This is it folks! We’re almost there for openSUSE 11.2. Time to grab the final 11.2 release candidate and shake out any remaining bugs to get the lizard ready for release. This release includes an updated kernel, Samba, Firefox, and more.
Stephen Shaw (decriptor) and Bryen Yunashko (suseROCKS) have completed their tenure on the Board, and their seats are up for election. There is also a new seat available to be occupied by a non-Novell member.
The KDE 4 experience in openSUSE has been enhanced daily, and while the desktop environment itself has matured significantly since the last release, there has been a constant focus to provide an outstanding delivery of it in openSUSE 11.2.
The highlights include: the openSUSE DVD preselected to KDE 4.3; new Firefox KDE integration; OpenOffice.org KDE 4 integration; consistent KDE artwork; all other standard applications fully ported to KDE 4, including KNetworkManager, Amarok, DigiKam, K3b, Konversation and more.
One blogger calls OpenSUSE 11.2 “the Perfect KDE Distribution.”
OpenSUSE 11.2 comes with a lot of programs that support social networks (i.e. Twitter, Facebook, …etc). Firefox is the king in the area. But if you do not like the default webbased interfaces, you can use other applications like:
* Choqok: New KDE twitter and identi.ca client.
* Kopete: The KDE client now has additional support for Facebook IM protocol.
* Social plasmoids: KDE 4.3 comes with plasmoids for Twitter/identi.ca and openDesktop.
Many major releases of GNU/Linux are coming shortly and this new roundup includes OpenSUSE.
Welcome to the GNU/Linux Educational Server. Here you will find collections of useful courses to help you better use the applications found on the Linux distributions. There are also forums, chatrooms, courses, and help materials at your disposal.
At the front page it states: “This site is generously sponsored by openSUSE-Education project.”
That’s actually a positive contribution from Novell.
SUSE (SLES/SLED)
Here is a somewhat scripted and cocky new video from Ron Hovsepian, Novell’s CEO. We’ve seen more of this type of videos recently — ones where Novell seniors publicly suck up to Intel.
The use of the Teradata software on EC2 is free and good for working with up to one terabyte of data. Teradata runs under Novell Suse Linux Enterprise Server 10.
Samsung, which signed a Microsoft patent deal similar to Novell’s, is still receiving some press for its Microsoft-taxed Linux phones. Some reporters love comparing everything to Apple, which is the wrong thing to do because the target markets are very different.
The 360 service replaces the current Vodafone Live! service and also allows users to back up the entire contents of their phone online, configure the phone’s home screen and manage contacts – in a similar way to Windows Phone’s My Phone service or MobileMe on the iPhone. It will be available across the Vodafone range, and to users on other networks too. Vodafone also confirmed that an iPhone app is in the pipeline.
Summary: The Register on “interoperability and mixed environments” (apparent commercial in disguise)
A REGULAR READER of ours has just watched a Webcast that we previously covered here and criticised. The Webcast goes under the title: “Making IT work in the real world”
Sounds promising and informative, right? The real deal.
This item from The Register on ‘mixed environments’ is what our reader calls “an advert masquerading as technical discussion.” We wrote about this type of practice in the previous post.
“Pay close attention to who the speakers work for,” the informant points out, then giving some examples as follows:
At 6:25 .. please buy our virtualized solution and not that open source Linux stuff ..
The only reason you need virtualization is to save on licenses. With Linux, you can deploy the image any number of times .. DOH !!
At 09:00 Linux training and shortage of skills FUD ?
At 12:43, please go to a mixed Windows/Linux solution. Notice how there is *NO* mention of any other platform.
Oh, wait 13:28 he goes waffling on about licenses.
“IT guys in particular want help in understanding whats the best license model to deploy”
This is classic FUD. Remember this video is aimed at the PHBs who don’t know anything about IT. So basically the talker is telling the CEO the IT staff are not to be trusted. A sad day for The Register.
At 17:40, Linux is relatively new and doesn’t have the decades of support in the real world.
Not as many Linux specialists as other platforms ..
