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Novell Buys SuSe Linux -- Press Conference 11:00 AM EST |
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Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 09:31 AM EST
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Novell is buying SuSE Linux. Stephen Shankland reports that Novell has signed to acquire SuSE Linux, with IBM backing it up: Longtime Microsoft foe Novell has signed an agreement to acquire SuSE Linux for $210 million in cash, while IBM, the most powerful backer of the Linux OS, will make a $50 million investment in Novell. . . .SuSE is strongest with the open-source software on servers, the networked machines that handle chores such as hosting Web sites and routing e-mail. The acquisition is expected to close by the end of Novell's first fiscal quarter in January, at which point the IBM investment will become effective, Novell said. IBM plans to buy $50 million of Novell preferred stock. In addition, IBM and Novell are negotiating an extension to SuSE's agreement to support all four of IBM's server lines and are planning joint marketing and support relationship, the companies said. Novell--a company that has retained significant rights from its former ownership of Unix--now has a strong vested interest in Linux. SuSE, meanwhile, believes its former alliance with SCO shields it, an assertion SCO denies. Here is Novell's press release: "We chose SUSE LINUX because they are a clear market leader in Linux
technology for the enterprise," Messman said. "With this acquisition, Novell
will be the only billion-dollar software company with a Linux distribution and
a worldwide ecosystem around it. A worldwide technical staff of more than
600 has been trained to support Linux. The acquisition of SUSE LINUX completes
our technology stack from the desktop to the server."
Beyond the technology, the acquisition will also expand Novell's strategic
commitment to the open source community. The combination of SUSE LINUX and
Novell will deliver not only complete enterprise Linux software solutions, but
also worldwide channels and industry-leading partnerships. The combined
company will help promote a thriving, global open source ecosystem that
creates innovation and choice for developers, users and organizations alike.
Novell is firmly committed to open standards and maintaining the existing open
source kernel development efforts. From advocacy and development resources to
events and support of open source efforts like kernel projects, XFree86,
ReiserFS, KDE, GNOME and Mono, Novell stands side-by-side with the open source
community.[emphasis added] OK, we can exhale now. Except for SCO and Microsoft. Their troubles have just begun. The press
conference can be heard live at 11:00 EST. The lesson to be learned? You don't want IBM mad at you. They fight to win. Peter Williams adds this detail: Mike Davis, senior researcher at analyst Butler Group, said Novell had been trying to reposition itself because its NetWare [operating system] was very dated. But he thought IBM's involvement was the most telling element in the deal.
"SuSE became more vulnerable after the SCO Group, which has worldwide offices, pulled out of United Linux. IBM has a great need to maintain viable and strong distributions. So a bit of me says this is directly as a result of SCO's actions," he said.
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Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 09:40 AM EST |
And therefore owns copyrights in it. Will Novell now sue SCO for copyright
infringement now that SCO is willfully violating the GPL with their restrictions
on Linux usage? One can only hope... [ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: keanu on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 09:57 AM EST |
Does anybody know if any TV station broadcasts this conference? [ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: overshoot on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 09:59 AM EST |
What was that threat from SCOX against SuSE and its customers? What was that
noise about indemnification of Linux users by their distro supplier? I
daresay that Novell can offer HP-style "we will indemnify you against suits by
SCO" without the Mickey Mouse "binary-only" qualifiers, no?[ Reply to This | # ]
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- Indemnification? - Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 11:30 AM EST
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Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 10:25 AM EST |
"OK, we can exhale now. Except for SCO and Microsoft. Their troubles have
just begun."
Sort of except that Ximian partnered with SUN in their GNOME desktop work, and
SuSE is known for their KDE work. If Novell can get both camps to start working
together in-house woo-hoo![ Reply to This | # ]
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- Novell, Ximan, SUSE & KDE - Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 10:40 AM EST
- Novell, Ximan, SUSE & KDE - Authored by: Upholder on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 11:20 AM EST
- Novell, Ximan, SUSE & KDE - Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 11:43 AM EST
- Novell, Ximan, SUSE & KDE - Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 12:13 PM EST
- Novell, Ximan, SUSE & KDE - Authored by: Ed Freesmeyer on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 12:32 PM EST
- Novell, Ximan, SUSE & KDE - Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 12:38 PM EST
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Authored by: haro on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 11:00 AM EST |
The correct link is
http://www.computing.co.uk/News/1
147159 [ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: PJ on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 11:03 AM EST |
Groan. Real Media only. This is not a good beginning.
