Dell Teams Up With SUSE

An anonymous reader writes "Dell's Linux blog points to the news that Dell and SUSE have teamed up to start offering SUSE Enterprise Linux installed directly on Dell servers. Looks like Dell isn't just a Red Hat shop anymore."

Comments

Windows XP?

[darkmeridian]

I'm sorry, but why does the top of that article say, "Dell recommends Windows XP Professional"?

What kind of mixed messages are they sending there?

Re:Windows XP?

[miyako]

it's probably part of some agreement with microsoft. Dell is big enough to be able to sell hardware with whatever OS they want on it, but not quite big enough to do it without still kissing Microsoft's ass while doing it with a "Dell recommends Windows" message.
As a matter of fact though, I've seen the same message on IBM and HPs websites, I specifically remember thinking it was funny when I was looking into buying one of the HP notebooks with Linux pre-installed. The specific model didn't offer windows as an OS option IIRC, but it still has a message "HP Recommends Windows XP Professional" on the site.
This leads me to believe that some term microsoft gives to OEMs for them to get copies of windows cheaper, is that they have to have this message on every buy/customize page for all their hardware.

Re:Windows XP?

[miyako]

hmm, I'm a bit bored, I'll bite...
I don't particularly want to see an all Linux world, though it happens to be the OS that I used the most. I also don't have anything fundamentally against Microsoft, who is merely a single product of a fundamental world mindset, or with windows, which is perfectly well suited to a number of applications, thought not particularly any of the things for which I primarily use a computer.
Microsoft's primary goal is to make money, their current business plan for doing so relys on the continued dominance of Windows in the OS market, as such it's prudent to work out a deal with major hardware manufacturers.
To be honest, I don't see any difference between the situation I described above, and the recipies on certain food products that say to use "Brand X butter" and "Brand Y Sugar", it's cross marketing, and it works.

Re:Future partnerships...

[treval]

It may be just me but I think that Redhat has totally lost the plot since they stopped producing a desktop distribution.

Suse certainly seem to be gaining ground quickly and I think one of the main reasons may be the complete range of products from Suse Personal through to Enterprise and without the restrictive licencing that RH have tried to impose.

Re:I wonder

[koi88]

the thing is /.ed already

Maybe Dell should move their servers from Windows 2000 (according to netcraft) to Linux, too...

The power of the US

[peterprior]

I'm not really suprised. Now that Novell has bought SUSE, they are dealing with a nice big US corporation which must be very familiar to them.

Before Novell bought them, SUSE was seen as this oddball German company who probably seemed a world apart from a US Corp like Dell.

Re:Future partnerships...

[RAMMS EIN]

Perhaps it's just that Red Hat realized that one size fits all solutions aren't. They then chose to specialize on the enterprise. Not that odd; after all, that's where the money is. Now they can boast all their years of experience, plus their dedication to enterprise needs - something I think few if any other distributors can claim.

Re:Future partnerships...

[treval]

You are probably right however the real volume market is on the desktop. The desktop is what drives the user applications and it's user apps sold in bulk that generate major revenues.

Just ask Billy G...

Dell Laptops?

[Manip]

I love Dell, and I am pleased with this new deal (advancement of Linux is always good news). The question I really want answered is when will I be able to guy a laptop from Dell (or anyone else) with Linux pre-installed?

I just don't like the idea of paying £30 more for a copy of XP home or 2k which I will be removing and replacement with my fav distro .. Seems silly to me that so few DO offer a Linux alternative.

No such thing as bad news.

[numbski]

I really think everyone is looking at this wrong.

There is no such thing as bad news when it comes to Linux distros being picked up, not even from a corporate point of view.

I get this a lot with wireless broadband. If a 'competitor' springs up across town and starts covering areas that I also service, if we cooperate, we'll both get more customers. If we in-fight, people will get the idea that wireless broadband is unreliable. When people work together, provide excellent service, everyone benefits. There's plenty of market terrain out there to be had, and no everyone needs to become a huge mega-comglomerate.

No one linux shop needs to become the next M$ or Apple. Sure, they could, but they don't need to in order to prosper. There's still plenty of Linux territory to be had. I'd say this is as good a news to Red Hat as any, so long as both RH and SuSE are commited to excellence.

Re:Dell was offering RedHat 3 years ago

[numbski]

Except for one minor detail that PHB's might go for:

If you buy the linux distro from Dell, Dell will support it.

s/Red Hat/SuSE/g;

Re:Dell was offering RedHat 3 years ago

[mgoss]

Linux is EXPENSIVE from Dell. Most people are going to do what we did, buy Dell $329 servers, and install a downloaded version of (insert your favorite distribution) Not everyone wants to download and install Linux themselves plus get it set up the way they need it to. I don't know how worth the money buying a SuSE linux box from Dell would be, but it could be worth it. I think the point is to make it easier for current Windows users to move over to a Linux box. I have seen a demo of the new SuSE and it looks pretty sweet. I definitely think this has a chance. Not everyone is a geek enough to be fine with downloading and installing Linux themselves so we get more stuff free more easily. I guess that's the price we "pay" for being Linux geeky.

Re:Future partnerships...

[FatherOfONe]

The point I think your are missing is that kids who use to get RedHat to try it out and play with it will no longer do that. What they could do is get RedHat for near free and then get comfortable with it. Now they have to try Fedora. Most won't.

So someone can get SuSe for near free (box version) and then try it out. Then they can use an enterprise version when they need it in a business.

My only issue is that companies like Oracle and IBM are trying to make it impossible to load their software on anything but the enterprise versions of software. This will come back to haunt them. Those same new "developers" will just use other tools (i.e. PostGresql, MySql, Jboss etc), instead of Oracle or Websphere. IBM should have learned this with their mistake of smalltalk.

SuSE might be the "enterprise" Linux?

[TheLoneGundam]

Since SuSE is the default distribution that IBM uses for their Linux on z/Series (or S/390) and this announcment is for Dell Servers, this might be another small step to getting in some corporate doors - start with some Dell Servers, then consolidate onto a mainframe box for lower (supposedly) TCO. We've been talking about Linux on our big iron, and if it was the same Linux as on the servers I know certain PHBs would have a warmer, fuzzier feeling.

Re:good news

[TykeClone]

The only newer Dell that I've worked on that wouldn't work is one that got fried by lightning last spring. That doesn't prove that they're making high quality machines anymore than your statement proves that they're not.

That's a little harsh sounding (sorry about that), but I've not seen any problems with them. And at least they don't plaster the new machines with stickers saying how great they are (HP/Compaq and eMachines do that - yuck!) - that alone should be worth a bit.