At 19:37: a load of marketing waffle .. going forward bla bla bla …
At 20:12: The Novell/Microsoft alliance is mentioned
At 23:32: Novell is mentioned, it’s the only Linux company mentioned up to now ..
At 25:28: Jose Thomas is interviewed over the phone.
At 3:50: Frank Rego pops up over the phone. It just occurred to me to ask, why didn’t they use the Microsoft video-conferencing app. Oh, wait, that doesn’t actually work in the real world.
“For shame,” summarised the reader, “The Register reduced to spouting free adverts for Microsoft. I assume this is free, or just who ’sponsored’ it. Notice it’s a video, where we can’t find the text in Google. As usual, aimed squarely at the non-techie CEO.”
To put this in perspective, adds the reader: “What Microsoft did with the MS/Novell deal was to buy some credibility. Street cred with the CEOs of the major companies. Look, see Microsoft has to teach ‘open source’ Novell how to work its own software [...] To have Ballmer on the same platform as Ron Hovsepian (you know those two on your front page).” █
In recently criticizing Yahoo!’s (YHOO) insiders for dumping $233mm in stock over the last 2 years, when they’ve only bought $103k in shares, I would be remiss if I also didn’t call out 2 other executives for big share dumps last week:
1. Craig Mundie, head of research and strategy for Microsoft (MSFT). Craig decided to sell stock worth $1.7mm recently. Craig has resided over Microsoft’s R&D efforts for the last few years. This group eats up nearly $10 billion annually of Microsoft’s free cash flow. It is the group Microsoft looks for to compete in mobile computing or other areas, rather than buying a leading company such as, say, Research In Motion (RIMM). The R&D group has eaten up about $60 billion of Microsoft’s cash in the last 10 years with not much to show for it. This latest share dump is very disappointing to me as a MSFT shareholder, especially given his group’s performance.
“Microsoft is already borrowing money and additional, unannounced layoffs carry on silently.”It is not so gloomy at the Ballmer household, though. While Microsoft’s profits dive about 30%, Steve Ballmer sees his wage increasing by 4%. It’s the same with Novell's CEO, Ron Hovsepian, who enjoys massive bonuses. Jessica Mintz at AP added to the second line of her report: “Microsoft CEO Ballmer gets salary bump at start of fiscal 2009, a year in which profit sinks”
“There is such an overvaluation of technology stocks that it is absurd. I would include our stock in that category. It is bad for the long-term worth of the economy.”
Summary: Novell discovers what it’s like to work with a ‘partner’ like Microsoft now that Novell employees are left to make Microsoft hooks work
Microsoft not only violated the GPL before releasing some kernel hooks for Microsoft’s proprietary software [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8] (Microsoft sent out Ramji to spin it, but he's quitting the company now); it is also showing total lack of interest, if not just the expected indifference. Their semi-ally from Novell, Greg Kroah-Hartman, is now complaining publicly and Microsoft blogs are seeing this.
Greg Kroah-Hartman, a Novell fellow with SuSE Labs and Linux Driver Project lead, posted on September 9 a status update on the drivers being assembled for inclusion in the Linux 2.6.32 kernel, Kroah-Hartman had some harsh words about Microsoft’s participation since its original announcement of its GPL plans in late July.
Microsoft’s developers were missing in action after the company donated GPL-licensed drivers to the Linux kernel community in July, leaving significant work to the Linux community, according to Linux driver project lead and Novell fellow Greg Kroah-Hartman.
“Leaving significant work to the Linux community,” eh? Surely this “Linux community” (translation: Novell engineers) is anxious to get its hands on this code and make it working to increase sales of Microsoft products (Hyper-V), then put GNU/Linux under Windows, just as Ron Hovsepian agreed with Steve Ballmer and publicly confessed in early 2007. █
Summary: Microsoft’s anti-Google AstroTurf recalled; Google’s brand value leaps; Microsoft approval drops
MICROSOFT’S robbery of Yahoo! [1, 2] has probably erased a lot of history relating to this saga, which lasted a year and a half.
