Bonum Certa Men Certa

As Novell Looks for Buyers SUSE is Almost Silent

Novell spooky



Summary: There has been no news about SUSE in a while and Novell's financial report (finally facing the public) is just weeks away

SOME time towards the end of August Novell will release its latest financial results. The last time Novell did it turned out that it was looking for buyers (not just approached without invitation, since that happened days after the previous quarter's results).



We have been reviewing Novell news again, but it's still a total drought; it's almost as though Novell dropped everything and is now just dedicating its time to finding buyers (possibly breaking down the company into constituent parts in the process because of the great diversity). We have not received verification (nor refutation) for the rumour about Canonical expressing interest in OpenSUSE. A good place to start today's review is by looking at Novell's SUSE business.

SLE*



SUSE Gallery is still in the news this week, but that's just news from last month. We really struggled to find any substantial news about SUSE, but all we found was Messaging Architects mentioning in its press release that it still uses SUSE.

“Messaging Architects' M+Guardian SUSE-powered appliance, which we use internally at Novell, is a great example of how ISVs can easily customise an enterprise-class operating system to create a smaller footprint, improve performance and reduce security vulnerabilities,” said Joanna Rosenberg, ISV Marketing Manager for the SUSE Appliance Program.


IBM's SUSE support was mentioned in The Register alongside support for Windows and Red Hat, so that hardly qualifies as SUSE news. Here is another item of news which actually refers to very old news, going as far as several weeks back:

Novell is also offering special incentives to Sun* Solaris customers to migrate to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server...


Novell is trying to sell the story that Sun is dead, but then again, isn't Novell dying too? If people leave Solaris, they are more likely to go for RHEL or its gratis clones.

People



Having struggled to find news about SUSE, we carried on reading through this week's news, but all we found was news where former Novell staff got mentioned. Rob Mills was one example. He said:

I also had a brief stint at Novell, where i was the Manging Director for Australia/New Zealand. It was an interesting time and I got some value out of being there, but it wasn't a long term thing.


Steve Adams is the new CEO of VirtuOz and he has history at Novell:

Prior to joining Sabrix in 2002, Adams was president and chief executive officer of Uniscape and a senior vice president of worldwide marketing for Novell.


Looking at the mid-west, Melain Terry from Novell is a finalist in Utah's 'women in technology' race [1, 2] and another former Novell employee has started his own company:

Solera Networks just closed a third round of funding, recognition that the time is ripe for its “camera” that records activity on computer networks.

[...]

The company is still young, founded in 2005 by an engineer who worked at Novell.


It seems like Novell has lost a lot of talented people over the years. At one point Novell had more than 3 times the staff it now has; Red Hat is now worth about three times Novell's estimated worth.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Microsoft Layoffs and Closures Now Reported in Africa
Microsoft Uninstalls Nigeria as it closes African Development Centre (ADC) in Lagos
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
 
