Novell To Open Source SUSE 316
jambarama writes "Newsforge reports Novell will be open sourcing SUSE professional under the name OpenSUSE. Is Novell following in the footsteps of Red Hat Inc., with its Fedora Core Linux distribution, or continuing its own open source policy as it has in the past as with YAST?" Note that it looks like the opensuse.org site is not yet up.
Umm, SuSE is _already_ open source (Score:3, Interesting)
-linuxrocks123
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-Jean Paul Sartre
Re:The real question: binary compatibility (Score:5, Interesting)
Dependencies can be a problem, but that's what the LSB is for, surely - just supply the damn' libs, you don't have to use them in your default config !
The level of binary compatibility between any 2 same-platform linux distros should be at the very least equal to the level of compatibility between Win 2000 and Win XP.
switch to suse (Score:4, Interesting)
Is it just me? (Score:1, Interesting)
Free Booster Seat with every Download. (Score:1, Interesting)
*Plus the quality will suffer.
Breach of GPL? (Score:0, Interesting)
Am I sensing a license infringement cover up somewhere in here...
Layoffs announced at same time (Score:3, Interesting)
now make it use apt. (Score:5, Interesting)
Currently it is possible http://linux01.gwdg.de/apt4rpm/ [linux01.gwdg.de] to have apt run on top of an existing SuSE but not as the default installation medium. I feel that apt is the one thing that stand in between of SuSE and perfection.
The current (YaST/RPM) based solution is not too bad, but it is just too slow. Seaches in the package database take ages. And, iirc, it cannot do multiple downloads at the same time.
Right now im installing SuSE 9.3 from the default http site. I thought it was released to the public more than a weak ago, but it still is not on the mirrors. It right now is about to take 6 hours to download 1.3 gig of packages. amazing.
but afterall i still feel suse is the best (most polished) desktop distro arround.
im looking forward to what this move will bring us.
cies breijs.
Re:Layoffs announced at same time (Score:3, Interesting)
Dreaded Double Digits! (Score:3, Interesting)
Mac OS 9 went to Mac OS X and cay names.
Red Hat 9 went to Fedora Core 1.
Mandrake and Conectiva 10 merged and went to Mandriva 2005.
Clearly, SuSE 10.x was doomed... though I seriously expected it to become Novell Linux 1 or Novel Linux 2006 or something.
What needs to happen next... (Score:2, Interesting)
The inconsistency between Linux distros is ridiculous and inexcusable (especially for the all-too-German SuSE).
RPM-based Distros Unite!
Re:Crappy software never dies... (Score:3, Interesting)
SuSE is also still good for throwing on opteron servers and clusters. SuSE was the first major distro with x86-64 support, so they were the early leader in that market, and they've stayed pretty strong. The enterprise edition for x86-64 is a very nicely put together package, and great for research clusters. Just because it isn't hard or obscure doesn't mean it isn't good.
Jedidiah.
Re:This sounds like a good step but... (Score:3, Interesting)
That is a great question. The box versions that sell for under $100 don't make jack for Novell. All they do is get more users of their NOS. So, in one way this will get more and more users to at least try their product.
In my opinion Novell will make money by moving up the application stack a bit. They will focus on things like groupware, management, clustering etc. Things that can be done with Linux today but could be a lot better for the average admin and end user. When Linux gets say 25 to 40% of the server market, their products will really start to shine. People will want stuff that runs on both Linux AND Windows, and perhaps other platforms as well (BSD, AIX, Solaris, Apple etc), and Novell will do an excellent job of this. Microsoft will probably delay any products for Linux as long as possible, and thus this will give Novell a competitive advantage for a long time.
Now in my opinion they should look hard at open sourcing eDirectory, and build apps on top of it. Given that RedHat has release the Netscape directory server under GPL, the time is short for Novell to move on this.
Re:The real question: binary compatibility (Score:4, Interesting)
Quite true.
Maybe it is possible to convert an RPM to a DEB and install it with Apt-get or one of its front-ends but again that's further than most users want to go just to get a pre-compiled app running.
If you want to install an application that isn't provided by your distribution then you really want to be using an autopackage [autopackage.org]. Binary compatability becomes clear - a single autopackage can install and run on most major distributions (providing you've got the same architecture of course). If the people providing you the software haven't packaged it as an autopackage... perhaps you should be asking them to do so. Autopackage is new, but it's great for packaging up your software project - no more "RPM for Redhat, RPM for SuSE, RPM for Mandrake, DEB for Debian..." just make one autopackage binary for the lot.
Jedidiah.
Re:Slashdot Falters (Score:3, Interesting)
It is, or at least was, the discussion that mattered. Recently the signal noise ration has gotten horrible, makes a person think about leaving. Just look at the moderation taking place, if your threshold is set to 3, there are very few posts that make it. The proof is in the pudding!
Re:Where's my cape? (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:A feasible business model (Score:3, Interesting)
Like it or not, that sticks them into the game at many U.S. government/military sites, and that automatically yanks them out of the "me-too" division. Just as SGI is using their government contracts to hang in the market by a thread, SuSE can use it to jump-start a play for major market acceptance as they move in the other direction.
Flunks the real world test (Score:4, Interesting)
I don't like the fact Linux apps install rougher, but they do.
Re:The real question: binary compatibility (Score:3, Interesting)
The same thing is with Fedora - you're welcome to beta test and debug it for Red Hat to build their Enterprise Linux version upon, and then when you want to use Linux in enterprise environment, please line up for RHEL which starts at $299 (if I'm not mistaken).
I fail to realize why would anyone want to fuck around with these distros with a 6 month lifetime, instead of contributing to freeer distros with longer lifespans such as Ubuntu, Debian or CentOS.
Instead of running OS's with a long upgrade cycle and spending time on debugging and improving apps, people spend 20% of their time re-installing/upgrading OS and other rundimentary shit that does little to improve Linux.
Suse already releases CD and DVD ISO's (Score:2, Interesting)
VMWare (Score:3, Interesting)
I love being able to be working in Windows, and just "pop up" Linux when I want it without rebooting.
Communities (Score:2, Interesting)
Real reason for this: Discountinug a product. (Score:3, Interesting)
What this really means is that they are axing the Retail Product that no one buys to focus on the server and workstation versions for corporation. Gee have we not seen this before in Fedora/Red Hat?
I'm a big fan of Suse and have used it for years but I haven't bought a copy since 9.0.
Re:The real question: binary compatibility (Score:2, Interesting)