eligible for such software donations.
Later we put some of the pieces together with several reports such as this one:
Of course, there has to be some trade-offs, because there should never be free lunch, even for the ones who starve: Microsoft, according to this article, has conditioned its help to Indian NGOs to their support of OOXML. What the NGOs had to do was to send letters of support on OOXML to the federal government of India.
It is worth adding that the chairperson in India appears to be abused by Microsoft at the moment. In case Microsoft sees ISO's decision retracted, it wishes to ensure that it can secure (or scare) as many nations as possible.
That’s just how it typically goes. Like a bully, it’s usually a case of choosing small and frail targets (individuals, not companies or governments), then doing what they call “the Slog” (see quote at the top again). █
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Posted in America, Antitrust, Europe, Free/Libre Software, Microsoft at 9:23 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
“Working behind the scenes to orchestrate “independent” praise of our technology, and damnation of the enemy’s, is a key evangelism function during the Slog. “Independent” analyst’s report should be issued, praising your technology and damning the competitors (or ignoring them). “Independent” consultants should write columns and articles, give conference presentations and moderate stacked panels, all on our behalf (and setting them up as experts in the new technology, available for just $200/hour). “Independent” academic sources should be cultivated and quoted (and research money granted). “Independent” courseware providers should start profiting from their early involvement in our technology. Every possible source of leverage should be sought and turned to our advantage.”
–Microsoft, internal document [PDF]
The quote above is a classic example of unacceptable behaviour from Microsoft, which includes deception and even academic kickbacks.
A lot of this bad behaviour is stretching people’s patience. Things are beginning to change as a result. A Spanish-speaking reader has just informed us that “Ecuador mandates the use of Free (Libre) Software and Open Standards nationwide in public administration.” Here is the article in Spanish.
From an English translation:
On April 10, 2008, Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa Delgado signed a decree ordering that the software used by public administrations in the country be free software (and implicitly based on open standards). Fuller story in Spanish…
The reader adds: “Wise decision, aside for freedom and many other reasons we know, it is sound in order to bridge the digital divide, boost technological independence and help the nation’s balance of payments and external deficit by reducing public expenditure in foreign suppliers, it is also an adequate decision for these times of economic crisis.”
The procurement boat in Europe is rocking gently as well. [thanks for another reader for this pointer]
Euro MP calls for Microsoft ban
No purchases until Redmond plays ball
We covered this in more details a couple of days ago. It’s wonderful to see how quickly things change. Might this be the domino effect? █
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Posted in Site News at 7:51 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
We will soon start upgrading the software which powers this Web site, so we kindly ask for your patience (or understanding in case something ‘blows up’). Once completed, if you notice any funny quirks, please let us know immediately so that we can ensure full access to all the resources.
If you could suggest any new improvements or could donate relevant information, we would be very interested too. █
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Posted in Identity Management, Mono, Novell, Virtualisation at 2:53 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
The final post in this series looks at some of Novell’s ‘lesser-Linux’ news.
Virtualisation
Novell is still working with Xen, which is now controlled by another Microsoft partner, Citrix. Novell works on appliances, perhaps similarly to the Red Hat spinoff (ish) called rPath.
Novell is quietly working on a stand-alone hypervisor product that will be based on the Xen hypervisor found in SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10.
[...]
Novell Chief Technology Officer Jeff Jaffe hinted at a stand-alone hypervisor product during his keynote address at the BrainShare conference in March, saying one of Novell’s goals was to make SLES 11 available as an appliance that would be supported by a new tool set designed to quickly build specialized images.
Identity Management and Authentication
There is a lot going on at Novell as far as identity is concerned (and not just loss of identity as a Linux vendor). Here is an announcement that involves Novacoast, a Novell partner.
Identity Engines, a leading provider of identity-based secure network access solutions, and Novacoast, Inc., an IT professional services and product development firm, today announced that Identity Engines’ Ignition® Server has successfully passed Novacoast’s stringent security evaluation bench test and will be resold by Novacoast. The partnership leverages both companies’ deep expertise in Novell identity and security management solutions as well as rapid deployment of role-based network access solutions for education and health care.
Watch this Novell-sponsored ‘article’ (commercial in the form of an article morelike) that promotes Novell products.
Novell® identity management and access solutions give governments the agility to continue with their core functions without being confined by administrative approvals for information access or letting data fall into the wrong hands.
It is sad to see govtech.com becoming somewhat of a pamphlet.
Novell is mentioned in this article from RSA, which ought to be well over by now.