Support for harassment and abuse victims
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 09/05/2024: Being Sick Enough and End of “World of Ends“
Links for the day
Links 09/05/2024: 'Hey Hi' (AI) Bubble Implodes Some More, Microsoft Layoffs So Widespread It's Hard to Keep Track
Links for the day
Speaking of Enshittification and Freedom, We've Still Not Begun Tackling the UEFI 'Secure' Boot Mess (Preventing GNU/Linux From Even Booting!)
Microsoft continues to fly under the radar and commit competition crimes with impunity
Microsoft Has Just Confirmed Mass Layoffs in Nigeria, It Now Adds Insult to Injury With Price Hikes for Locals
It's not like Microsoft paid them good salaries
Software Enshittification or Freedom? It's not a hard choice!
Reprinted from Alexandre Oliva
Links 09/05/2024: More Microsoft Layoffs on the Way
Links for the day
Amid Microsoft Layoffs in Nigeria GNU/Linux Climbs Above 6% Market Share (Not Including ChromeOS)
Hundreds are being laid off by Microsoft in Nigeria, based on yesterday's reports
[Meme] Blame the Robots or the 'Hey Hi' (AI), It Always Works in Today's Media
Companies do not have financial troubles! They have "efficiencies"...
News Reports Say Many More Microsoft Layoffs on the Way, Rumours Say Red Hat Also Imminently a Target
Microsoft is slipping out of control
Links 09/05/2024: Diplomacy Efforts With China, AstraZeneca Stops Experimenting With COVID-19 Vaccines
Links for the day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, May 08, 2024
IRC logs for Wednesday, May 08, 2024
Gemini Links 09/05/2024: Registered Computer Professionals and TLS (The Long Slog)
Links for the day
Links 08/05/2024: Android Malware and "AI" Hype
Links for the day
[Meme] Technical Committee With People Who Are Not Technical
the computing/computer industry being occupied by people who lack suitable background
The Demise of Computer Science Education
Education is essential for the future; without it, whole nations will perish
[Video] Prisons for the Minds and for Tech Workers
Today's video talks about what happens to workforces (across disciplines) in recent years
[Meme] Struggling to Leave Its Nazi Past Behind
digital arson
Microsoft Declines to Talk About How Many People It Has Just Laid Off
Hours ago in IGN: "Microsoft did not say how many staff will lose their jobs, but significant layoffs are inevitable. IGN has asked Bethesda for comment. Microsoft declined to expand further when contacted by IGN."
Microsoft Windows in South America: From 99% to 87%
the latest from statCounter
It's Rather Obvious Why They Try to Silence Richard Stallman, Eben Moglen, and Daniel Pocock
Some of them already sent physically menacing messages to Daniel Pocock
IRC Network of Techrights Turns 3 (or 16 if We Count the Freenode Days)
In a few months IRC turns 36
Sedating Oneself (and Shareholders) With Fuzzy Buzzwords and Pointless Acquisitions
IBM trying to buy time
Clickfraud Spamnil Ran Out of Clickfraud Budget, Apparently
sooner or later charlatans and frauds run out of steam
Techrights Gets Under the Skin of Bad, Corrupt, Immoral People (That's a Good Thing)
Journalism is the lifeblood of democracy and free societies
Companies Do Not Shut Down Offices and Lay Off Staff en Masse (Morale and Reputation Issue) Unless They're in Deep Financial Trouble
Microsoft has been faking its financial performance for years
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, May 07, 2024
IRC logs for Tuesday, May 07, 2024
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
[Video] Leaving Microsoft Behind for the Sake of National Security
Threats to "National Security" aren't some users with an Android phone but Microsoft at the root of things
GNU/Linux and ChromeOS Now at 6% in France, According to statCounter
numbers from statCounter
Gemini Links 07/05/2024: Music Spotlight and Network Knobs
Links for the day
Only Weeks After Microsoft Closed Offices and Studios It is Closing Several More (Many Layoffs, Still Deeply Debt-Saddled)
When the sad news writes itself
Bolivarian Republic Of Venezuela: GNU/Linux Reaches 9% (ChromeOS Included)
Venezuela must have lost interest in some American proprietary software when users were locked out of their own data (Adobe) and the costs could no longer be justified
[Video] Microsoft is Like Big Oil, Big Tobacco, and Other Perpetrators of Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt/Fear-mongering
openwashing, Microsoft lobbying, and Microsoft subsidies (e.g. bailouts in the form of 'defence' contracts)
Security & Debian: Urgent: New Feed URLs after another WIPO censorship
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
World Press Freedom Day: WIPO censors Debian suicide cluster
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 07/05/2024: Smashing Windows (Moving to GNU/Linux) and Mastodon Time-wasting
Links for the day
Links 07/05/2024: Pulitzer for Supreme Court Expose, New Threats to Media Reported
Links for the day
Links 07/05/2024: Cheap EVs and Cloudflare Layoffs
Links for the day
Berlin police declined to investigate FSFE Nazi comparisons
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
[Meme] Communities Governed by Parasitic Elements and Girlfriends (Who Can't Understand Those Communities)
Karen Sandler and Molly de Blanc present at DebConf18
[Meme] You Can't Kill an Idea (or Facts)
Thankfully, in Western societies, there's still due process, rule of law etc. You don't just hire assassins or imprison critics
[Meme] Software in the Public Interest (SPI), Inc, Values Articles of Daniel Pocock at ~$5,000 Each (and Fails to Hide the Facts)
we are laughing, not grieving
IRC Proceedings: Monday, May 06, 2024
IRC logs for Monday, May 06, 2024
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
[Meme] About 2,564 Internet Sites Now at Risk of Hostile Takeover by Microsoft-Sponsored Software in the Public Interest (SPI)
WIPO censors Debian suicide cluster
Links 07/05/2024: Burning Plastic Waste, Facebook Censoring Politicians
Links for the day
Gemini Links 07/05/2024: Smashing Windows (Microsoft Losing Users to GNU/Linux), Sixty Years of BASIC
Links for the day