Can anyone tape it please?[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: bobh on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 11:25 AM EST |
Five quick thoughts:
I would love to know how IBM picked the number
"$50 million," and whether they picked it in the last week or so. That
number fairly screams to Microsoft, "Call."
I can't get too excited
about Novell's welcome noises about their commitment to open source. SCO said
all the same things at one time, and now look what happened.
IBM is not
going to repeat the "Microsoft creation mistake." They have been Best Buds with
Red Hat, but this time they're going to make sure there are at least two
competing suppliers of the "standard operating system."
Bill Gates will
correctly interpret this as a declaration of war. Since he's the one who pulled
the Pearl Harbor trick, he now has to worry that his actions have "awakened a
sleeping giant and filled him with a terrible resolve."
If Novell has
what we think it has in terms of contract leashes on SCO's uses of the UNIX IP,
Microsoft and SCO have just been outflanked on one side. If SuSE has what we
think it has in terms of cross-licensing agreements with SCO, Microsoft and SCO
have just been outflanked on the other side. The reality that SCO's court case
was based on no longer exists. Bill and Steve will see this, and will fold the
tent.
[ Reply to This | # ]
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- Bill and Steve and the Tent - Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 11:33 AM EST
- A Blast From The Past - Novell's that is - Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 11:47 AM EST
- Just unsupported allegations - Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 11:55 AM EST
- Just unsupported allegations -- woo hoo! - Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 12:03 PM EST
- Just unsupported allegations - Authored by: Thanatopsis on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 12:20 PM EST
- Just unsupported allegations - Authored by: bobh on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 12:33 PM EST
- Can't resist: Just unsupported allegations - Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 12:38 PM EST
- Just unsupported allegations - Authored by: PJ on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 12:55 PM EST
- Just unsupported allegations - Authored by: davew33 on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 01:07 PM EST
- Who am I - Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 01:41 PM EST
- Who am I - Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 01:52 PM EST
- Who am I - an idiot without a cause - Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 02:01 PM EST
- Who am I - Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 02:21 PM EST
- Who am I - Authored by: tleps on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 02:24 PM EST
- Who am I - Authored by: PJ on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 03:39 PM EST
- BillDriver - Authored by: billdriver on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 03:41 PM EST
- Who am I - Authored by: Alex on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 03:51 PM EST
- Who am I - Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 03:54 PM EST
- Who me? Mr. Innocent? Pah! - Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 04:16 PM EST
- Who am I - Authored by: RoQ on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 04:43 PM EST
- Who am I - Authored by: PJ on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 04:52 PM EST
- Who am I - Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 06:36 PM EST
- Who am I - Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 07:42 PM EST
- Who am I - Authored by: PJ on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 11:35 PM EST
- Who am I - Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 06:40 PM EST
- Who am I - Authored by: fava on Wednesday, November 05 2003 @ 12:52 AM EST
- Everyone put their guns down - Authored by: Clifton Hyatt on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 07:06 PM EST
- Who am I - Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 09:28 PM EST
- Remembering my name - Authored by: Magpie on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 02:55 PM EST
- Just unsupported allegations - Authored by: Scott_Lazar on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 04:28 PM EST
- Just unsupported allegations - Authored by: Kevin on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 04:56 PM EST
- Just unsupported allegations - Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 05:21 PM EST
- Just unsupported allegations - Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 01:43 PM EST
- Calm down - Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, November 05 2003 @ 02:07 AM EST
- Just unsupported allegations - Authored by: grouch on Wednesday, November 05 2003 @ 03:56 AM EST
- easy - Authored by: Alan Bell on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 04:37 PM EST
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Authored by: shadowman99 on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 11:30 AM EST |
This is all the more interesting in light of Red Hat's move to discontinue
internal support for it's original distro. They will only support the
Enterprise Red Hat distro. The original Red Hat Linux will become a public
project called Fedora.
