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March of the Penguins...Stylish open source releases now available!

There are a flock of new Linux and open source releases out this fall, here are some of the most notable.

Just a few weeks ago the Novell-sponsored openSUSE.org project released openSUSE 10.3. This release features a much faster Linux startup time...under 20 seconds. It also includes Virtual Box, KVM and Xen for your virtualization pleasure. Graphics enthusiasts will be happy to see that Compiz and Beryl have re-united their efforts in Compiz Fusion, which is nicely on display in openSUSE 10.3. I don't know if I could take that level of "eye candy" on a daily basis, and it is cool to see a Linux distro do things graphically that don't exist in Windows Vista.

And just like clock-work, the Canonical-sponsored Ubuntu Linux project has released Ubuntu 7.10. The Ubuntu release schedule is aggressive with releases usually taking place in the spring and fall of the year. I've been running Ubuntu since the 6.06 release and have found it to be one of the easiest distros to install and maintain. No wonder it is so popular. And no wonder Dell chose Ubuntu to pre-install on certain Dell desktop and laptop models for the consumer market.

As an added bonus, users running Ubuntu 7.04 or higher can take advantage of Linspire's "Click and Run" library. The library contains over 35,000 programs...free and proprietary, including multi-media codecs. Linspire 6.0, which is self-described as the "world's easiest desktop Linux", and its community-supported Freespire 2.06 edition are both based on Ubuntu. Linspire allows Freespire and Ubuntu users to access the "Click and Run" library. I've never seen an easier way to install Linux applications. When critics complain about how "non-standard" installing Linux applications can be, they should take a look at "Click and Run" and get with the program.

The OpenOffice.org project just released OpenOffice.org 2.3. I haven't taken it for a test drive yet...just downloaded it the other night, but there are new features to delight OO.o users everywhere. Writer can now export directly to the Media Wiki format. Chart can now do 3-D pies and 3-D exploded doughnut charts in addition to a simple 3-D look. Impress now allows you to edit the animation paths of moving objects on slides. Entire slide shows can now be exported to HTML format. OO.o now supports approximately 130 languages...hey, how about a Nobel prize!

Before I turn OFF this SOAPBOX post, I would like to salute the efforts of all the people working on the openSUSE, Ubuntu, Freespire and OpenOffice.org projects. Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) keeps us free to choose and you help to create that freedom. Thanks for making it happen.

OES2 Linux Rules! NetWare Headed for Retirement...

I'm excited to let you know that Novell's recently released Open Enterprise Server 2 for Linux (OES2) is what I've been waiting to see.  All of Novell's networking services are now running on OES2 Linux.  OES2 networking services install as an "add-on product" to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP1 (SLES10 SP1).  The underlying OS is straight up SLES10 SP1.  Anything that runs on SLES10 SP1 will run on OES2 Linux.

A Little background regarding this important product release...

At the end of 2003 Novell announced its intention to acquire the SUSE Linux distribution.  SUSE was one of the first commercial Linux distributions.  Today, there are really only two commercially supported Linux distributions that are "data center ready" and one of them is SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP1 (current release) from Novell.

Faced with a declining share of the server OS market, Novell announced plans in early 2004 to implement the networking services found in NetWare 6.5 on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9.  In early 2005 Novell shipped the first release of Open Enterprise Server (OES) on Linux.  Some, but not all of Novell's networking services ran on this release of OES Linux.

The initial OES Linux release was a good first step, but many people, myself included, were unconvinced that Novell had made the best possible case for migrating from NetWare to OES Linux.

Why OES2 Linux is important to NetWare users...

The release of OES2 signals that it is time to put the future of NetWare into perspective.  NetWare is and will always be a 32-bit OS.  OES2 Linux exists as a 32-bit and 64-bit OS kernel.  The deployment of 64-bit operating systems running on 64-bit servers is growing.  Major server vendors like Dell, HP and IBM will eventually stop certifying NetWare 6.5 on their new server hardware and stop writing driver support.  This would normally be the death knell for NetWare, but read on!

If you have a major investment in NetWare NLM based services you can still use them by running OES2 NetWare (NetWare 6.5 SP7) as a para-virtualized OS under the Xen hypervisor kernel extensions to SLES10 SP1 in OES2 Linux.   It may take a minute to grasp the meaning of this if the permutations of server virtualization are new to you.   What you should understand is this will be the preferred way to run NetWare NLMs when upgrading to new server hardware.  Why?  Because the para-virtualized OES2 NetWare kernel does not directly access the server hardware.  This will "future proof" NetWare for you until Novell ends support for it in 2015.  I'll stress that you only need to consider doing this if you have NetWare NLM based services that you absolutely need and cannot find substitutes or upgrades that run on OES2 Linux (SLES10 SP1). 

