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IBM And Intel Help Rescue SuSE From Insolvency
mutantcamel writes: "A report on NetworkFusion states that SuSE has avoided insolvency thanks to a fresh round of investment that raised $45.5 million for the ailing company. IBM and Intel
are among the players that have announced their support for the company. The rescue package comes after quite a turbulent time at SuSE HQ, but the company seems optimistic about the future."
"The rescue package comes after quite a turbulent time at SuSE HQ, but the company seems optimistic about the future."
I'd be pretty optimistic too if someone raised 45.5 million for my company. But seriously, why SuSE?
The rescue package comes after quite a turbulent time at SuSE HQ, but the company seems optimistic about the future."
Yeah, I would imagine two Fortune 500 tech giants writing you a check for a substantial amount of money would tend to make you optimistic under any circumstances.
If this had just been IBM, one would have thought this might be the beginning of an "official" IBM Linux. Even with Intel in there though, does this mean IBM is shopping for a distro to get behind with their recent Linux push?
between SuSE and Mandrakesoft! In a similar situation, Mandrakesoft has been bought (20%) by its community of users and is now traded on a European market. SuSE is more and more locked by rather proprietary companies. I wish them good luck!!!
This is the perfect example of the sort of corporate altruism I think we can expect to see over the next few years. As some people have pointed out, SuSE is one of the most popular European Linux distributions. It is in IBM and Intel's best interest to ensure that there is are a few solid European based distributions around for them to build their business on. It avoids vendor lock to a particular distro (Red Hat anyone?). It maintains a company doing the tricky task of localizing the bulk of Linux. Plus, that shop may later be used to help localize IBM software at a later date.
All and all, it is in IBM and Intel's best interest to have a thriving SuSE (and Mandrake, for that matter), regardless of whether the company is actually profitable. This sort of enlightened self-interest could lead to a sort of patronage system for some of the major Linux distributors.
Hate to say it, but it might have been better if they had gone under. It would have increased the chance of other companies like Mandrake and Red Hat making good profits. This new investment to keep Suse alive might just help cement a situation with no real moneymaking distro's.
I still can't for the life of me understand why they put everything in a bsd-like /etc/rc.config, yet still have a SysV style init. Maintaining information 2 places (links in /etc/init.d/rcX.d and also in rc.config) is bad. very very bad.
if they wanted to build a bsd-like system around the linux kernel, then why go half-assed about it?
"We are not tolerant people. We prefer drastically effective solutions"
Well it's not a complete exchange killer, but Insight Server from Bynari isn't a bad replacement. It has had some big press lately. It doesn't use MAPI, only LDAP, POP3, IMAP, various standard protocols. Outlook works if you configure it correctly (very easy). It has a few drawbacks, such as the Outlook configuring, but overall it's a decent product. I've implemented it before and my clients were very pleased. It's $299 for 100 users, so it's not free but it's darn cheap compared to Exchange.
Not in my lifetime. I had suffer through the brain-damaged 8086 and 80286 architectures. I still have nightmares.
www.lucernesys.comHorizon: Calendar-based personal finance
Intel is investing in Linux, because Intel is trying to do something against Sun. Isn't that obvious?
The tactics is partly the same as Microsoft's: from desktop to the data center. Since Linux can be used (without most of the ease-of-use issues) on desktops by people who will be admins on the big systems, Intel is trying to bind them to Intel's technology. With the hope that they'll be completely ignorant about anything that doesn't run on Intel's processors.
Investing in SuSE makes further sense because SuSE is very much trying to create a distribution which does not look like Unix.
I am into Linux since 93, when I used Slackware. When I saw RH (4.0?) years later I adopted it almost immediately because of higher level administration and packaging system as well as the filesystem functionality.
I switched over to SuSE in early 2000 after a purchasing several distros (latest RH, SuSE and Mandrake). I am into Linux for business and quickly ruled out Mandrake for the same reason I would rule out Corel: serious systems perform serious tasks which always require training; ALWAYS emphasize on FUNCTION and not on second guessing unprepared users. SuSE prioritizes function.
I) Why SuSE?
1. It's configuration utility is fabulous (YaST). Compared to the mess I had to code for automatic RH installation in the old days SuSE is almost too easy. YaST2, while not as practical as YaST1 for some things is a well-thought, solid, extensible, presentation-agnostic architecture which earns my respect. It's integration with KDE is also meritorious.
2. LVM, Reiserfs and the best most stable kernels I know of. (Yes, I consider SuSE's kernels superior to RH's even though AC works for the latter.) These people KNOW the kernel. (WRT LVM and reiser: other distros probably use them now, but not before.)
3. Active participation in the gory technical projects. SuSE contributes actively to Reiser, XFS (yes, it's SGI's but SuSE helped for the Linux port), XFree, alien kernel ports and probably many others. Remember when you had to get your X server for Trident and SiS from SuSE? I want my distro provider to possess INTIMATE KNOWLEDGE of the science involved in the systems I use.
II) Why SuSE in real life?
I work for a small consulting firm in Paraguay (South America, for the geographically challenged) which is dedicated to Linux in production systems for financial institutions, ISPs, offices and the likes. I say "dedicated" for no religious fervor about the OS, since Linux would end in the trashcan the minute an alternative with a better blend of features comes up. (Of course, not all problems are solved by the same blend, but SuSE Linux impresses us with the applicable problem domain.)
Our firm has deployed several large Linux dominant networks. The most notorious is for a local bank which needed to switch from an *old* terminal based system to something new. You all know the conventional answer but these people chose wisely. Around 200 Linux workstations and 15 Linux servers drive the entire bank operation with databases, LDAP, image banks, CFS, SSL, rsync, KDE, etc. SuSE delivered in this scenario; it proved it is a valid choice in places where IT departments hesitate to put Linux: financial institutions and the end user desktop.
You can tell an IT departmente is doing well when managers start wondering why they need one or they are unaware of the details of their networks. This has happened.
SuSE facilitated that project enormously. YES, it could have been done just fine under RH, but even a marginal decrease in headaches is always desired.
Systems wise, SuSE Linux is rock solid. RH has given me a bitter experience in an unrelated scenario where a failure somewhere along the storage subsystem forced me to hack all the way into kernel tcp checksum routines to resync partitions associated to an MD device.
For the end users, SuSE is just a name under KDE except at the control panel. So besides congratulating SuSE for a well done integration, most of the merit belongs to KDE.
OFF TOPIC NOTE:
I don't believe Linux can compete with traditional alternatives for the home market. Emphasis and money allows traditional alternatives to provide more refined (often second guessing) interfaces to users. People outside of formal production chains can be happy with these.
In real commercial situations where production is formalized and application availability is not an issue, Linux is a top choice.
IMHO, efforts should prioritize function, subjugating presentation to the dictates of function. The marketplace will know the difference. The home user won't. Those who pay are those who produce.