Summary: News about Captivate, AppArmor, SUSE Gallery, and integrating the MeeGo desktop into OpenSUSE

The GPL violator Samsung (which also pays Microsoft for Linux) is finally releasing some source code to Captivate. To quote:

Weighing in at about 161 megabytes, the code should assist developers wishing to work on custom Captivate ROMs. Samsung Captivate owners have been eager to see their first custom builds as the device has sold thousands already since its nationwide launch at AT&T on the 18th.

This is a positive thing from a negative company of corruption and GPL hostility.

Looking over at Novell, what we find is SuperLumin eDir SSO replaceing BorderManager ClientTrust and SUSE is mentioned too.

The announcement is believed to have come at the right time when BorderManager customers are transitioning into the SuperLumin Proxy Cache. Earlier in March, SuperLumin Networks announced its agreement with Novell ( News – Alert) to offer BorderManager customers with a SUSE Linux-based replacement proxy.

Novell’s AppArmor is being merged for the next Linux release even though Novell no longer supports the project.

The following is a summary of changes to the security subsystem for the 2.6.36 kernel, which may be found in my development tree at:

git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/jmorris/security-testing-2.6#next

SUSE Gallery, which we mentioned before, has free membership now.

Aiming to fulfill part of this industry need, Novell’s SUSE Gallery is a new online showcase for registered SUSE Studio users to publish their Linux-based software appliances and cloud-based applications.

There is also news about Novell’s OpenSUSE 11.3 LiveCD with MeeGo desktop (there are Fluxbox options too).

Andrew Wafaa, the developer working on integrating the MeeGo desktop into openSUSE, has posted information about the current development status on his blog and made a LiveCD image of openSUSE 11.3 with the MeeGo desktop at its current state of integration available to download. Alternatively, users interested in testing out the current development preview can also add the required MeeGo packages to an openSUSE 11.3 system via a one-click install.

There are some new OpenSUSE HOWTOs in a couple [1, 2] of sites [1, 2] and also this summary. We already know that Novell works on putting Mono in MeeGo [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6], but this effort seems to be different. MeeGo is one of the least restrictive Linux-based mobile platforms at the moment. It doesn’t need Mono, unless Novell gets its way. █

Summary: Microsoft employee Crispin Cowen is using his history to opportunistically gain credibility in his irrational public attacks on GNU/Linux communities

Crispin Cowen is one whom we mentioned before as he promoted Microsoft at the expense of GNU/Linux after he had moved from Novell to Microsoft [1, 2, 3]. How much of a role did the paycheck play? There is coverage from Australia today and it’s not flattering to GNU/Linux. Cowen, now a Microsoft employee (for quite some time) is throwing some myths at the AusCERT 2010 crowd (it is not an event for people who support software freedom). To give one introduction:

Dr Crispin Cowen, who for many years was a vocal Linux security guru and Microsoft critic, recently started working for the Redmond-based software giant. His talk on the first day of AusCERT 2010 was titled “Stranger in a strange land: Reflections of a Linux guy in Microsoft Windows”.

Cowen is of course attacking several straw men. We’re used to it because it’s a shameless debating tactic.

It is very typical for Microsoft employees to mischaracterise the criticism of Microsoft, not speaking about the real issues, such as bribery, collusion, and racketeering [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]. How can any sane person defend it?

“It is very typical for Microsoft employees to mischaracterise the criticism of Microsoft, not speaking about the real issues, such as bribery, collusion, and racketeering.”We wrote refutations of the same points before, in response to Microsoft employees who tried to suggest that Microsoft was disliked because “it’s big” or because of its logo (and other petty, imaginary ‘problems’).

These tactics whereby all/most criticism of Microsoft is mischaracterised makes sense to those who use these tactics. It makes them feel good about their decision (and choice) to work for Microsoft when they put things in terms that portray critics as deluded and irrational. These are not victims of circumstance (unlike cases where race or gender get involved as these are immutable). They actually chose to work for Microsoft, knowing damn well what Microsoft had done, or maybe fooling themselves about what Microsoft had done before getting convicted three times. There is a difference between Microsoft’s products and Microsoft the company.

To give one example of Cowen’s disinformation:

“Linux communities are shockingly hostile to women and newbies, attack failures to conform to norms and God help you if you top post,” Cowan said. “Everyone is a butt-head.

It’s always pleasant to see Microsoft employees referring to people as “butt-head[s]” and claiming that GNU/Linux communities — not Microsoft — are the bad guys. Remember what Microsoft’s evangelists teach in their notorious indoctrination sessions: “we are the good guys!” (by “we” they mean Microsoft employees).

Microsoft employees are sometimes intolerant, homophobic, xenophobic, and like everywhere that involves software (general issue among geeks), there is an uneven proportion of females. Microsoft is attacking straw men and daemonising GNU/Linux communities. Well, what else is new? █

A large number of isolated picks are worth including here. There was nothing major happening at all, but a few mentions of Novell here and there ought to be pointed out for future reference.

eDirectory

GuardianEdge has a new product, which happens to integrate with eDirectory.