Before getting to the RSA announcements, though, I’d like to point you to a fascinating panel discussion from Novell’s recent Brainshare conference. Novell and Bandit Project engineer Dale Olds, Microsoft Identity Architect Kim Cameron, Ping ID CTO Patrick Harding and the Pamela Project’s Pam Dingle all got together (guided by Carolyn Ford from Novell’s product marketing team) to discuss “Open Source and User-centric Identity in the Enterprise,” a subject near and dear to my heart. I’d remarked that I was sorry I missed the session, so Novell’s friendly flakette, Charlotte Betterley, got it posted online just so I could watch it. At least, that’s what she said. Now you can watch it too and learn how user-centric identity can play in your enterprise.
SAP
Novell’s relationship with SAP gets highlighted in this article from the Australian press.
IN a move to boost the growing demand for SUSE Linux Enterprise, Novell says it has extended its partnership with SAP to offer enhanced options for customers who choose to run open source.
[...]
As part of the initiative, SAP and Novell plan to optimise SUSE Linux Enterprise for SAP’s data centre infrastructure requirements and continue to promote SAP Business All-in-One systems based on SUSE Linux Enterprise.
There is a little more about this relationship in the following quote sheet
“As the first operating system to deliver support for SAP Adaptive Computing, SUSE Linux Enterprise continues to extend its leadership in mission-critical computing,” said Jeff Jaffe, executive vice president and CTO at Novell. “Novell is thrilled to be a founding member of the enterprise virtualization community. By leveraging the integration of Novell ZENworks Orchestrator with the SAP Adaptive Computing Console, customers will be easily be able to reduce cost and complexity through improved management of both their physical and virtual SAP workloads.”
Mono/Mainsoft
Criticism of Mono is better off reserved for another day, but here is an article about Mainsoft’s latest press release.
If that name “Mainsoft” sounds familiar, it could be for good reasons: It worked closely with Novell on its Mono open source project, which Novell originally created to offer an open source use so .NET software can run on Linux, Unix, Mac OS X along with Windows. Developers and Linux vendors increasingly want to use Microsoft software development tools in open source environments, and not surprisingly have been forced to port technologies over with very little assistance from Microsoft.
If you have any feedback on these Saturday posts (even rants to offer and share), please feel free to speak up. █
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Posted in Courtroom, GNU/Linux, Microsoft, NetWare, Novell, Red Hat, SCO, UNIX at 2:37 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Returning technology
Let us just go very quickly through some new articles that relate to Novell’s past.
SCO and Days of UNIX
The Novell-SCO faceoff is upon here again. Groklaw keeps track of Novell’s request for SCO money.
Just reading the Introduction tells you that SCO is, once again, asking for unusual relief, which Novell strongly argues it can find no case law to support. What SCO wants is to keep the SCOsource money; but unless either the facts or the law support its position, it is hard to see how it can. Novell uses an illustration, about a guy selling someone else’s car without the owner’s permission.
Another update on these developments you will find here.
More filings in SCO’s bankruptcy and a Boies Schiller lawyer for the Novell trial
[...]
Here you go, more mountains of paper in the bankruptcy. Dorsey & Whitney line up for their money, for the fifth time, and in SCO v. Novell a Boies Schiller associate, Mauricio Gonzalez, whom we’ve previously seen in the Red Hat case, signs on to the team in the Novell case, which likely indicates he’ll be there for trial.
NetWare
Going further back (or forward, depending on whether you look at UNIX days or Linux days) we arrive at NetWare, which is still very much alive in the NHS.
“Cost was one factor and the other was that we are a big Novell site and we found that Kaspersky Lab integrated better with our servers – and provided the best management interface within our Novell NetWare environment,” he says.
“Most of the anti-virus companies are geared up to Microsoft, but Kaspersky Lab has maintained its partnership with Novell.”
DR-DOS
Going a very long way back, here you have an article about DOSes and Novell is mentioned among the players involved.
While the DOS wars were raging, Novell wanted to become the next Microsoft and was intent on doing that by leveraging its dominance in networks and buying the rest. It bought Wordperfect, Unix, and parts of Borland to try match Microsoft product for product. What it was missing was DOS, so it bought Digital Research. Novell revved the product creating Novell DOS 7 but Novell didn’t really know what it was doing. Novell DOS 7 was a failure, as was its anti-Microsoft strategy. Novell sold off DR-DOS to Caldera.
This says nothing about Microsoft’s anti-DR-DOS behaviour [1, 2, 3, 4], over which it was prosecuted. █
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Posted in GNU/Linux, HP, Linspire, Novell, OpenSUSE, SLES/SLED at 2:19 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
The past week has not been particularly quiet. OpenSUSE made an appearance in places and SLED had the H-P announcement to crow about.
OpenSUSE was briefly reviewed here, among other places.
Back to business. Working with Linux is more difficult than the OS that’s named after holes in walls. I only made it through because I was determined, and because I know a bit about Linux already. I’m told that Ubuntu, the most user-friendly Linux distro, is as good as that unmentionable OS. I haven’t used it so I can’t really judge. However, since I have just about everything I need with Susie (I even downloaded and installed codecs so I could watch video), I’m cool. And all set to become a Linux geek.
