[Leaplist] microsoft / novell

[Bryan J. Smith]

On Sun, 2006-11-05 at 15:06 -0500, Fred Moore wrote:
> After reading much on this subject.. 
> http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/exec/steve/2006/11-02NovellInterop.mspx
> I have come to the following conclusion.   Novell is selling community code 
> down the tubes in their quest for bigger bucks.   Many have heard me talk 
> about suse 10 and 10.1 as a distro that works..   In fact I purchased 10 in 
> box format.   Tomorrow I will be sending addressed to
> Ronald W. Hovsepian the box I purchased. along with the origional disks, and 
> all copies I have made..  With a note telling them to keep his software.  It 
> is now only installed on one machine, my wifes... by the end of tomorrow that 
> will be removed..  I would do it sooner but have a pressing work project.
> I have come to the conclusion it is just not proper to support this company..
> From the many blogs I have read last night and today I don't think I am the 
> only person who feels this way..  Fred

I have come to the conclusion that you are in the
_overwhelming_majority_.  Lately, I've pegged this at both 97% of the
collective known as the "Linux advocacy/user community" as well as 97%
of the common "Linux consultant" that has experience with web sites and
Internet servers.

And I've also come to the conclusion that the other 3% of use
"enterprise" Linux consultants have no ability, no way to "reason," no
way to otherwise get that 97% to understand the first thing about the
world of IP, licensing and enterprise practices.

I've been chewed out, gutted, spit on and otherwise labeled stupid, a
fool and wrong because no one thinks like I do.  Well, I readily admit
not many think like I.  But there are a number, small, but significant.

We actually think outside the concept of working on a customized web
server in a large enterprise of managed infrastructure and systems.  And
we are often caught in-between the non-sense of advocacy and
technically-ignorant marketing on all sides.

There's nothing like trying to explain real issues with software when
there are thousands of various advocates screaming from behind you,
drowning you out.  It's beyond frustrating.

I, for one, have been applauding Novell's efforts in the Linux market
since they bought SuSE out.  And they will continue to gain my praise,
even though I deploy their solutions far less than Red Hat -- but that's
largely because of most of my integration focus.

For many applications, SuSE is a great solution, and from the standpoint
of both legal and community leadership, Novell has made them much, much
better than they were before their purchase.  Which is why I have no
issue recommending Novell/SuSE solutions when I feel they are the best.


-- 
Bryan J. Smith          Professional, technical annoyance
mailto:b.j.smith at ieee.org    http://thebs413.blogspot.com
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       Fission Power:  An Inconvenient Solution