06.20.08
OpenSUSE and the Novell/Microsoft Curse
Cognitive barriers
In reality, OpenSUSE is a fine project and quite a decent GNU/Linux distribution. It is not the best one for most people (SUSE still targets the more advanced type), but technical merit aside, it’s destined to suffer from Novell’s parenting and Microsoft partnering that accompanies it.
As we opined yesterday, OpenSUSE ought to dissociated itself from Novell, for its own benefit. The Chameleon might go well with Steve Ballmer’s tongue fetish, but it’s not good for business. Make no mistake. Reporters don’t forget where OpenSUSE comes from and who coordinates these releases (hint: they are paid Novell employees).
Adding that “Latest release of Novell’s Linux lags behind Red Hat and Ubuntu,” Sean Michael Kerner writes this article which mainly parrots Zonker.
Pay careful attention to the term “Novell’s Linux”, which is what the writer calls OpenSUSE directly or implicitly. Thanks to PetoKraus for pointing that out in the IRC channel.
We recently wrote to argue that SLED and SLES are not Free software. To an extent, the same goes for non-final OpenSUSE. Novell has always had a bizarre relationship with the GPL and it even violated the licence — by spirit — a year and a half ago.
Fortunately, even the Slashdot crowd is starting to catch up and see this. There’s some heckling in the comments also in Slashdot’s announcement of the release of OpenSUSE 11.0. Slashdot was never a fan of the Novell/Microsoft deal and the comments continue to reflect on this. █
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.