HHS Signs Major Linux Deal With Novell

An anonymous reader writes "The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has signed a major deal with Novell to begin rolling out their enterprise server and desktop products on government systems. The contract provides unlimited use of Novell products to about 70,000 at HHS, including about 30,000 NIH users. Under the arrangement Novell is providing to HHS 'unlimited access, upgrade protection and technical support' for products, including SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, Novell Open Enterprise Server, Novell Linux Desktop, patch management, and a range of identity-based services for management, integration and security."

Comments

No surprise

[RocketRainbow]

Why is Novell so underrated? Their stuff works and it's the only consistently supported software around!

Re:No surprise

[malraid]

underrated? well i would say that novell's business strategy is

1- Create kick ass top of the line technology
2- Hide it as best as possible from customers
3- ????

Hopefully they're making some changes now. I still stand by my opinion that their directory and desktop management software is by far the best in the industry

Re:No surprise

[hey!]

Why is Novell so underrated? Their stuff works and it's the only consistently supported software around!

Well, simple,really.

Novell:Network::Apple:Desktop.

That is to say the solution everybody knows is better, but which can't overcome the inertia of the market. I literally knew Mac/Novell shops in the 1990s who were extremely happy with the choice, but decided to switch to Microsoft all around despite the fact they thought they had both higher productivity and lower TCO under the status quo. Talk about a Microsoft Tax!. They felt, however, Microsoft was an unstoppable juggernaut that would in the next several years obliterate Apple and Novell.

Well, guess, what? It didn't happen.

There's one B-school paradigm that looms large in people's minds, that needs to be rebutted; it's basically the paradigm for making decisions to go with inferior products: The VHS/Beta scenario. Superior quality has almost become a stigma.

So, for extra credit, show this:

not(Novell:Microsoft::Beta:VHS)

I wonder....

[Crimson Dragon]

When it comes to large institutions and licensing with Linux vendors, a number of important questions are raised.

1. Is it profitable?
   While it can be said that the costs of usage in the corporate workplace of Linux is less than other environments, it can also be said the support costs are higher. The relevant quote in this case: "unlimited access, upgrade protection and technical support". While seemingly a good thing for bolstering Linux in this market, who knows in the end if that will cost Novell more than they can handle, and thereby discourage other vendors in this market from the kind of aggressive marketing they should be engaging in if they wish to expand.
2. The way in which this agreement is done could harm Linux in this environment overall.
   According to this article, HHS and NIH don't have to migrate from other platforms. While the kneejerk reaction could be "hooray, choice!", a different reaction could be that these products aren't getting a truly fair test in this market, that is to say, showing its robustness or lack thereof in the primary operating market. Time will tell, I suppose.

Just some thoughts.... I could be wrong.

Technical support boundaries

[LiquidCoooled]

Certainly not saying this isn't a bad thing (its damn good tbh), but regarding technical support.

How often has anyone actually needed technical support for the OS?
Is the knowledge thats its there just a comforter to PHBs, or do people routinely call these big vendors for support, and if so, what level? (

"my icons have all moved around" vs "something on my cpu appears to allow locked files to be overwritten under these conditions" ?

Re:A little surprise

[deanoaz]

Identity Managment was a major component of the deal and Novell has ported their proven eDirectory and XML based products onto the Suse platform to provide this in a package that integrates with existing Novell and Microsoft environments. This is leverage that Red Hat doesn't have.

(Disclaimer: I use Novell and Suse, but don't own any stock)

"The best measure of a man's honesty isn't his income tax return. It's the zero adjust on his bathroom scale." - Arthur C. Clarke

Re:get over it

[cahiha]

It's been done for Linux and was reported here on Slashdot. As I recall, GNU was the biggest component in terms of LOC, even bigger than the kernel.

More importantly, however, GNU is essential: without the GNU compiler and the GNU command line utilities, Linux wouldn't run; there simply are no substitutes.

Extra credit response

[dodongo]

Novell isn't pursuing distribution of F/OSS as a patentable revenue stream. Sony was out to do their thing with Betamax both because it was a better product, but more crucially, it wasn't interoperable with other systems. If you bought Betamax anything, that money went to Sony and locked others out of the market.

Novell, by contrast, is not just bound to a revenue stream solely in product sales. They can offer services above and beyond the software box that is truly what makes this profitable, as support has little if any consumable or R&D costs associated with it.

Am I even close? :)