MESSAGE
| DATE | 2005-08-03 |
| FROM | From: "Inker, Evan"
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [NYLXS - HANGOUT] Sources: Novell Plans to Open SuSE Linux Pro to Community
|
Sources: Novell Plans to Open SuSE Linux Pro to Community
August 2, 2005
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1843097,00.asp
By Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols
Novell will be launching a community-based Linux distribution, OpenSuSE, at
next week's LinuxWorld in San Francisco, according to sources close to the
company.
Following in the footsteps of Red Hat Inc. with its successful Fedora
Project Linux distribution, Novell Inc. will be opening up its Linux
development efforts with OpenSuSE, sources said.
A site, opensuse.org, has already been set up for the project by Novell
under the name of Batman's alter ego, Bruce Wayne. The site, however, is not
open for business yet.
Continuing in this humorous vein, sources said, the initiative's launch will
go by the name of "The Lizard Blizzard" and SuSE's original "Geeko" lizard
mascot will be reappearing at LinuxWorld.
More seriously, the true name of the deliverable distribution will be SuSE
Linux, while the SuSE Linux Pro line will be rebranded to share the SuSE
Linux name.
The possibility of Novell trying a community-based, open-source approach has
been discussed before in the Linux community. Jason Perlow, an author and a
systems architect with Unisys' open-source solutions practice, wrote in
May's Linux Magazine, "It's pretty darn clear to me that to make mojo, SuSE
Linux Professional needs to look deep into its roots and re-birth itself as
a public, open-source project similar to Fedora."
Perlow argued that Novell's keeping its open-source technologies close to
its vest had not served the company well. With an open, community-based
approach, he said, "key SuSE/Ximian/Novell technologies such as Mono,
Evolution, Red Carpet, NDS, ZENworks, and Hula [will come] to the fore,
allowing even more extensive field testing within the community."
Citing the popularity of Thunderbird over Evolution, among others, Perlow
further argued that the easier access is to a project for testing and
development, the more developers will use and extend it.
Perlow's arguments may not have fallen on deaf ears. Certainly, it is
possible that Novell may have been influenced by Red Hat Fedora's growing
success.
In the Fedora community-based approach, the development cycle is driven not
just by the company's engineers working on Linux, but by the larger
open-source community. The result is a cutting-edge Linux for enthusiasts.
Once the code matures to the point where enterprises can use it, it is then
locked down, given a final coat of polish and quality and assurance testing,
and released as a commercial product with support.
In Red Hat's case, the final stage of each version of Fedora becomes the
basis for RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux).
For Novell, according to sources, the SuSE Linux code will become the
foundation for the next version of SLES (SuSE Linux Enterprise Server), the
Linux component of OES (Open Enterprise Server) and NLD (Novell Linux
Desktop), while the first version of SuSE Linux will consist of the Linux
2.6-based beta for SLES 10. This will be roughly equivalent to what would
have been SuSE Linux Professional 9.5.
The expected distribution model isn't quite the same as Red Hat's, though;
unlike Red Hat, which only makes Fedora available as a download and doesn't
offer support for it, Novell will also sell SuSE Linux in a boxed retail
version with manuals and paid technical support, sources said.
The full version will be freely available from the OpenSuSE site as both
source code and in ISO download form. Sources said the dual approach was
chosen because Novell wants SuSE Linux to be both worked on by the community
and run by users who don't want to develop but do want a supported,
cutting-edge Linux.
As with Red Hat and Fedora, Novell will initially be running the SuSE Linux
show, but control will eventually be ceded to a steering board, sources
said.
Novell executives declined to comment on this report. Bruce Lowry, director
of public relations for Novell, did say that any potential changes in
Novell's Linux development approach had nothing to do with announced
European employee cuts.
"Novell's European financial performance has been disappointing and [the
cutbacks are] part of the effort to turn this around," Lowry said. "This is
in no way connected with SuSE engineering and development staff. It is
directed at our redundant sales force. This move is designed to make Europe
more profitable."
Check out eWEEK.com's Linux & Open Source Center for the latest open-source
news, reviews and analysis.
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