A lot of people probably cannot remember that Microsoft hired AstroTurf groups such as LawMedia to battle against the Google/Yahoo! deal [1, 2]. In the case of LawMedia, the effect is said to have been Hispanic groups flooding channels of communication with messages that protest against the Google/Yahoo! deal. It is pseudo-grassroots, or classic AstroTurf.
“A lot of people probably cannot remember that Microsoft hired AstroTurf groups such as LawMedia to battle against the Google/Yahoo! deal.”Now that we come across the spontaneous press release “Hispanic Publishers Have High Hopes for Yahoo!-Microsoft Search Advertising Partnership” it is hard not to think about the LawMedia lobby. Why issue a promotional message like that?
Microsoft is very much afraid of Google, which — just like Free software — challenges the underlying business model of Microsoft by taking software on-line, as opposed to setting it free. Google and Microsoft, both of which are proprietary software companies, are still competing to own the medical data of US citizens and be in charge of other companies. Neither is really acceptable (either Fog Computing or non-Free software), but Google has narrower history of breaking the law, which it never did at quite the same scale as Microsoft.
Millward Brown Optimor has just published its list of its 100 most valuable global brands for 2009. Guess who topped the list?
You shouldn’t have to if you’re reading this blog. But yes, Google rings the bell at No. 1 with a $100 billion valuation, a 16 percent increase from a year ago. Microsoft came in second at $76.2 billion, an 8 percent jump from 2008.
These are not scientific surveys, but to some people they may be rough estimates to go by. Watch how Barcelona’s football club wishes to be dissociated from Microsoft, apparently.
FC Barcelona avoids the very appearance of endorsing Microsoft products
[...]
Last time I checked two years ago, during a trip to the Camp Nou (when Openbravo CEO Manel Sarasa got me into the president’s box), FC Barcelona was running OpenCMS for its Web site and a range of other open-source software for content management and other needs.
Perhaps FC Barcelona would have happily done a photo op with the Linux penguin, but just couldn’t bear to affiliate with Clippy?
Speaking of Europe, where Microsoft’s popularity is generally a lot lower, there are still articles which are hostile towards regulation there, such as this new one from Reuters. The language says it all really. I spoke to the Ombudsman just under an hour ago (on the phone). Over in the United States, Motley Fool/MSNBC, which are heavily influenced by Microsoft, show that Steve Ballmer’s approval rating is extremely low.
Investors: Steve Ballmer’s a Failure
Roughly 40% of respondents to a “Wall Street Journal” poll aren’t pleased.
Ron Hovsepian’s approval rating is also exceptionally low. Novell and Microsoft are in a bad shape, whereas Google and Red Hat, for instance, keep growing. █
Summary: Bits from the press about Novell and virtualisation for the most part
MANY people may not remember this, but Ron Hovsepian admitted giving power to Microsoft in the datacentres. It was part of the deal that Novell should permit Windows to run as a host and SUSE usually be a guest. Novell was the feeble party in this relationship and by signing that notorious patent deal, Novell sort of passed its inferiority onto other GNU/Linux distributors.
Citrix Systems and Microsoft are co-mingling some of their virtual desktop technologies. But Redmond stopped short of endorsing the XenClient bare-metal PC hypervisor that chip maker Intel and Citrix are working on for delivery later this year.
Also new from The Register is an article about FastScales:
Novell’s SUSE Linux Enterprise Server is not yet supported, and neither are other hypervisors, such as XenServer from Citrix Systems or Hyper-V from Microsoft, and this could be a problem. FastScale said back in April – when VMware launched its ESX Server 4.0 hypervisor and its related vSphere 4.0 tools – that it would support these by the end of the year.
Matt Rosoff, an analyst at Directions on Microsoft, a Kirkland, Wash., firm that specializes in tracking Microsoft, said that by creating a rival operating system, Google is leading with its chin.
“I don’t see why Google has to get into this business,’’ Rosoff said. “It seems like they’re waving a red flag directly at Microsoft’s core business.’’
