05.31.08
Do-No-Evil Saturday - Part II: Keeping Track of Microsoft-taxed GNU/Linux Distributions
Crossing over from OpenSUSE to SUSE, consider the following newly-published Master’s thesis which studies the relationship between the two.
This is the page for my master thesis at the University of Oslo. The thesis carries the title:
Managing Firm-Sponsored Open Source Communities- A Case Study on Novell and The openSUSE Project
Over at Nat Friedman’s site, there’s a call for job candidates, specifically for SUSE.
One of my most fun responsibilities at Novell is running the SUSE Incubation Team: a small team of developers focused on innovation, prototyping, and exploratory hacking. Our charter is to come up with disruptive ideas that take Novell’s Linux business in exciting new directions.
Here are some new photos of Novell at Linuxtag 2008.
SUSE (SLES/SLED)
Jacqueline Emigh at Beta News is once again covering Novell, typically based on the company’s press releases.
Novell is now in beta with a subscription management tool for SuSE Linux Enterprise, aimed at helping users of Novell’s Linux operating environment to manage their software updates.
In an interview with BetaNews, Michael Applebaum, a senior product marketing manager, described the new tool as a package proxy system designed to accommodate customers’ regulatory compliance requirements and corporate firewall policies during the software update process.
SLES/SLED 10 Service Pack II
We mentioned it last week on a couple of occasions, but we didn’t refer to Steven’s new review of it (with the exception of individual comments that we challenged).
In Novell’s new SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 SP2, announced yesterday, you’ll find only small, but useful, improvements, most of them for better interoperability with Microsoft protocols and formats.
As always, Timothy Prickett Morgan joins the previous week’s news a little later, but with a unique and detailed article.
Novell Delivers Service Pack 2 for SUSE Linux
[…]
Commercial Linux distributor Novell got Service Pack 2 for its SUSE Linux variant of the popular open source operating system out the door just before the holiday and just as rival Red Hat launched its own 5.2 release of its Enterprise Linux distribution. Once again, Novell is pushing the envelope, offering more scalability for servers and a more recent update of the Xen hypervisor compared to the RHEL alternative.
SUSE-based MSI Laptop
This little laptop received quite a bit of coverage. Here it is from PC Advisor.
The US edition of Wind will be available in two versions: one running Microsoft’s Windows XP and one using Novell’s SUSE Linux OS.
A few things set Wind apart from competitors, which is going head to head with the latest version of the Asus Eee PC, including the 1.6GHz Atom microprocessor, a larger 10in screen and a six-cell battery that gives it around six hours of power.
TCMagazine too was quick to make a comparison to Asustek’s Eee PC.
With the Wind laptop MSI is preparing quite a bold offensive against the Eee PC but taking on Asus’ (cvasi) low-cost offer will not be an easy task. Still, MSI’s laptop has sparked a lot of interest and reason is certainly the reasonably low price tag.
The MSI notebook also attracted the attention of Microsoft Jack.
Xandros
The only appearance Xandros made in the past week was tied to that derivative from Asustek (eBox and Eee in this case). It would be interesting if Xandros was unable to flourish for its own products, rather than something that’s borrowed and tweaked by distant partners from Asia.
Linspire
Nothing. Nada. Not a press release and barely even a distribution review.
Turbolinux
Not a word in ages. █
Highlight: Novell was the first to acknowledge that Microsoft FUD tactics had substance. Novell then used anti-Linux FUD to market itself. 
Highlight: Xandros let Microsoft make patent claims and brag about (paid-for) OOXML support. 
Highlight: Linspire's CEO not only fell into Microsoft arms, but he also assisted the company's attack on GNU/Linux. 
Highlight: Microsoft craves pseudo (proprietary) standards and gets its way using proxies and influence which it buys. 
Highlight: The invasion into the open source world is intended to leave Linux companies neglected, due to financial incentives from Microsoft. 
Analysis: Xen, an open source hypervisor, possibly fell victim to Microsoft's aggressive (and stealthy) acquisition-by-proxy strategy.
ZiggyFish said,
May 31, 2008 at 8:10 pm
Is there a problem with people using OpenSuse as a distribution?
Roy Schestowitz said,
May 31, 2008 at 10:49 pm
The only real problem is that it can help SLES/SLED.