I've been Red Hat user until now, but I just might give Suse Linux a shot. Red
Hat's focus for security fixes and patches will be it's entrerprise edition.
That leaves me out in the cold. I don't like that.
Novell + Suse could shift momentum away from Red Hat. [ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: shadowman99 on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 11:39 AM EST |
Is Wall Street dumb enough to think SCO benefits from this new Suse/Novell/IBM
alliance? Or is the market reacting to SCO's BS press release from yesterday?
Does anybody know what's up?
[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 11:42 AM EST |
While I do have a fair amount of good will toward Novell, I don't think their
karma over the last few years has been very good. I am crossing my fingers and I
hope that Novell does not do to SuSE what it did to itself. I have a high regard
for SuSE, and I hope to be able to maintain such a high regard over the years.[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: bobh on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 11:49 AM EST |
You don't want IBM mad at you. They fight to win.
I am
thoroughly impressed by the serious smash-mouth nature of IBM's defenses. If Mr.
Gates has any sense, he is beginning to rue the day that he sent some cut-out
onto the field to harrass IBM and linux. This is not what he expected to get
back.
The courtroom activities have their place, but IBM is now starting to
move the mountains around on the actual terrain to make things tougher for Bill.
And they don't need a court's permission to do it... or courtroom-level proof to
decide they should do it. In addition to the smash-mouth lawyering, we're
now seeing smash-mouth business to go with it. This is far more than Bill
expected to get back. This is war. [ Reply to This | # ]
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- More unsubstantiated allegations - Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 12:05 PM EST
- More unsubstantiated allegations - Authored by: Jude on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 01:10 PM EST
- More unsubstantiated allegations - Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 01:36 PM EST
- More unsubstantiated allegations - Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 03:03 PM EST
- More unsubstantiated allegations Charles - Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 05:06 PM EST
- More unsubstantiated allegations - Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 05:31 PM EST
- Truce ? - Authored by: Ed Freesmeyer on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 09:39 PM EST
- Truce ? - Authored by: PJ on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 11:31 PM EST
- Truce ? - Authored by: belzecue on Wednesday, November 05 2003 @ 01:01 AM EST
- Truce ? - Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, November 05 2003 @ 08:19 PM EST
- Support - Authored by: roxyb on Wednesday, November 05 2003 @ 02:52 AM EST
- Truce ? - Authored by: grouch on Wednesday, November 05 2003 @ 05:39 AM EST
- Novell Buys SuSe Linux -- Press Conference 11:00 AM EST - Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 12:20 PM EST
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Authored by: geoff lane on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 01:07 PM EST |
I hope it all works out, but historically Novell have tried to break out of
netware into a new market a number of times and every single time it almost
killed the company.
[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 01:30 PM EST |
YAHOOOOO!!!!!!
This is great news - it's a counter-punch to the $50
million investment in SCO from BayStar. Novell is now bound to be a major once
again. Let's hope they don't make the same mistakes as SCO.
I know one
thing: my next purchase of an OS will be either Redhat, Mandrake or SuSE. I
will happily hand over the $80 asking price for the professional version.
Ta ta Windoze...[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 02:05 PM EST |
Here is a link to an article the mentions GROKLAW. [ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 02:06 PM EST |
Those greedy people/organizations would do well to heed this quote a favourite
movie; "The more you tighten your grip, the more systems will slip through
your fingers".
[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: PM on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 02:53 PM EST |
Sorry to post here but I need to reach all those involved with typing up the
text version of the APA. I seem to have landed the job of coordination, so
please let me know directly what pages people are typing up, and please send me
the work for collation.
Thanks
Peter
(PJ you can delete this after 24 hours or so).[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: gumout on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 03:48 PM EST |
The beuatiful and gracious Pamela Jones is now a senior
analyst in IT Enterprise Operating Systems. She should be compensated as such.
Are you out there IBM, Novell and Red Hat?
---
"If people are violating the law by doing drugs, they ought to
be accused and they ought to be convicted and they ought to
be sent up." --- Rush Limbaugh[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 04:35 PM EST |
it's interesting to compare Deutsche Securities [illogical] opinion:
"negative for RHAT,
neutral for MSFT, and neutral-to-positive for SCOX"
with
extremetech.com's view:
<
br>
"The Real Loser: Microsoft","...bodes well for SuSE and for
Novell...","..smart moves by Novell's and Red Hat's management."