The new GuardianEdge Hard Disk Encryption and GuardianEdge Removable Storage Encryption products provide single console management for Microsoft Active Directory, Novell eDirectory and all other non-domain machines as well as complete removable storage functionality.

Security

eDirectory suffered a memory corruption vulnerability.

A vulnerability has been identified in Novell eDirectory, which could be exploited by remote attackers to compromise a vulnerable system. This issue is caused by a memory corruption error related to NCP, which could be exploited to crash an affected system or execute arbitrary code. No further details have been disclosed.

In addition, Novell’s stagnating and now-seemingly-disintegrating (although it's being denied) security technology for GNU/Linux gets a mention in Datamation.

5. AppArmor

Novell’s application firewall uses policy-based profiles to control who can access various applications. It’s included with openSUSE and SUSE Linux Enterprise, but is also available for download for any Linux system. Operating System: Linux.

Finance

Novell’s shares were discussed very briefly in PBS.

KANGAS: And then we had two others, Novell (NOVL), which is down 36 percent, Affymetrix (AFFX). Do you still like those two stocks?

BLACK: Yes, very much so. Novell has a lot of cash on their balance sheet. It’s a great company.

Netware

Someone is reminiscing the days when Novell was still mighty…

I began 16 years ago with Texas Instruments and a Novell systems certification. Back then, Novell was a huge deal, like Microsoft and Apple are now.

Here is an old and out-of-place announcement of ZENworks Application Virtualisation.

The Novell division at Workgroup has announced the availability of Novell’s ZENworks

Virtualisation

Novell is listed among prominent virtualisation management players.

Vendors such as Microsoft, VMware and Citrix are on board with the DMTF and are creating and marketing their own cross-platform virtualization management tools for x86 machines. Linux vendors, including Novell and Red Hat, and traditional management vendors such as HP also are joining in.

Mail

This is mainly about GroupWise, as usual.

Omni and Intelestream integrate with GroupWise now, according to their press release.

Omni Technology Solutions and Chicago-based CRM consultancy, Intelestream, are pleased to deliver Riva CRM Integration™ for Novell GroupWise.

Novell has also just survived in a university that pondered incorporating some Google.

IT services director Mary Sharp said the university would incur additional transmission costs for routing internal staff emails to Google’s US servers and back. Staff continue to use the Novell Groupwise platform for email.

Google has manufactured some quick numbers to put down GroupWise, as well as other competitors of Google.

According to Radicati Group research, companies using Novell Groupwise, IBM Lotus, and Microsoft Exchange for their email have somewhere between 66 and 150 minutes of downtime per month.

This was also covered here.

To prove his point, he trots out reliability data for enterprise email software from Microsoft, Novell, and IBM, and cm[ares it to Gmail. The results are in the nice chart reproduced above (blue is unplanned outages, red is planned outages):

Looking just at the unplanned outages that catch IT staffs by surprise, these results suggest Gmail is twice as reliable as a Novell GroupWise solution, and four times more reliable than a Microsoft Exchange-based solution that companies must maintain themselves.

Google is really taking a swing at GroupWise there.

GWAVA

Here is some marketing work from GWAVA, which has been quiet or idle for a long time.

New GWAVA partnership program helps GWGuardian & M+Guardian customers run their preferred anti-spam software

There was also this press release.

GWAVA, Novell’s largest Collaboration Partner supporting GroupWise and Teaming, has announced the release of a free stubbing solution for GroupWise administrators that lets them use and test stubbing technology without affecting their users’ email retrieval capability.

Identity Management

Microsoft and Novell are said to be interested in some GrIDsure technology. Will Microsoft use Novell to acquire that too?

GrIDsure has been slow to take off due to the wide vetting process that new authentication technologies must go through to ensure they’re secure. But Craymer said Microsoft, Novell and other companies have expressed interest in it. GrIDsure has also submitted the system to a UK government testing scheme, Craymer said.

Here is some more new information about GrIDsure.

A British startup has developed an authentication system that requires users to remember a pattern on a grid of numbers rather than a PIN (personal identification number).

[...]

GrIDsure has been slow to take off due to the wide vetting process that new authentication technologies must go through to ensure they’re secure. But Craymer said Microsoft, Novell and other companies have expressed interest in it. GrIDsure has also submitted the system to a U.K. government testing scheme, Craymer said.

People

A former Noveller lands in MonaVie.

Mr. King joins MonaVie with more than 15 years of experience in human resources and customer service management, with a proven track record of accomplishing objectives through measurable results. Prior to joining MonaVie, King served in various leadership positions at Novell where he managed the global partner programs and developed training programs to help partners more efficiently run their businesses. He also helped transition that company’s business from an internal sales model to a partner led sales model.
Preceding his time at Novell, King was responsible for international human resources at FranklinCovey where he helped build international markets. He played an instrumental role in improving the customer service departments at both Novell and FranklinCovey. King has a BS degree in Organizational Behavior from Brigham Young University.

