Bonum Certa Men Certa

Novell News Summary - Part II: SUSE Marketing, ASUS Xandros/Scalix, and Turbolinux IPO

Iguanas



Summary: A glimpse at distributors who pay Microsoft for GNU/Linux

SUSE (SLES/SLED)



FOR SUSE it has been an exceptionally quiet week, but SUSE Studio still generates a bit of a buzz and there are also reviews that are largely positive.





I just built my own Linux distribution through my browser. It can be ran as a Live CD or installed on your system. No, you did read that correctly. I actually used Firefox to build my own SUSE-based distro. Sometimes technology throws curveballs at us that are so unbelievable you’d have to read the statement several times to realize that you aren’t hallucinating. Do you think I’m writing a piece of science fiction? Enter SUSE Studio.

[...]

The Good:

* Amazing potential * A ton of fun

The Bad:

* Builds take a while (that’s to be expected though)

Overall: 5/5 (Outstanding!)



There are other reviews that include more raves like this one. But Novell is behind it.

A Novell employee once told us that, in yesteryear when Novell's marketing team were pushing brands faster than their coders were pushing software, Novell could easily have switched over to being a T-shirt manufacturing company. It seems their love of marketing hasn't died out, because TuxRadar HQ recently accepted delivery of a suspicious box. Upon opening it, we found this:

Inside was a bag containing dozens of different parts, some plastic, others carefully cut foam. Next to that was a card pointing us towards the assembly instructions and, 10 minutes or so later, we were the, er, proud owners of one of these:

Great success! And even more fun than building a distro with SUSE Studio...


Further to last week's news about National Vision, there is this hyping up by Novell's PR people and other SUSE promotion. Unrelated to this, there's fun stuff such as this new video ("Hacking Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server").



Novell's PR department also brings back to life this old success story. Advocacy of SLE* can be found at the usual places and Novell's own site has some too.

Another new video was nicely done and uploaded twice by Novell:



There is apparently no new business for SUSE though, just marketing and old stories.

Xandros



A mini review of Presto was published at IDG and the product was also mentioned in OStatic, which states:

We've written about Splashtop and instant-on compact Linux operating systems before. If you're on a Windows PC or netbook, these can take you directly into a miniature operating system in about 15 seconds that can allow you to have access to IM, Skype, e-mail, the web and more. Presto is a free download you can get that takes you into a Xandros-based environment in seconds.


Some articles about renewed ASUS rumours mentioned Xandros, e.g.:

Asus may have pulled its experimental Google Android-powered netbook from sight after teasing journalists with it at Computex in June. But that doesn’t mean the company is sticking to Windows and Xandros Linux. Sascha at NetbookNews says a reliable source has told him that Asus will launch a netbook with Moblin Linux in October.


There are many similar posts in Russian and all sorts of other languages. There might be other ongoing attempts to put Xandros on small computers. From PC Pro:

Asus will deliver an Eee PC running the Moblin operating system in October, according to reports.

[...]

Though unconfirmed, the rumours aren't too difficult to believe - Asus has long flirted with open source. Its original Eee PC ran a modified version of Xandros and its high-end motherboards are equipped with the Linux-based Splashtop "instant-on" OS. There were also reports it was ready to launch a netbook based on Android, though those have quietly fizzled out.


Moblin uses another variant of Ballnux, namely SUSE. There may as well be hidden patent tax. Also on Xandros (from an unrelated press release):

-- Announced that Synchronoss has partnered with Xandros, the leader in providing seamless Windows-Linux interoperability and open source netbook software solutions. Together, the companies offer the first single-source solution to automate the activation and provisioning of netbook devices on 3G and 4G wireless networks.


Scalix was mentioned in a press release of its own.

Turbolinux



6 years before selling out to Microsoft, Turbolinux pondered an IPO. Here is a reminder of that.

Turbolinux (OSE :3777) Having canceled its IPO in late 2001, Turbolinux eventually found its way to the stock market in September 2005 via an IPO on the Japanese Osaka Securities Exchange. Between those events, the Japanese Linux distributor was owned by Software Research Associates and then Livedoor. Turbolinux’s shares continue to be traded on the Osaka Securities Exchange.


