[Pc_Support] Re: Novell, Red Hat and Sun, it's like Microsoft, IBM and Apple all over again ...

[Bryan J. Smith]

On Sat, 2005-02-12 at 13:00 -0800, Bryan J. Smith wrote:
> Especially as people think Novell has no position in Linux, just like
> they though Microsoft had no control over the PC.

BTW, please do _not_ take this post as a "demonizing of Novell."
Quite the opposite!

I don't consider Microsoft inherently a "bad" company like most.

But I _do_ consider Microsoft's control over a distribution channel of
products _never_ designed for the Internet (let alone were already
unstable for LAN services) to be an extremely poor scenario.

Novell has always sold better products with better support.  Not quite
as good as Sun/Red Hat in many regards, but better in others --
especially to solve real business needs as a total solution.

Like Microsoft and Apple or IBM, Novell will not replace Sun or Red Hat.
Red Hat will still be a major influence over the Linux world (both
services and key GNU stewardship), just like IBM does over the PC world
(both services and microeletronics).

But Novell will clearly have some control over the fate of Sun, just
like Microsoft does Apple.  And like Apple couldn't see this early on
with their fixation on IBM, Sun is _exactly_ in the same boat with
regards to Red Hat.

Red Hat is not a threat to Sun.  Novell very much is.


-- 
Bryan J. Smith                                  b.j.smith at ieee.org 
---------------------------------------------------------------- 
Community software is all about choice, choice of technology.
Unfortunately, too many Linux advocates port over the so-called
"choice" from the commercial software world, brand name marketing.
The result is false assumptions, failure to focus on the real
technical similarities, but loyalty to blind vendor alignments.