Microsoft has crushed a host of erstwhile technology titans that posed similar head-on threats – browser maker Netscape and networking software company Novell Inc., for example, he said.
Matt Rosoff would be biased because of his professional focus and location (Kirkland, just like Gates), so by “crushed” he probably means broke the law to put competitors out of business and thus obtain a monopoly, then pay fines for the crimes and benefit from the outcome of the crime (financially) over the years. The article above is noteworthy because of another new article (from Alibaba) about VMware and Microsoft. Microsoft executives are pretty much running VMware right now. The article states:
But Maritz knew how to play hardball: He made decisions that helped vanquish past Microsoft rivals, including Lotus, Novell and Netscape.
“Play hardball” or break the law? How the press attempts to soften the seriousness of crimes over time. We see it constantly, even days ago. As Comes vs Microsoft exhibits show, Paul Maritz participated even in vandalism. There are many more examples, some of which are yet to come. █
“We are going to cut off their air supply.”
–Paul Maritz, former Microsoft Vice President, referring to Netscape
Summary: Another relatively quiet week for SUSE, so new articles that merely mention SUSE are searched for and presented instead
SUSE Financial Results
THE STREET, a publication mostly known for its pro-Big Business slant, has written about Novell’s results, casting them as “Threat to Microsoft”. Here is a portion from the article.
“Our Linux and Identity businesses have the greatest potential to continue to expand operating margins,” CEO Ron Hovsepian said in a statement, “and we plan to attain profitability within these businesses no later than 12-18 months from today, barring unforeseen circumstances.”
Novell carries very heavy baggage from the past, so its SUSE business (franchise) does not grow quickly enough [1, 2, 3].
Summary: Novell’s revenue is down, expenses are down, and more cutbacks are said to be needed
A MORE comprehensive analysis will come tomorrow, but here are some quick findings about Novell’s latest results, which obviously it is trying to spin (all companies do).
This morning’s article from Timothy is probably the best so far as the author is typically isolated from marketing bias and mindless flocking which cascades down from press release that are selective by design.
For its quarter ended April 30, Novell sales fell by 8.5 per cent to $215.6m. But because it has been tightening the belt and it had a pretty bad corresponding quarter last fiscal year, bringing $15m to the bottom line looked good by contrast. Nonetheless, Novell has a ways to go before it is as profitable as it needs to be or investors want it to be, and as it turns out, key product lines are not profitable.
[...]
Novell booked $7m in restructuring charges in the quarter, and its headcount was the same as it was at the end of the last quarter, with 3,900 employees. Russell said that in a normal fiscal year, the second half usually sees a revenue bump, but he warned that sales could stay flat quarter to quarter (as they did so far in fiscal 2009), and that means Novell is going to be under pressure to cut costs to keep in the black.
Software service provider Novell Inc. (NOVL) said its second quarter profit jumped from a year ago as expenses declined, despite an 8.5% fall in revenues reflecting a huge drop in software licenses and services revenue. On an adjusted basis, earnings came in above Street estimates, while revenues fell short.
According to this, “Novell, Inc. closed yesterday up 1.37% on over 6.7 million shares traded.” But today it goes down sharply, unlike the market as a whole. Novell (NOVL) fell as low as $2.5 some months ago. To quote:
Novell, Inc (NOVL) in the last one year traded as high as $7.10 in May 2008 and as low as $2.49 in March 2009. Based on the yesterday’s closing price $4.43 the company has market cap of $1.53 billion.
Companies whose shares are expected to see active U.S. trading on Friday include General Motors, Dell, Novell and Office Depot.
A new report about NOVL (SADIF Analytics) says that “Novell, Inc. is an average quality company with a positive outlook. Novell, Inc. has weak business growth and is run by efficient management. When compared to its closest peer, MICROS Systems, Inc., Novell, Inc. shows similar overvaluation and is equally likely to outperform the market.”
Well, Sun was acquired and it amasses huge losses. This comparison does not work in Novell’s favour. █
(1-click install)
