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Novell Makes More Open Source Moves

Posted by timothy on from the all-star-cast dept.

cbnet2004 writes "In what can be considered a win for Linux, Novell has announced NetWare will cease to exist as a standalone product by the end of the year. However, the CEO says: 'We are still committed to it and it is not going away. Our new Open Enterprise Server offering will have two components to it: SuSE Linux Enterprise Server and NetWare. NetWare is here for a long time to come.'" Read on for more bits from Novell's BrainShare conference, including a planned company-wide move to Linux.

Roger Foss writes "Novell has announced it will release its cross platform iFolder file synchronization software as open source. This is pretty cool: far more transparent and easier to use than Unison or some of those friendly Rsync variants. iFolder does multi-master delta synchronization and is user friendly. The source software will be available at Novell's own Forge site and release under the GPL. This sure beats Novell's earlier open source efforts, when they released their proprietary IPX protocol stuff years ago. For those who want to try it, there's a live demo site that I doubt would withstand slashdotting."

Finally, mj01nir writes "According to Miguel de Icaza's web log, Chris Stone just announced that Novell will be moving the whole company to OpenOffice by the end of the year, and to Linux on the desktop a year after.

4 of 351 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Its One Hell Of A Good Start by kephunk · · Score: 5, Informative

    IBM is NOT porting MS Office to Linux. They are currently using it in conjuction with WINE. The ultimate goal would be for them to use OpenOffice.org as well.

  2. Novell's 1st big gift to Open Source by jaylee7877 · · Score: 5, Informative

    iFolder is a major gift to the Linux community and is an excellent sign to me that Novell is committed to Open Source Model not just the "we're on the Linux boat" fad. Until you've used iFolder and seen your files move from desktop to desktop with little to no effort on your part, you just can't understand. It's seamless, it's secure and it's reliable. I encourage all of you to give it a try! Thanks for a great product and thanks for believing in the OSS community Novell!

  3. Re:Stupid question probably by Degrees · · Score: 5, Informative
    A couple years ago, under Eric Schmidt, Novell started moving away from IPX/SPX and toward TCP/IP. Essentially, they had to re-write everything. But (to the smarter people at Novell) this was an opportunity - it let them separate the "services" from the transport. Thus, "NetWare" has really become another set of services, on top of (whatever) protocol you want.

    If you were to put a sniffer on my NetWare 5 network, you would see the File and Print services (and NCP services) are TCP/IP packets. The only thing that forces me to run IPX are the stupid JetDirect cards. But I digress.

    Currently, the NetWare OS is a set of NLMs (NetWare Loadable Modules). This is what they talk about when they say the NetWare 'kernel'. I'm pretty sure it is C code and some Assembler.

    The plan is that when you install NetWare 7, you will get your choice of 'kernels' - either the old NLM based one, or the new Linux 2.6 based one.

    And, since all the NetWare services will be / can be running on Linux - those services can be integrated into a Linux distibution.

    The most valuable Novell service is its eDirectory. They also have an application distribution product, ZENWorks; and of course their email system, GroupWise; a whole set of products that use the Directory for tailored access (BorderManager firewall, a web-portal product, biometric security, single-sign-on password management, iFolder file synchronization, and more).

    So the 'integration' is perhaps better described as porting what they do to both platforms. Your choice of kernel - but you will still be running eDirectory and other Novell services.

    Did I explain that well enough?

    --
    "The most sensible request of government we make is not, "Do something!" But "Quit it!"
  4. Re:Guess it's not the right time to become a CNE by King_TJ · · Score: 5, Informative

    I just attended a "computer professionals" meeting here in St. Louis, where a Novell rep. gave a presentation on Novell's product line and roadmap for the future.

    As I understand it, the next version of Netware is going to give users the option to install with a traditional Novell kernel at the core of it, or alternately, a Linux kernel.

    We asked him why they didn't just "go all the way" and turn Netware into a "value added layer" on top of Linux, rather than bothering with continued support of the old Netware kernel.

    Basically, he said that *could* happen in the distant (5+ years away) future - but currently, the old kernel is considered by many to be "robust" and "tried and true", so they'd be hesitant to switch to a Linux kernel in the short term future. Still too many enterprise customers with a "If it works, why change it?" mentality...

    In any case, I think Linux may breathe some new life into the Novell Netware line - rather than phase it out. Novell seems interested in such things as the ability to plug in Linux-based additions to Netware, rather than having only .NLM modules written specifically for Netware as options. (EG. Novell shops could turn servers into such things as SQL database servers as well as just file/print servers, without resorting to purchasing additional boxes to do it.)

    I wouldn't toss the CNE out as "worthless" just yet. It may enjoy a small resurgence in usefulness, if Novell plays their cards right.