Curiously, there has been no word about Manbo in ages.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Guardian Digital, Inc (linuxsecurity.com) Uses Microsoft-Controlled Front Groups and LLM Slop in Order to Spread Microsoft-Directed Anti-Linux FUD
Microsoft garbage likely produced by Microsoft LLMs, spewing out Microsoft FUD
Thank You, London! There Was No Way to Still Reliably Host Gemini From Home (on a Raspberry Pi 4) Due to Scale
The only regret we've long had is that we hadn't made the move earlier
The Summit of Future (Kerala, 2025): Dr. Richard Stallman (RMS) to Give Keynote Talk
promotional video was uploaded
Computer Users Aren't Zoo Animals
Animals don't belong inside cages in zoos, either
 
Links 17/01/2025: Fentanylware (TikTok) Herds Its (Drug) Users Into Even More Harmful "Apps"
Links for the day
Likely Fake 'Article' About Linux Mint 22.1
BetaNews fired up its plagiarism machine (LLM)
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, January 16, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, January 16, 2025
Links 16/01/2025: Conflicts, Overpopulation, and Software Patents
Links for the day
[Meme] Lock-down With DRM Server/s (in a Nutshell)
Companies like Microsoft and Apple have a 'God complex'
Richard Stallman's Talk This Coming Monday (European 'Tour')
bunch of talks in Europe
Total Lock-down Ambitions - Part II - Down to the Very Core, Including the Hardware (CPU, GPU, Peripherals, and More)
instead of distinguishing themselves and antagonising these broadly reviled "antifeatures", both Canonical and IBM decided to join Microsoft in advocating lockdown
FSF, Guardian of the GNU Project, to Reach $400,000 in Winter Fundraiser Ahead of 40th Anniversary
The GNU Project Turns 42 later this year
Links 16/01/2025: "Meduza, IRL" and the Clock is Ticking on TikTok in the US
Links for the day
Gemini Links 16/01/2025: Yesterday's Gone, The Hour of the Dragon by Robert E Howard
Links for the day
Links 16/01/2025: Scale and Scope of Microsoft Layoffs Revealed (Two Waves of Layoffs in 2025 Already)
Links for the day
Gemini Links 16/01/2025: Meta Has a Pixelfed Problem and Space Time Scoping
Links for the day
Anti-Linux 'Articles' in linuxsecurity.com (Guardian Digital, Inc) Are Composed by Bots, Probably Microsoft's
linuxsecurity.com has become a mindless stream of LLM slop
"New Year, New Career"
published a few hours ago
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, January 15, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, January 15, 2025
If You See Many Microsoft Puff Pieces That All Say More or Less the Same, Consider the Possibility That Microsoft LLMs 'Wrote' Those
There are also many phantom fake 'reports' about Microsoft in relation to some "hey hi" (AI) things
[Meme] The Crybully
Crybullies shrug
IRC Logs Complete in Geminispace (Even in GemText Format!)
We still envision ourselves - a community of justice-seeking enthusiasts - as a multi-protocol platform, not just some ordinary Web site
It Was Only a Matter of Time
We're going to pursue justice
[Meme] "Well, He’s Dead So," Bill Gates Tells the Media (Which He Pays) About His Close Friend Jeffrey Epstein
Does the police in San Francisco cover up crimes instead of solving them?
The Rumour Was Right, Today is the Second Large Wave of Microsoft Layoffs in 2025
It has only been two weeks since the year began
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) Has Had a Good 2025 Already (Its "Year 40")
FSF will reach $400,000
[Meme] Not About How Many Locks One Adds
Some people try to point their fingers in all the wrong directions now that a new patch is available for rsync
Total Lock-down Ambitions - Part I - DRM and TPM Need Not be the Future of Computing, There's Another Way
Who is being restricted? Us, the users.
[Meme] His Existence is Proof It's Not Infeasible
We salute the FSF's original mission
New Upcoming Series About DRM and TPM
We'll do our best to name and explain some of the alternatives that are still available
Links 15/01/2025: Efforts to End Wars and 'Newsflation'
Links for the day
Gemini Links 15/01/2025: Abandoning Windows for GNU/Linux, SIS Progress Update
Links for the day
Links 15/01/2025: Social Control Media Spreading Lies, TikTok Banned in 4 Days
Links for the day
More Microsoft Cuts and Layoffs (Microsoft Media Mole Jordan Novet Tries to Float "Hiring Freezes" Spin After the "Headcount" Spin Failed)
As one might expect...
Microsoft Breaks Linux Again
Does it even care? It's selling Windows.
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, January 14, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, January 14, 2025