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IBM Invests $50M in Novell, May Ship SUSE Linux
dave writes "Novell announced that it has finalized a $50 million investment from IBM, and that IBM can now begin shipping SUSE Linux on all IBM server platforms. Historically, IBM has been a 'Red Hat shop,' and one has to wonder if this is a harbinger of things to come."
First they lost appreciation from personal users (Fedora affair), and now they lose support from big guys (IBM). I'd sell my Red Hat stock as soon as I could pick up the phone and contact my broker...
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All my submissions to Slashdot rejected... and proud of it!
I've had a few dealings with IBM regarding Linux in the past few years, and they've historically been pretty agnostic distribution-wise, with some slant towards SuSE on the mainframe, and Red Hat on the x86 platform (but I've heard friends of mine say that IBM pushed SuSE very aggressively on the x86 platform too).
Remember that the first industrial-strenght implementation of a Linux system on the mainframe has been a joint effor by SySE and IBM.
SuSE was the frist version that I knew of that ran on *ALL* IBM platforms.
zSeries (Main Frame)
pSeries (AIX PPC)
iSeries (AS/400 PPC)
xSeries (Intel/AMD and soon PPC)
IBM also played with TurboLinix.
As far as I know SuSE have one of the two best PPC linux distros out there, the other one being Yellow Dog.
/. Where the truth
Yes, IBM is huge. They retooled as a consulting company so they deliver "solutions" more than hardware, and that is why they've been big on Linux. Basically, there are a ton of little Linux consultants out there but for top-tier corporations you would only hire a company of large standing. IBM is really the only player in this type of (growing) Linux market (although Sun is moving in that direction, but my boss thinks that Big Blue will want to buy them out.)
IMO, IBM could be thinking about buying Novell. A move like this helps them suss that out, but the acquisition of their own Linux distribution combined with a surprisingly large Netware install base is pretty attractive. Especially since just about all of the Netware sites are looking to move out of it there's a real opportunity for IBM to come in and make that happen on Linux before they go Microsoft.
* Please do not read my signature.
SuSE even runs on mainframes .
You are being MICROattacked, from various angles, in a SOFT manner.
IBM continues to produce Wintel PCs, and I believe at least a portion of our Linux offerings also run on Intel architecture, but there has been a PowerPC version of Linux for at least the past 7 years. I'm not certain what SuSE is running on, but I think it could be PowerPC.
I don't think that one can describe IBM as purely a "Red Hat shop"; they've had offerings with SuSE in the past. But I'd say their primary motivation is probably just to keep their options open w/r/t OS suppliers. (And, of course, I'm sure it doesn't hurt that Novell is sticking it to SCO, and is a plausible annoyance to Microsoft.)
I mean, look how well things turned out for them the last time they had a single supplier.
I think this is a great move. I moved to SuSE before for a while before I went to gentoo (simply because it's easier to update) and the SuSE people just do things well. It's like those German cars. When I first sat in a BMW and saw that the rear-view mirrors adjusted automatically when reversing or the window-wipers altered the length of their pause depending on your speed I thought "Nice job guys. Well done."
I get the same feeling when using SuSE - nice things you never even thought of.
Does Novell make desktops & laptops???
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-- Caldera started by disgruntled Novell employees
--MS finances Caldera/SCO to sue IBM
--IBM induces Novell to register UNIX copyrights (after waiting 10 years to get around to it).
--Novell Buys SuSe
--SCO sues Novell
--Now IBM pours money into Novell
I know Novell is a company with a glorious past, but, just as SCO is a MS puppet/proxy, I think Novell is getting pulled into being a minor sattelite orbiting IBM.
Man, this is better than a soap opera !
What about IBM's purported Blue Linux Desktop?- Article. Myth? Desktop-centric? SuSE derivative? :)
They've really turned around the compnay in a really short amount of time. I mean Netware as a product was sort of dying out and they sold most of Unix (or the brooklyn bridge, its hard to tell). I thought they would just fade off into the sunset, or linger like a rotting corpse as a shell of its former glorious self( See Borland). Those executives should get a nobel prize in business. Wait, they don't give a nobel prize for buisness. I guess their huge salaries and bonuses will have to be enough. But, seriously they did a really good job.
Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
Will this really impact anything except perhaps some stock prices? Red Hat have made a pretty risky move by only taking paying customers for their distro (although i appreciate that they have Fedora, it's a shame they basically split their business in two). Maybe you could say they bought the loss on themselves. But putting all the corporate deals and insentives behind, is this really going to affect the adoption of linux in the business and home user world?
Silly rabbit
This is the moment I have been waiting for.
