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Oracle Looks At Buying Novell

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the consolidation-to-continue dept.

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.

2 of 221 comments (clear)

  1. XANDROS would be a much better buy by LINM · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.

  2. Re:This is a great idea... by fimbulvetr · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.