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Oracle Looks At Buying Novell
Several readers wrote to note Larry Ellison's comments about launching an Oracle Linux Distro (great! yet another!) and that Oracle has/is also looking at purchasing Novell. The great shake-out continues.
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Hint to Larry (and IBM, HP, Novell, etc): Work together on a single distribution of Linux if you want to get rid of Microsoft.
Hint to pubjames: Larry, IBM, HP, Novell and all the others would go to bed with Microsoft without any moral qualms if it was profitable for them and if it wasn't a dangerous move in the long run.
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
Xandros would be a much more appropriate acquisition:
1) Best in class business desktop
-Best desktop: LinuxWorld best business product
-Focused on the business user (vs the Novell Gnome focused desktop that is more all-purpose / home user market)
-Designed to provide an easy transition for Windows users (vs all of the other distros - more below)
2) Best in class Linux "business" server
-The new Xandros server offers the print serving, file serving, network management needed to run small businesses. I
-Provides unique capabilities (apart from Microsoft) that would instantly differentiate Oracle from all the other "me-too" Linux players
-Designed to provide an easy transition for Windows users (vs all of the other distros - more below)
3) Better strategic fit
-Xandros is a pure play in the Linux area and would not come with the "hair" and unwanted, sub-leading products that Oracle would pick up from Novell (and have to pay for)
-Xandros comes on top of the Debian server architecture. This would be an immediate and powerful win for Oracle to pick up the Debian Server base.
-Top business focused engineering team with long track record of efficient engineering (that delivered the award winning Corel Linux Desktop)
-Xandros was founded as an Simple Compatible replacement for Windows and Microsoft solutions that would provide an easy transition for Microsft users. Compared to the other Linux distros that have been laboring hard to create a new better product albeit alien to the marketplace. This company has not deviated from this strategy (plans for this server were announced years ago).
Hunger is the best sauce.
But when Novell and IBM have finally kicked The SCO Groups butt, Novell ends up with a clear legal right to Unix. A paranoid person might wonder if Oracle is after Unix for some reason.
so we wouldn't need to have a full time guy to test software upgrades with our current Oracle installations, or to troubleshoot errors
LOL. You've never worked with Oracle software have you? They have a very hard time releasing patches, much less testing them. I've spent dozens of hours on the phone with RH, IBM, Oracle, etc, and Oracle are the _last_ people you ever want to due to their gross incompetence and intentional disregard for anything you might know or claim to know.
I imagine this, and it scares me.
I'm not too sure what Oracle would do here, but look at it from Oracle's Standpoint. They Don't like IBM (more Specifically IBM's DB2). Novell's sitting on patents that could theoretically swing the SCO Linux debacle both ways. Linux is one of IBM's big assets, and IBM is moving a lot of their platforms from AIX to Linux. If they buy Novell, they may just swing on the SCO side just to get at IBM to slow them down and spend money in the process.
And it doesn't stop there. kicking Linux also gives MySQL a pot shot since most of their installs are Linux installs. Also a lot of their other competitors run on Linux software. If Oracle wanted to do the evil thing, they could side with SCO and set Linux back for a while and give their competitors headaches.
On the other hand, Siding with IBM gives MS a kick in the groin. So it really comes down to who Ellison hates more in the end. Right now, I'm pretty sure it's Microsoft.
In Soviet Russia, Trojan exploits YOU!