[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 06:35 PM EST |
Perhaps the main reason IBM put 50 million into this is it wants to help SuSE.
IBM and a lot of other companies don't want RedHat to take over the whole Linux
server field. That is because then it could pull a Microsoft and cause lots of
trouble. They want RedHat to have a healthy competitor, and now that
UnitedLinux is dead, that means SuSE (which was the heart of UnitedLinux,
anyway). So IBM helps SuSE out and steers business its way.
Being bought by Novell helps here because SuSE is weak in the US at least in
part because it lacks a good sales operation there. Novell has a big sales
force all over the world, and now it can help sell SuSE.[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: roxyb on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 07:35 PM EST |
If this is a declaration of war and a collusion
between IBM and Novell,
expect to see Transgaming and/or
Codeweavers being bought by Novell (to
complement the
current offering of Novell and to attack MS on their
home-turf). Imagine WINE and OS/2's WIN32 subsystem
combined in a Linux
distro...
Also, I wouldn't be surprised if Wordperfect was swallowed
again (or the Lotus suite was fast-ported to Linux and
licensed to Novell).
This in combination with the above
and a the current anti-trust problems MS
has, would make
it an outright war.
You may say, that you're not supposed
to try to fool
around with one of the biggest software companies in the
world
(i.e. IBM).
This is pure speculation, of course, and probably
off-topic.
Roland Buresund
--- --
I'm Still
Standing...
[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: Thanatopsis on Tuesday, November 04 2003 @ 10:23 PM EST |
Here's a
fun read. [ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: bobh on Wednesday, November 05 2003 @ 12:10 AM EST |
when it bought rights to Unix caldera/sco got...
We have all
read so many times now that SCO bought "the rights to UNIX" that we are in
danger of getting sloppy. That is certainly the impression that SCO wants us to
have, but that may be quite an exaggeration on their part.
It's been some
months now since I read the details on this, but my sense is that what Original
SCO bought from Novell was, literally, "the UNIXware business." At that time,
for sure, no copyrights or patents were transferred. It was not an "intellectual
property" transaction. It was more in the nature of Novell selling the
opportunity to make money by sublicensing UNIXware in the small- and
medium-sized business market (which was the nature of Original SCO's business,
so that made sense.)
It was more like Novell appointing Original SCO a sort
of Master VAR that could recruit other VARs.
To my knowledge, Original SCO
never made the sort of sweeping intellectual property claims over UNIX that have
been the stock in trade of Darl and his other brother Darl.
There is also
this "story" (I don't know what else to call it) concerning a document which
New-SCO produced from a file somewhere that they claim is an amendment to the
asset purchase agreement with Novell that transfers the copyrights to them. I've
read that thing, and I sure wouldn't go to court with that as my claim to owning
UNIX. It doesn't actually transfer anything by name. It's a very vaguely-worded
thing that is going to end up, after some energetic litigation, meaning whatever
the judge says it means, because it doesn't actually say
anything.
There is also a piece of mystery that is now largely forgotten.
When SCO first made the claim that they had the copyrights, Novell came right
out and said, "Oh, no you don't." There was then a period when Darl McBride
engaged in characteristic bluster with his "document from the file" as his
"proof," followed by silence from Novell... except for one comment to the effect
that, "this is not over."
Novell chose not to engage Darl McBride in a
bluster-fest in front of the press, and so most people concluded that Novell had
capitulated. But I've never believed that. I had the distinct impression that
Novell intended to re-visit this issue in front of a judge... they just didn't
want to do it as part of McBride's media circus. In fact my right-brain was
screaming that IBM had called them up and asked them to go hide in the weeds
until the right moment came to spring back out.
My hunch is that when this
all gets litigated, SCO will own nothing of value from the so-called "UNIX IP."
[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, November 05 2003 @ 12:56 AM EST |
Did anyone else notice that IBM's investment in Novell is exactly $50million.
The same amount that came down the pipe to SCO.
I think this a clear message from IBM.[ Reply to This | # ]
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