Bonum Certa Men Certa

SLED 11 is About Microsoft .NET

Microsoft SUSE
The lizard (Geeko) wears new clothes



Summary: SLE* 11 is a .NET-rich environment with software patent tax, Microsoft 'goodies', and lack of polish

IT WAS innocent enough when Novell decided to make GNOME the default desktop environment, at least in the enterprise space. It is another thing altogether when Novell turns its GNU/Linux distribution into a follower and devout promoter of Microsoft technologies because this has impact on other distributions which share the same code, packages, and overall integration.



“Somebody told us last week that even KDE is getting Mono-based alternatives to existing applications...”Just look at Miguel de Icaza's blog today. He is promoting Mono-based alternatives to perfectly fine existing applications. Somebody told us last week that even KDE is getting Mono-based alternatives to existing applications because a few people prefer Mono with Qt and there might be a Novell connection. It's not conclusive.

In any event, whilst they are trying to boost Mono (or .NET) at the expense of other technologies and at other companies' expense (Google), Novell is also releasing SLE* 11, as expected.

Unsurprisingly, it's filled with Mono. As The Register put it:

The Mono Extension to SUSE Linux is the first time that Novell has offered commercial support for the Mono runtime, which allows applications that are coded in C# and using the .NET Framework to run atop non-Windows platforms. Novell bought into the open source Mono project when it acquired Ximian, the company behind Mono as well as the Gnome graphical user interface, back in the summer of 2003. That's a long time for Novell to take to get Mono commercial, but better late than never.


Jason Perlow has already taken this release for an early ride and despite being somewhat of a SUSE supporter, he was not particularly pleased.

While the technology itself in SLED 11 is impressive, Novell clearly has a lot of work to do before I can recommend deployment of SLED 11 as an enterprise desktop. Are these issues fixable? Yes, but I recommend that the openSUSE and SLE developer teams work much more closely together and rationalize their development processes, and that new usability studies be commissioned in order to flush out problems that might emerge in typical usage scenarios, and not usage by geeks or Linux enthusiasts.


Here is the report from IDG regarding this release. It begins as follows.

Novell unveiled SUSE Linux Enterprise 11 on Tuesday, with features and capabilities that reflect the company's controversial multiyear agreement with Microsoft.

In 2006, Microsoft and Novell agreed to work on improving compatibility between their products, and pledged not to pursue patent claims against each other's customers. The move has been widely decried by open-source software advocates.


This is the first major release (not Service Pack) since the deal with Microsoft and judging by its direction, Novell's assimilation to Microsoft is pretty rapid.

Promotion of SLE* 11 began roughly a week ago. Novell's filling of YouTube with advertisements [1, 2] is nothing unprecedented and there are a few more innocent videos such as this new introduction to SLED (just days old). The main problem is that Novell is almost bragging about Moon Lie (not a clone of Silver Lie) and the increasingly Mono-laden Evolution. A reader brought these pet peeves to our attention after watching the video.

Moonlight is one problem but another is Novell's Evolution, which makes it almost impossible to remove Mono from SUSE. Sam Varghese, a technical journalist at ITWire, found that in OpenSUSE 11.1 (which SLED 11 is based on) it's virtually impossible to remove Mono because of spurious dependencies, whether erroneous or not.

Steve Ballmer rides SUSE
Daddy loves you, SUEsie

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

It's Cheaper to Pay Bribes (and Produce Press Releases) Than to Pay Fines (After Lots of Negative Publicity)
Does the UK still have real sovereignty or do corporations from overseas purchase decisions and outcomes?
November 2023 Over With GNU/Linux at All-Time Highs According to statCounter
ChromeOS+GNU/Linux combined are about 7% of the "market"
 
Microsoft and Its Boosters Worsen Linux Security
The circus goes on and on
Links 01/12/2023: Facebook Infested With Malicious Campaigns by Imposters, ACLU Gives Advice on Doxxing and Online Harassment
Links for the day
Just Like Its Budget Allocation, the Linux Foundation Devotes About 3% Of Its Latest Newsletter to Linux, Devotes More to Linux's Rivals
It's just exploiting the brand
Links 01/12/2023: Google Invokes Antitrust Against Microsoft
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news
UK Government Allowing Microsoft to Take Over Activision Blizzard Will Destroy Jobs
Over 30,000 fired this year? More?
New Report Provides Numerical Evidence That Google Hired Too Many People From Microsoft (and Became Malicious, Evil, Sociopathic)
"Some 12,018 former Microsoft employees currently work for the search and data giant"
Google: Keep Out, Don't Save Your Files, and Also Let Us Spy on Everything You Do
Do you still trust "clown" storage?
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, November 30, 2023
IRC logs for Thursday, November 30, 2023
Links 01/12/2023: Many Suppressions in Hong Kong and Attempts to Legitimise Illegal and Unconstitutional Fake Patent 'Court' in EU (UPC)
Links for the day
Gemini Not Deflated Yet (Soon Turning 5!)
Gemini numbers still moving up, the protocol will turn five next summer
Links 30/11/2023: Belated End of Henry Kissinger and 'Popular Science' Shuts Online Magazine
Links for the day
Site Priorities and Upcoming Improvements
pages are served very fast
[Meme] One Person, Singular Pronoun
Abusing people into abusing the English language is very poor diplomacy
Ending Software Patents in Recent Years (Software Freedom Fighters MIA)
not a resolved issue
New Article From Richard Stallman Explains Why He Says He and She for Unknown Person (Not 'They')
"Nowadays I use gender-neutral singular pronouns for a person whose gender I don't know"
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, November 29, 2023
IRC logs for Wednesday, November 29, 2023
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news
Links 30/11/2023: Rushing Patent Cases With Shorter Trial Scheme (STS), Sanctions Not Working
Links for the day
Links 30/11/2023: Google Purging Many Accounts and Content (to Save Money), Finland Fully Seals Border With Russia
Links for the day
Lookout, It's Outlook
Outlook is all about the sharing!
Updated A Month Ago: Richard Stallman on Software Patents as Obstacles to Software Development
very recent update
The 'Smart' Attack on Power Grid Neutrality (or the Wet Dream of Tiered Pricing for Power, Essentially Punishing Poorer Households for Exercising Freedom Like Richer Households)
The dishonest marketing people tell us the age of disservice and discrimination is all about "smart" and "Hey Hi" (AI) as in algorithms akin to traffic-shaping in the context of network neutrality
Links 29/11/2023: VMware Layoffs and Too Many Microsofters Going Inside Google
Links for the day
Is BlueMail a Client of ZDNet Now?
Let's examine what BlueMail does to promote itself
Just What LINUX.COM Needed After Over a Month of Inactivity: SPAM SPAM SPAM (Linux Brand as a Spamfarm)
It's not even about Linux
Microsoft “Discriminated Based on Sexuality”
Relevant, as they love lecturing us on "diversity" and "inclusion"...
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, November 28, 2023
IRC logs for Tuesday, November 28, 2023