Partners

Novell nets another partner (also appearing here).

R1Soft, a developer of Continuous Data Protection products for Linux and Windows, today announced that it has joined the Novell Technology Partner Program, an opportunity for independent software vendors to tap into Novell’s growing customer base and network of channel partners.

Koenig joins hands with CompTIA, which is a Microsoft lobbying arm [1, 2], among other things. Novell and Microsoft are mentioned in the same text.

Koenig is a reputed company based in India. Koenig is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner for Learning Solutions. We are also an Authorized testing Centre for Prometric, VUE, Novell and Microsoft Office Specialist Exams. Koenig is also an Oracle WDP Partner and Oracle Authorized Education Centre, a Red Hat Training Partner, a Novell Education Academic Partner, EC Council’s Accredited Training Partner, a Linux Professional Institute, a CIW Authorised Training Partner and a corporate member in good standing of CompTIA Learning Alliance.

Speaking of Microsoft lobbyists, Wipro is one of Microsoft’s key partners in India [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. It has a nasty history that was covered here before and here is a Novell-Wipro connection.

Radha Radhakrishnan, corporate communications manager, Wipro Technologies and Revathi Kasturi, managing director, West Asia, Novell Software, feel that though the global financial crisis has had its effect on software firms, the mood is that of acceptance of the scenario. Corporate gifting has seen a dip this year, they admit.

A company called Atempo claims to be supportive of Novell technologies, but their list is very broad.

Atempo Time Navigator now gives native speakers in China and Korea the ability to easily set up and manage enterprise data protection on all supported environments, including Windows, Mac OS, Unix, Linux and Novell.

Here is another similar relationship, which names Novell, among so many others.

Sagem-Interstar Debuts Enhanced 4-Tier Channel Partner Program

[...]

— Full compliance on both Windows and Cisco AXP (Linux) platforms, as well as with many leading network application providers such as Citrix, IBM (Lotus), Microsoft, Novell, SAP and VMware

SUSE training in South Africa will be offered by Torque IT (also published here).

Local training organisation Torque IT has been appointed a Platinum Training partner for Novell’s Suse Linux operating system.

[...]

Carol Bouwer, business unit manager at Torque IT says that there is a “marked increase in the demand for Novell Suse Linux, particularly within Government”.

Storage

More reminiscence of Novell’s old days.

One of the early tales was of a Novell file server that went offline frequently in Norfolk, Va. I flew there with a couple of experts from Network General, back when they owned the Sniffer. We instrumented all sorts of things and captured traces galore.

Other

Some arbitrary promotional notes mention Novell servers.

DSI’s VTL storage appliance will be used by the City of Detroit’s Information Technology Services (ITS) department as an enterprise backup solution for their current Unisys MCP-based payroll system, Windows 2000 servers, Novell servers and a HP-UX test system.

And lastly, remember Managed Objects? Not everyone is optimistic.

Novell’s bid to acquire business service management (BSM) software maker Managed Objects caused many in the industry to stop and take notice. Some commend Novell’s investment in the smaller management player, but others worry Novell could fail to exploit Managed Objects’ technology to its maximum potential.

That’s all for today. 13 posts on a Saturday is more than enough. █

So, keeping that in mind, realize I am not particularly comfortable writing about the current layoffs at Novell. However, this story really shocked me, I must admit.

Apparently, Novell has layed off the AppArmor team (and it’s confirmed, so this isn’t like when it appeared that the Samba developers left Novell, but hadn’t – a little embarrassing).

Two years after acquiring the company that developed the AppArmor security software for Linux, Novell has laid off team members behind the project, CNET News.com has learned.

AppArmor’s founder and leader, Crispin Cowan, joined Novell in 2005 when it acquired his company, Immunix, which developed the software. But he and four others from the project lost their Novell jobs in Portland, Ore., on September 28, Cowan confirmed.

However, he plans to continue AppArmor development. He and two other laid-off AppArmor programmers, Steve Beattie and Dominic Reynolds, launched an AppArmor consulting company on Wednesday called Mercenary Linux.

The article goes on to say, from a rather cold economic perspective, that Novell intends to rely on the AppArmor community to lead development of the project since it is an even lower-cost option than outsourcing.

With the adoption of AppArmor really beginning to take off, in my mind, it seems rather odd that Novell would dissociate itself from the core team in such a way – as Cowan put it, "tossing it in the wind and hoping" – yet Novell terms it as "improving our product development process".

What are we to make of this rather sudden, somewhat shocking (even to Crispin Cowan) move? It’s like Novell wanted to embrace the "Bazaar" development model, and just now is going to a bizarre development model.

P.S.
Best of luck to the Mercenary Linux folks (great name, by the way!).