A final word about running NetWare.  OES2 NetWare will be the last version of NetWare that will install on "bare metal".  You can install OES2 NetWare on "bare metal" as long as you have driver support from the server vendor.  If not, then running OES2 NetWare as a para-virtualized OS on OES2 Linux will be the way to go.

The benefits and features of NetWare live on in OES2 Linux...

If you are running NetWare in your organization today, it may have a lot do with its performance, security and reliability.  Hey, how many NetWare viruses are there anyway?  I want to let you know that you will maintain the same level of performance, security and reliability you are accustomed to by migrating from NetWare to OES2 Linux.  In fact, there are additional advantages when running OES2 Linux including:

• Full 64-bit OS support on Intel and AMD processors for the highest possible performance.
• Built-in Xen server virtualization support to help you consolidate your server bloat.
• Dynamic Storage Technology lets you do HSM without the tears.
• Novell DHCP and Novell DNS are now eDirectory integrated in OES2 Linux.
• Domain Services for Windows...a Microsoft AD clone, is coming in OES2 SP1.
• Thousands of Linux applications certified for SLES10 SP1 gives your more choices.

Expect Novell to publish offers encouraging you to migrate from NetWare to OES2 Linux.  Do not panic when your receive them.  Take a deep breath.  Realize that your are not giving up anything by migrating from NetWare to OES2 Linux.  You do not need to be a Linux guru to get going with OES2 Linux.  The same NetWare management tools you use today, like iManager and ConsoleOne, are used with OES2 Linux.  Along the way you will become that Linux guru and you don't need to start there to be successful with OES2 Linux.  Just recall that most of us were not NetWare gurus from the get-go either.

Take it from someone who has installed, upgraded and supported NetWare since 1985.  Sometimes good things come to an end.  NetWare has been a good thing. NetWare helped launch the whole networking industry and enabled countless organizations to experience the benefits of networked PCs and applications.  And now all of the enterprise class networking services in NetWare are available in OES2 Linux.  Dig in.  OES2 Linux is a good thing too.

Summer Update

Even though it was summer there was no shortage of interesting news to come across our desks and mailboxes.  Google acquired the popular Postini email scanning service.  Google...just what won't they buy?  The Xandros Linux distribution sponsor acquired Scalix, an open source groupware project.  This could help Xandros gather a lilttle more mindshare in the crowded Linux distribution marketplace.  Dell acquired Silverback Technologies, one of the premier managed service providers.  This can only mean that Dell is serious about reselling managed services to  create a “residual” revenue stream for the company.  Citrix acquired XenSource, the commercial arm of the open source Xen virtual machine hypervisor project.  At $500 million, XenSource was not cheap, but if Citrix is determined to go up against VMWare it may prove to be worthwhile.    Yahoo! acquired Zimbra, another open source groupware project.  Poor Yahoo! needed to do something...anything.  The Scalix, XenSource and Zimbra acquisitions brought a combined price of almost  $1 billion.  This should silence open source software critics who proclaim that “free software” is worth what you pay for it.

Just when you thought the SCO v. IBM lawsuit over Unix copyright infringement would never end. A U.S. Federal District Court in Utah ruled that Novell not SCO owns the copyrights to Unix and UnixWare.  And to make matters worse for SCO, the court also ruled that Novell is entitled to a share of the $30 million in license fees SCO collected from Sun and Microsoft.  A month after the court's ruling SCO filed for Chapter 11 protection.  Surprise!  It turns out you can't sue someone for copyright infringement when you don't own the copyrights!  Hopefully this is almost the last we will hear of SCO until it goes into Chapter 7 liquidation.  Good riddance.

Microsoft has just about run out of appeals to fight the European Commission's $689 million fine against the company for not opening up Windows code to competing media players.  This is another case of Microsoft having more money than sense.  Recent court judgments and out of court settlements against Microsoft have cost the company over $5 billion.  I know Microsoft has a cash horde of tens of billions but it still seems like a lot of money to fork over for bad and/or illegal behavior.  Why can't Microsoft just learn to get along?  It would certainly be a lot cheaper.

Finally, the competition against Microsoft Office is getting better organized.  Sun's StarOffice is now available for free download from Google Desktop.  The free download might  be just the Windows version of StarOffice.  It shouldn't matter to Linux users who already have OpenOffice.org, which is the open source code base for StarOffice.  And IBM has released a free beta of its OpenOffice.org based Lotus Symphony for Windows and Linux.  Those of you old enough to remember the first DOS-based Lotus Symphony program back in the mid 1980s will recall that it was pretty much a dud compared with the success of Lotus 1-2-3.  However, it was written by Ray Ozzie who turned out Lotus Notes a couple of years later.  Ray subsequently  developed Groove, which he eventually sold to Microsoft and finally made the move to the “dark side” himself by joining Microsoft.  Watch for Ray to keep moving up the Microsoft corporate food chain after Bill Gates departs the middle of 2008.   

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