Novell News

Social networking Web site Bebo.com is running mission-critical apps on SUSE Linux Enterprise … in this case Oracle Database 10g. “The largest social network in the UK, Ireland and New Zealand,” Bebo says reliability, scalability and cost efficiency are important to them. As they say, the customer is always right.

There was an interesting piece in Computer Business Review yesterday about an OSDL report on desktop Linux. Said the story: “The Linux promotion group’s desktop initiative reported that technical achievements in drivers, printing, graphics, wireless, sound and media, and BIOS compatibility, among other things, leave Linux poised for desktop growth this year.”

We don’t know anything about the Open Source Software Distribution Initiative (OSSDI) nor do we endorse it, but we do like the idea of getting OpenOffice.org into schools.

And, of course, PSA Peugeot Citroen and 20,000 SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktops … now that’s news.

DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung is responsible for all air traffic control in Germany, one of the busiest airspaces in the world. DFS employs 5,300 staff and maintains a presence at 19 international and regional airports across the country.

DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung developed a radar data-processing system called PHOENIX, which runs on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for high availability and performance, helping ensure safety for aircraft across Germany. The company also ported several UNIX-based applications to Linux, for greater flexibility and improved price-performance.

“No air traffic control center can afford to have system failures, however high the peak traffic becomes,” said Ralf Heidger, head of SH/T, PHOENIX Development for DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung. “Therefore our requirements for production and development systems focus particularly on the stability and performance of the operating system. SUSE Linux and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server meet our demanding requirements for both aspects.”

Read more here.

The Liberty Alliance, of which Novell is a member, announced today a new open source project, openLiberty.org, for developers to work on identity-based applications. According to the Liberty Alliance, “openLiberty.org was established to provide easy access to tools and information to jump start the development of more secure and privacy-respecting identity-based applications based on Liberty Federation and Liberty Web Services standards.” As a strong proponent of both open source and identity solutions, Novell supports this move. We see it as a good complement to existing open source identity projects like Bandit and Higgins. Both Bandit and Higgins are developing protocol and platform independent technologies, so both provide opportunties for collaboration with openLiberty.org.

We’ve had a foot in both the open source and the identity worlds for some time now, so it’s great to see work on identity solutions move more into the open source arena. Managing and securing open source environments is a growing requirement, so seeing projects designed to address identity issues is a positive step. Count on us to be an active player in these initiatives.

Open Source Development Labs and the Free Standards Group have announced they’re joining forces in the new Linux Foundation. Novell will be a platinum founding member of the new group. We’ve always been a strong supporter of cooperative work and standards in the open source arena and we look forward to continuing to support the Linux Foundation. We’ve got a “hot off the presses” Novell Open Audio interview with Jim Zemlin, the head of the new Linux Foundation, about why the two organizations are merging and the focus of the new group. Listen to that here.

Cooperation is nice, but there's nothing like good old-fashioned, red-blooded competition. In that spirit, check out this new Web page, "SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 is the compelling alternative to Windows Vista."

I won't rehash the content here, but this white paper about when and why to choose SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop over Windows Vista is a good start. Now is definitely a good time to consider what Linux on the desktop can really do.

SearchWindowsSecurity.com announced their Best Products of 2006 this week. Focused on finding the most innovative products released in 2006, the winners reflect the most flexible products that provide the best cost and results for Windows shops.

In the patch management category, the judges awarded Novell ZENworks Patch Management the bronze medal. One judge said it was “the best all-around suite for patch management.”

Adobe announced today its new Flash Player for Linux. This is a nice milestone in industry support for Linux on the desktop. According to the press release, Flash 9 for Linux includes “new capabilities such as efficient memory utilization, advanced features for graphics, video and text, as well as the ActionScript Virtual Machine (AVM2), which allows up to 10 times faster scripting performance.” So there are plenty of tools for developers as well as end users of Flash. SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop includes an earlier version of the Flash player, and we’ll move to incorporate this new player in our Service Pack 1. Taken in conjunction with Firefox 2.0, the new Flash player will deliver a great new browsing and media experience for Linux users.

The European Commission has just published an extensive study on open source software, or, in its Euro-acronym, FLOSS (Free/Libre/Open Source Software). This thing is massive – some 287 pages, including an extensive amount of quantitative data. The study is ambitious, with the aim of trying to quantify open source’s impact on both innovation and on European growth and competitiveness. So it talks about issues usually absent from how the industry talks about open source, such as the impact of open source on GDP growth. I’ll admit I haven’t read the whole thing, but there’s a three page executive summary that lists core conclusions. A few that jumped out at me:

• FLOSS applications are first, second or third-rung products in terms of market share in several markets, including web servers, server operating systems, desktop operating systems, web browsers, databases, e-mail and other ICT infrastructure systems. FLOSS market share is higher in Europe than in the US for operating systems and PCs, followed by Asia. These market shares have seen considerable growth in the past five years.

• Defined broadly, FLOSS-related services could reach a 32% share of all IT services by 2010, and the FLOSS-related share of the economy could reach 4% of European GDP by2010. FLOSS directly supports the 29% share of software that is developed in-house in the EU (43% in the U.S.), and provides the natural model for software development for the secondary software sector.

• The notional value of Europe’s investment in FLOSS software today is Euro 22 billion (36 billion in the US) representing 20.5% of total software investment (20% in the US).

• While the U.S. has the edge in terms of large FLOSS-related businesses, the greater individual contribution from Europe has led to an increasing number of globally successful European FLOSS small- and medium-sized enterprises.

The study also makes a series of policy recommendations, most of which can be summed as as “don’t mess up a good thing.” They include:

• Avoid penalizing FLOSS in innovation and R&D incentives, public R&D funding and public software procurement that is currently often anti-competitive.

• Avoid lifelong vendor lock-in in educational systems by teaching students skills, not specific applications; encourage participation in FLOSS-like communities

• Encourage partnerships between large firms, SMEs and the FLOSS community

• Provide equitable tax treatment for FLOSS creators: FLOSS software contributions can be treated as charitable donations for tax purposes. Where this is already possible, spread awareness among firms, contributors and authorities.

• Explore how unbundling between hardware and software can lead to a more
  competitive market and ease forms of innovation that are not favored by vertical
  integration.

I’m sure there are other nuggets buried in this document, but I’d urge you to at least give the executive summary a read and peruse the data charts. Some good stuff in there.

Yesterday, the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) announced finalists for the 22nd Annual CODiE Awards. SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 is a finalist for Best Open Source Solution, and ZENworks 7.5 Asset Management was recognized in the Best Asset Management Solution category. Reviewed by more than 200 trade press, consultants, educators, IT specialists and other neutral judges, the 367 finalists were selected from a pool of more than 1,200.
Winners will be announced in April, so stay tuned …