Since the late 90's people have been saying "Linux will be ready for the desktop in a few years". I realised the epoch defining moment would be when the major PC manufacturers started ship Linux on the desktop in a big way.
Folks. This is it. The real battle has just begun.
Has to be said, how long until IBM buys out Novell? They haven't exactly done too well these last few years, and Novell has a whole host of patents and IP that would fit in niceley with IBM. Not only that, but if this farce with SCO doesn't get dismissed soon, they would then be the direct owners of those Unix remnants that Novell holds onto.
Novell is moving more and more into Linux, and there next version of Netware is to be Linux based, with no more stand alone netware products they just announced. Novell was once king, as was IBM in it's heydey. Between them they could well become king again.
Let me start by saying that this is not a troll, just an honest question.
Could someone please explain why one would drop all that money on an iSeries or zSeries just to run linux on it, rather than saving money by getting an x86 machine? If I'm buying an iSeries, it's because I want to run OS/400. Don't get me wrong, I think it's rather cool that it's even possible, but is it really necessary?
Does it (Linux) run under a hypervisor, or on the bare metal?
Stick Men
If you look into the past you can predict future. IBM is not stupid. They do not want to create another Microsoft. They are going to play on two horses, one being RedHat and the other SuSe/Novell. This makes room for IBM to make A LOT of money by selling hardware. Do not worry in five years, there will still be RedHat and SuSe - both having around 30% of the market. IBM will make it so.
No Blue Linux. Early internal desktop adaptors are on Fedora but the corporate wide roll out on the desktop with all the enterprise tools (expenses, email, time reporting, etc.) will be running native using SuSE Linux.
Too lazy to create a sig...
Yesterday I went to CeBIT and the SuSE booth was in hall 1 right under Novell. (They pay extra to be in hall 1) Red Hat was stuck in the back of a hall and almost didn't notice them, they were just behind Iran's massive booth (Countries have booths to get people to invest in them)
n sects. JPG
Also Check out this image from a fourune cookie that SuSE was passing out:
http://www.kruczkowski.com/images/cebit04/i
hmm... for fun I enjoy launching DDoS attacks against 127.87.42.5
SCO will get big mileage out of this in the public arena, claiming that Novell and IBM are conspiring to block its legal claims. SCO will also try a new legal attack against both companies, claiming they are conspiring against it to defuse SCO's legal arguments while economically benefitting from what SCO views as their contract- and IP-infringing activities.
Thoughts?
Someday, you're going to die. Get over it.
Whoo-Hoo!!! This is a huge break for me. When I decided to install a Linux Distro I went with SuSe over RedHat. I like SuSe a lot, but when you go to a bookstore the shelves are lined with nothing but RedHat this and RedHat that.
This most certainly guarantees there will be a lot more material geared towards SuSe's style of setup.
deserve's got nothing to do with it...
You may have heard Redhat called the Microsoft of Linux. This is a perception that is alive and well within IBM.
When I worked on the Linux Standards Base project, Redhat was very resistant to standardization. We'd open bug reports about LSB compliance issues, and they'd be hastily closed saying that Redhat wanted to do things their way. They ended up not participating in the UnitedLinux project, which was backed heavily by IBM and HP.
SuSE on the other hand was very involved with the LSB and UnitedLinux. They drove a bulk of the standardization efforts. They also have a very good support relationship with the IBM Linux developers.
So when it comes down to it, SuSE just wants IBM more than RH. They created a better working relationship. The only thing they really lacked was a strong North American presence. The merger with Novell solved that, and gave them a strong support and services arm to boot.
Ok, can you show me some literature to back this statement up? I work in a Netware shop and I wouldn't trade it for anything. Yes, ANYTHING. It handles file and print services so well that it's just not worth it to move to anything else, IMO of course. But, despite its massive upside, I keep hearing that people are "thinking of abandoning it" or "gonna move away from it." WHY?! It's the best thing out there for what it does! So, please, if someone can document this apparent exodus please do so, because apart from people tossing around vague comments I haven't seen it.
TY
Also Sun's "Java Desktop System" is built on top of SuSE. Sun is still using RedHat for Linux servers.
Browsers shouldn't have a back button!! It's all about going forward...
I've got a few RedHat Enterprise linux servers and I wish we could get a satellite setup for the RedHat network updates. It's feasible but I understand that RedHat wants big $$. From what I understand, it seems SUSE may be a little nicer since you can probably set up your own YAST server, but seeing as I never have installed SUSE (RedHat at work, Debian at home, next on list is either SUSE or Gentoo. No advocacy meant here, just my current interest levels) I wouldn't know. Redhat's network updates and other features through the redhat network do make it easy to manage installs, but I still can't get over how difficult RPM's dependencies are in comparison to dselect / install.