From a Novell PR/boosting blog (c/f this recent post about “Novell boosters”) came this AutoYaST post:
If you are using AutoYaST and need a way to setup NIC Bonding, then you can just follow the steps outlined here. The setup in this text is a generic setup and should work with most every hardware.
Coolo talked about management tools as well. He claims that OpenSUSE 11.0 package installation is over 7 times faster in some cases.
We implemented some very interesting features for openSUSE 11.0 to make the
installation easier and faster:
* giving it a green face
* making the configuration automatic
* switching from bzip to lzma for rpm payload
* put images of default patterns on the DVDs
* move online update to the desktop applets
* improved package management speed
Greg Kroah-Hartman thanked his employer, Novell, for making the Linux Driver Project possible.
The Linux Driver Project (LDP) is alive and well, with over 300 developers wanting to participate, many drivers already written and accepted into the Linux kernel tree, and many more being currently developed. The main problem is a lack of projects. It turns out that there really isn’t much hardware that Linux doesn’t already support. Almost all new hardware produced is coming with a Linux driver already written by the company, or by the community with help from the company
[...]
I’d first like to thank my employer, Novell, for giving me the opportunity to work on this project full time. Their acceptance and support for the LDP is amazing and has been what has allowed it to survive and produce such great results already in a short amount of time.
Jan-Simon Möller again delivers or at least announces the OpenSUSE Weekly News (it used to be Francis):
We are pleased to announce:
Issue 17 of openSUSE Weekly News is out! [0]
In this week’s issue:
* openSUSE-Education 1.0 RC2 for openSUSE 10.3 is Ready
* Tips and Tricks: Quick host-to-host transfer
* Stephan Binner: openSUSE’s KDE 4.0.3 Packages
* Greg Kroah-Hartman: Linux Driver Project Status Report as of April 2008
* Reminder: openSUSE project meeting
* Event: LugRadio Live USA 2008
[0] http://en.opensuse.org/OpenSUSE_Weekly_News/17
Have a lot of fun!
Linspire
As before, the main thing coming from Linspire’s direction are a bunch of press releases about its bread and butter (CNR). Here is the latest one.
CNR.com Adds Access to Web Software Applications
Linspire, Inc., developer of
CNR.com (http://www.cnr.com), an easy-to-use, one-click digital software
delivery service for desktop Linux software, today announced the immediate
availability of web-based software applications at CNR.com. As usage trends
show an increasing demand for web-based applications in daily connected
lives, CNR.com provides a single marketplace for users to easily find and
select software titles from over 4,000 web-based software products.
It’s not the day of the week to speak about slowdowns, but it sure seems to apply here. █
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Posted in Deception, ISO, Microsoft, Open XML at 1:30 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
MOOX gets plastic surgery
Since when is OOXML called “OXML”? Ah, since that gory red glove was taken off.
We can’t call it “Office Open XML” anymore, because it no longer belongs to Microsoft Office exclusively.
Maybe this is cynical and maybe just far fetched, but as we have seen before, Microsoft’s choice of names is rarely spontaneous or coincidental. Microsoft even knowingly stomps on others in the process of naming. It leads to a self-serving confusion.
[More Open Than Open]: “I am constantly amazed at the flexibility of this single word.”
–Jason Matusow, Microsoft (for background see [1, 2])
It is quite possible that Microsoft will be trying to escape the bad name, leaving behind all those past stories about bribery, deception, bullying and political manipulation. Name changes like these are nothing new. It’s a blank sheet. It was probably done with Longhorn after its “development collapse” (Microsoft own terminology) when the project was suddenly renamed “Vista”.
If you believe that nobody will adopt the term “OXML”, think again. The Register seems to have already embraced it for this new article (occurrences highlighted in red).
Meanwhile, a variety of voices have loudly bemoaned what they see as the unwelcome arrival of OXML on the global stage.
On Wednesday rage spilled out onto the usually quiet streets of Oslo where around 60 data experts, led by ex-chairman of the Norwegian Standards Institute (NSI) Steve Pepper, protested about the approval of the contentious file format.
Pepper stepped down from his role at the NSI last week following the group’s U-turn on OXML. It had voted, in September last year, to reject the specification as a standard.
[...]
Some politicians have also continued to express their opposition to Microsoft’s dominant position in the software market. This week an EU parliament member from Germany’s Green Party filed a question (pdf) with the EC asking it to consider banning the firm from selling its products to European Union governments for up to five years.
Heidi Rühle argued that such a ban was justified following the record fine (€1.35bn) handed down to Microsoft from the Commission in February this year.
The article is merely a roundup and it bothers to mention some of the latest (and very major) developments in Europe. █
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