I need a TiVo for my car. Pause live traffic now.
Red Hat 9 -> Fedora is not a feasiable option for mission critical business applications
For anyone who was running RH 9, Fedora Core 1 is a perfectly feasible option, since FC1 is basically RH 9.1 under new management, with the annoying bugs fixed, and with several new update methods, which can do everything up2date did and more.
I've already migrated a number of RH8/RH9 servers to FC1, noting improved performance and no downside whatever. Suse is certainly a solid choice, but don't act like FC1 is not an option.
In addition, the fedora legacy product gives businesses 2 full years of support, a decent time interval in which to decide their next move.
Does anyone actually know the differences between "SuSE Professional 9" and "SuSE Enterprise 8"?
The SuSE website does not give any indication why I should spen 998 for SLE8 as opposed to 60 for SPro9.
The two secrets to success: 1- Don't tell anyone everything.
-13
For people who used RedHat because in the end it did still have a support option but was cheap/free if you didn't end up needing that support, FC1 is a non-option. In other words, they often still need the reassuring thought that they -could- buy support if it got down to it.
It is more productive to voice thoughtful opinions (reply) than to judge (moderate) others.
IBM was deliberately breaking the law by selling equipment and support services to Hitler. So were many American companies, including the Bush family, for that matter. The people at the top knew what was going on, but they saw the dollar signs and shipped the goods anyway.
I'm surprised at the shock response this post is getting! Truth often hurts, but fighting it is futile and only makes one a champion of ignorance.
If I'm mistaken in my data, then certainly let me know! Otherwise people, quite griping.
-FL
Slashdotters need to start understanding that "It works for me," is not an argument. The typical Slashdotter has a level of hacking skill that is neither available nor desired by the world at large.
I have to agree with this. I wouldn't say that I am a Linux/Unix guru by any means. I'm running gentoo right now and it isn't that hard for me to use, not to mention that I think it's fun spending entire nights reading up on a new piece of software I want to use. But I have a friend that is interested in running a linux box at his office for running an apache/mysql box (I think he just wanted to try linux). Anyway, I set up a gentoo box for him and installed all the required packages he would need. He still calls me up every other day asking how to authenticate his logins against a windows PDC or how to auto-mount his windows shares or tons of other things.
"it works for me" is great if you know what you are doing, but the majority of people do not know/do not _want_ to know how to configure pam_smb or samba...they just want it to work.
OK. Cite some actual examples to back that up please. Alan Cox is one of the lead RedHat developers and submits and curates tons of patches. I'd like to know exactly what kernel patches you're talking about so that I can evaluate what you say.
Again, specifics please. AFAIK RedHat _enterprise_ support is competitively priced compared to other _enterprise_ offerings. RedHat also has educational discounts available. Show me the money: NovellSuSE vs. RedHat. Specifics or else stop spreading FUD.
RHCE is a _practical_ hands-on certification which shows that the holder can actually do something other than make marks on a bit of paper. LPI-1 and LPI-2 are good as supplements but they are not _practical_ certifications. Currently RHCE is the only certification that shows you're getting someone that can actually set up a box.
Yes YaST has been "open sourced". But which formerly "open source" software has RedHat made proprietary? Give an example please.
What's your metric for "buggy"? Define it and then show me how all the GNU/Linux distros stack up against each other. Otherwise this has the same informational value as the rest of your fact-devoid post.
Until you can provide further specific information I'll be taking your post as an empty, contentless, unverifiable FUD-spreading exercise.
A Debian GNU/Linux-running RHCEFirst, Red Hat hasn't exactly been friendly to the Linux community. They write kernel patches all the time for Red Hat and don't submit them to kernel.org That doesn't seem like very friendly community behavior to me.
Absurd. RH has been one of the heaviest contributors back into the community. I'm unfamiliar with what politics you're thinking of about the patches, but the patches are diced up and available in their source RPMs, and could certainly be merged in if someone wanted them. RH has been a major contributor to the kernel, gcc, and a ton of other crucial stuff.
I really hate to see SuSE, of all the other distros, taking RH's place, though. SuSE is one of the less-free distros (I'm quite irritated over the fact that unlike Red Hat, they don't put out ISOs of their releases as soon as they release them), and RH has just moved to work better with the community with Fedora, whereas the recent SuSE CEO interview I read was talking about how more "reasonable" people that didn't expect everything to be free. RH has been rabid about keeping things as libre as possible, tossing out Navigator before Mozilla was really ready, and being a major GNOME contributor to try to avoid Qt (I swear to God I want Qt dead, and this just makes it harder...)
May we never see th